Why Is Sleep Important

23/08/2022

Sleepwalking, also known as somnambulism, is a behavior disorder that occurs during deep sleep and results in an individual either walking or performing complex behaviors while still asleep. Sleepwalking is more common in children than in adults and more likely to occur in people who are sleep deprived. The person may be difficult to awaken and will likely not remember anything about sleepwalking once they wake up.

23/08/2022

Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that causes extreme sleepiness during the day; some patients experience intermittent and uncontrollable episodes of falling asleep during any type of activity.

23/08/2022

Another disorder of the nervous system, restless leg syndrome (RLS), can lead to insomnia and is considered a sleep disorder. It is a disorder of the nervous system that affects the legs by causing abnormal urges to move them. Unfortunately, these urges seem to occur more frequently at night and cause sleep interruption.

23/08/2022

The common risk factors for sleep apnea include being overweight, over age 65, male, Hispanic, African-American, and of Pacific Island descent. Also, individuals who smoke, use alcohol, sedatives and/or tranquilizers, and individuals with nasal congestion, heart disorders, strokes, or brain tumors are also at higher risk for sleep apnea. Occasionally, individuals who have some blockage of their airway (for example, enlarged tonsils or narrowed airway) are also at risk of developing sleep apnea.

23/08/2022

Sleep apnea is a disorder that causes a person to stop breathing many times while they are sleeping. The breathing pauses may last a few seconds or longer and trigger the body to switch from non-REM stage IV sleep to the very light stage I sleep; occasionally the patient may wake up. These multiple interruptions of the normal sleep cycle can lead to insomnia and daytime sleepiness. Many people have this problem but do not realize it.

23/08/2022

Other fairly common causes of insomnia are pregnancy, menopause, and age (both men and women over age 65), all of which may be due to hormonal and other body chemistry changes. In addition, shift workers can develop problems because their sleep cycle is interrupted due to their irregular work schedule. Part of the reason for this development of insomnia is due to resetting of our internal body clock that controls the time of day that hormones are produced; also, the timing of other routine body functions such as urination, defecation, and exposure to light and darkness are altered because of schedule changes.

23/08/2022

Insomnia is often associated with other medical conditions. These medical conditions often interfere with the normal sleep cycle. Some of the more common conditions are listed as follows:

23/08/2022

Poor sleep hygiene is not the only cause of insomnia. Mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, and stress (for example, posttraumatic stress disorder, loss of spouse or financial problems) may also cause insomnia. In addition, medications used to treat some of these mental health problems may also cause or increase sleep problems. Discuss any sleep-related problems you think are caused by medications with your physician.

23/08/2022

Poor sleep hygiene refers to bad habits that interfere with an individual's ability to fall asleep. For example, drinking coffee or other caffeinated drinks in the evening, smoking, eating heavy foods late in the evening, falling asleep with the lights on and/or leaving the television on, or using a cell phone, computer, or tablet right before bed are bad habits or poor sleep hygiene can lead to insomnia.

23/08/2022

Insomnia is the inability to initiate or maintain sleep. Most people in their lifetime will have some difficulty falling asleep occasionally. However, if trouble falling asleep occurs either frequently or steadily, the individual may have insomnia. People with insomnia have difficulty falling asleep, sometimes for hours at a time, and they may wake up too early or they may wake up repeatedly through the night. Insomnia is considered the most common sleep disorder in the U.S. and studies suggest as many as 95% of Americans have reported an episode of insomnia at some time during their life.

23/08/2022

Some adults can vary in their sleep requirements from about 5 to as many as 10 hours per night. However, several studies have suggested the majority of normal adults average about 7 to 8 hours per night.

23/08/2022

A normal sleep cycle has two major categories termed REM and non-REM. REM stands for rapid eye movement. REM sleep is characterized by muscle relaxation, dreaming, episodic rapid eye movements, and low amplitude waves on an EEG (encephalograph). Non-REM sleep is divided into four stages from light sleep (stage 1) to stage IV (Delta or deep sleep). Non-REM sleep occupies about 75% of normal sleeping time while REM occupies the remaining 25% and usually occurs more toward morning. Sleep disorders disrupt these sleep cycles.

23/08/2022