Common Sleep Disorders

Sleep can be simply defined as "a reversible behavioral state of perceptual disengagement from and unresponsiveness to the environment" (Kryger, Roth & Dement). As far as the sleeping disorders are concerned, they involve the difficulties that are associated to sleeping. When an individual has difficulty in falling or staying asleep, falling asleep at wrong times, falling asleep unnecessarily, or shows other abnormal sleep behaviors, he/she is said to have a sleep disorder.

Sleep apnea is a common disorder in which the patient has pauses in breathing or shallow

Sleep apnea is a chronic sleeping disorder that disrupts the normal sleeping patter. It prevent a person from getting in to a deep sleep that the body needs to rest. If left untreated, it can other health related issues, work related incidents, or fatal driving accident due to sleep deprivation. Early detection is key to proper diagnosis and treatment. Contact your physician if you think you might have or show signs of sleep apnea. Treatment could just be as easy as a simple lifestyle

Pharmacologic treatment include modafinil, ritanserin and armodafinil, that are effective for treating daytime sleepiness due to narcolepsy. Sodium oxybate, trycyclic antidepressants, venlafaxine and reboxetine to treat cataplexy. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors and venlafaxine for sleep paralysis and hypnogogic

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia is a recent framework developed to address the dysfunctional cognitions and behaviors that contribute to poor sleeping patterns. Insomnia often presents as a comorbidity to a medical or psychiatric disorder, but may also be an isolated diagnosis. According to research studies, benzodiazepine-receptor agonists (BzRAs) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are the two most effective therapies for treatment and management of insomnia. And while both treatments are beneficial for short-term management of insomnia, CBTi produces long-term sustained benefits with no side effects thus being more advantageous that prescription drug use only. CBTi involves five components: stimulus control, sleep restriction, relaxation training, cognitive therapy and sleep hygiene education. Because CBTi is a fairly new approach, trained professionals may be difficult to find; creative delivery of therapy through telephone or Skype appointments may be necessary.

Behavioral therapies may help control symptoms, which includes taking three or more scheduled naps throughout the day and exercising. Patients are also advised to avoid heavy meals and alcohol, which can disturb or induce sleepiness during the day. Counseling is also very important for people with narcolepsy. Narcolepsy symptoms are not widely understood by the general public and this may cause patients to feel uncomfortable, alienated, or depressed. This disease can be quite frightening and thus the fear of inappropriately falling asleep will often alter a person’s life. In addition to therapy doctors will also typically prescribe stimulants to improve alertness and diminish excessive daytime sleepiness. Antidepressants are often used to treat cataplexy, hypnagogic hallucinations and sleep paralysis (NINDS

The participants in the CBTI group had to attend five weekly 90-minute group treatment sessions. The groups were comprised of 5–15 participants. The intervention followed a treatment manual that had been used in three previous treatment trials. It included educational materials about sleep and the key CBT for insomnia components, which included sleep restriction, stimulus control, relaxation training, and cognitive strategies. The participants in the TAU group received routine individual treatment for insomnia, which was provided in primary care settings. Routine individual treatments could be from a mental health practitioner or a CBT therapist. The results showed that participants in the CBTI group had better sleeping outcomes post-treatment than those in the TAU group. There were smaller effects at 20 weeks. In addition, there were not significant differences

Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) causing uncontrollable and sometimes inappropriate napping. Though the naps are often refreshing their frequent occurrences can severely impair daily social functioning. Apart from EDS the cardinal symptoms are; hypnagogic hallucinations, sleep paralysis, sleep onset rapid eye movement periods (SOREMP) and approximately 50% of all patients also suffer from cataplexy; sudden episodes of emotionally triggered muscle weakness (Saper et al., 2001, Schenck et al., 2007). In healthy individuals sleep normally progresses from light drowsiness to deep sleep and after approximately 90 minutes it will transition into rapid eyes movement (REM) sleep. With the

According to the National heart, lung, and blood institute website, “Sleep apnea is a common disorder in which a person has one or more pauses in breathing or weak breaths while they sleep” (NIH-National heart, lung and blood Institute, 2012, definition). The pauses and breathing can last from a few seconds to minutes, and breathing pauses may happen 30 times or more an hour. After the pauses, normal breathing can start but with a loud snort or choking sound (NIH-National heart, lung and blood Institute, 2012, definition). Sleep Apnea can be categorized in three types: obstructive sleep apnea, central sleep apnea and complex sleep apnea syndrome.

