Sleep Disorder
So, What is a Sleep Disorder?
This is a medical condition that affects the sleep patterns of people.
Usually these conditions would be related to problems with sleeping, like falling asleep at night time, staying asleep, excessive sleepiness and other abnormal conditions that can interfere with normal sleep patterns.
There is a number of things that cause sleep disorders, but they can be grouped into these four major groups:
- When a person has problems with falling asleep, that is called insomnia
- When a person having issues with staying awake, it is called excessive sleepiness
- When a person has an irregular sleep schedule, and it is called sleep rhythm problem
- When a person suffers from unusual behaviour when asleep.
Groups of Sleep Disorders
The first group of sleep disorders is called insomnia, caused by inability to fall asleep and stay asleep during night times. This condition can come and go, be short-term and become chronic. The most common factors of that condition could be such as:
- Depression
- Illness
- Stress or anxiety
- Excess of caffeine or alcohol
- Smoking
- Use of some medicines
It can also be caused by physical problems or poor bed habits.
The second group of sleep disorders is when a person experiences difficulty with staying awake that is called excessive sleepiness or also can be called hyperssomnia. Conditions like:
- Narcolepsy
- Obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea
- Restless leg syndrome
- And some others can cause excessive sleepiness
The main medicine that is prescribed for the treatment is Provigil (generic name Modafinil and Modalert).
This medicine is prescribed to fight several types of ecessive sleepiness, which caused by various sleep disorders, and is proven to be very effective. The main and active ingredient in this medicine is also called Modafinil. It is also used for the treatment of other conditions due to its great performance when it comes to mood elevating and stimulant effects.
Another group of sleep disorders can be described as a problem to stick to a regular schedule of sleep. This problem affects people that do shift work, rotating shifts, and night workers in particular, as well as people that travel often and suffer from jet leg. Conditions that belong to this group of sleep disorders are jet leg, short sleeper syndrome, shift work sleep disorder and irregular sleep-wake condition. Provigil can be used for the treatment of those conditions as well, as it can balance natural sleep-wake cycle.
Sleep Walking and Sleep Terrors Disorders
There are also some behaviours that can district sleep. They are particularly common in children and include such conditions as sleep walking and sleep terrors, as well as REM sleep disorder, when a person’s dreams are so real and violent, that it can cause an injury to a bed partner.
Sleep Disorders Treatment
The treatments will vary as they depend on the type of the sleep disorder that you have, and the outcome will vary as well. Sometimes a disorder might disappear without treatment, but usually speaking with a doctor is a good idea, and some sleep disorders can have a huge negative impact on people’s lives.
There are also good sleep habits that can help to prevent at least some of the sleep disorders mentioned above. They would include developing regular sleep habits and following them on a daily basis:
- Staying fit and healthy
- Sleeping in a quite
- Relaxing environment
… and a few other basic simple things.
Comments