Sleep Disorders

Sleeping is essential to humanity. Every body needs to have enough sleep to allow our bodies to rejuvenate and regain the energy that we have lost from our day to day activities. It is said that we need to have at least 7-8 hours of sleep a day to achieve the optimum benefits of sleeping as well as for health reasons. However, there are a lot of restricting factors that may hinder this. Stimulants, stressors, sleeping habits, lifestyle, and even our nature of work can disrupt our sleeping patterns thus, causing some people to develop certain sleep disorders. I have listed some of these interesting disorders below:

1. Primary Insomnia – this is a common or familiar disorder. Oftentimes, it is described as the difficulty of initiating or maintaining sleep. People with insomnia usually report difficulty falling asleep for hours and intermittent wakefulness during the night. The longer they lie in bed unable to go to sleep, the more distressed and aroused they become which makes it even more difficult for them to fall asleep. To be diagnosed with primary insomnia, you must have the symptoms for at least one month, and the sleep disturbance should not be related to a mental disorder, medical condition, or to substance use. 
   
   
2. Primary Hypersomnia – this is another disorder which is basically the opposite of insomnia. People with this condition are chronically sleeps and may sleep 12 hours or more at a stretch and still wake up sleepy. They can easily fall asleep wherever they are especially if the environment is not that stimulating.
   
   
3. Narcolepsy – is another interesting disorder that involves irresistible sleep attacks. To be diagnosed with this disturbance, one must experience the sleep attacks for at least 3 months. A person who has this condition may suddenly fall asleep while doing something like eating, walking, driving, or even in the middle of a conversation. These sleep episodes generally lasts 10-20 minutes up to an hour. 
   
   
4. Sleep Apnea – this is another common breathing-related sleep disorder. Those who have sleep apnea typically snores loudly. They would then go silent and do not breathe for several seconds at a time, and then gasps for air. Apnea is generally common to overweight people, middle-aged men, and pre-pubertal children with large tonsils.
   
   
5. Sleep Walking – this is a parasomnia described as the repeated episodes of rising from the bed during sleep and walking about. On awakening, the person has amnesia for the episode and would probably experience a short period of confusion and disorientation.

Note:

Sleep disorders, particularly insomnia can actually be treated with a variety of drugs or through behavioral, and cognitive-behavioral therapies that change sleep related behavior and thinking patterns.