Sleep disorders are known as changes in sleeping patterns or habits. Of about seventy diagnosed sleep disorders, the most common types are insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy. Insomnia is a condition that prevents a person from getting

The first and most researched sleep disorder is sleep apnea. Sleep apnea does not affect children as often as it effects adults, but it is still a rising concern. Sleep apnea occurs in about 2 per cent of children, mainly between the ages of one through eight. But it can also show up in older children and even infants. (Klein). Research says that young blacks are more at risk than young whites. (Fritz p 83). Children with sleep apnea briefly stop breathing many times during the night due to an obstruction in the respiratory tract. Most of the time it is related to enlarged tonsils and adenoids or to obesity. As the child will gasp for there breath during sleep, they awaken for a few moments to regain there normal breathing and then they immediately return back to sleep. Because the child will be awoken by this many times during the night, this cause sleep deprivation. (Common Sleep Problems AA). The physical symptoms of sleep apnea are excessive daytime sleepiness, snoring, restless sleep, heavy and irregular breathing, excessive perspiring during the night, bad dreams, sleeping with there mouth open, sleeps in strange positions, morning headaches, learning problems, excessive irritability, depression, changes in personality, difficulty

As stated in a previous statistic, sleep disorders unfortunately target a wide variety of ages. Children are commonly affected by Sleep Apnea, teeth grinding, Night Terrors, Nightmares, sleep walking, Restless Leg Syndrome, bedwetting, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Adults tend to be affected by Insomnia, Hypersomnia, Sleep Apnea, Narcolepsy, Sleep Paralysis, Hypopnea Syndrome, and Noctoria. Sleep disorders are very common and also very dangerous in some circumstances. Ill treating or ignoring sleep disorders can lead to lethargy, poor mood, lack of motivation, and may negatively impact

I have always had problems sleeping due to trauma and have struggled for years to help myself control my insomnia and not let it control me. Sometimes it would come in handy and I could use it to my advantage but most of the time it just ruined me, my attitude, my focus, and my ability to cope. Naps were out of the question, I would literally have to stay awake until my body and mind gave out, something had to give eventually. No matter what I did, how much I exercised, what I ate, how much caffeine I didn’t drink, what medications I tried, it all never really helped me. I was so sick of always just putting a band aid on everything and it never ever solved the underlying problem. There were a few things I had started doing in order to

Some of you may be thinking, what are sleeping disorders? Sleeping disorders are categorized into four different groups: the people who have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep, the ones who fall asleep at the wrong times, people who sleep too much, and people who have abnormal behaviors while sleeping. The most common types of sleeping disorders in teens is that they have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. This is because a teens natural sleeping pattern would be to fall asleep at 11 p.m.(National Sleep Foundation), so when they try and to go to sleep early, it is very hard to fall asleep. Also, teens have very irregular sleeping patterns because of school, work, and other extracurricular activities.

The number one treatment that many Insomniacs (people with insomnia) are recommended to take are behavioral therapies. Behavioral therapies include education about good sleeping habits, cognitive behavioral therapy (which is the process of eliminating or controlling negative thoughts), Relaxation techniques, Stimulus control and many other types of treatments (Saddiccha, 1). Patients can actually choose what they think is best for them but it is better to take the doctor’s advice. A fact that most people believe is that sleeping pills can actually cure insomnia. Sleeping pills can help a patient sleep but it cannot actually cure insomnia (Thrasybule, 1). Also, most doctors do not recommend on taking prescription sleeping pills for more than a few weeks but there other sleeping pills that are approved for long term use (“Insomnia,” 1). Since many people are being affected by Insomnia there are several ways we can prevent and at the same time treat this particular disorder. The key is to change your daily routine, and you can do this by exercising regularly, avoiding caffeine, getting regular exposure to the late afternoon sun and practicing stress reduction techniques (“Insomnia,” 1). Insomnia is mostly under-recognized, under-diagnosed, and under-treated which is suggesting that most people don’t take it as a big deal when it should be (Saddiccha, 1). If we work together as a community to make Insomnia known throughout