Every human being in the world loves to sleep. It is the most important thing needed in life. However, there are some people who are not able to sleep well. Some have extreme conditions to where they are diagnosed with a sleep disorder. There are people who do not really know that they have a sleep disorder without consulting with their physician. There are numerous sleep disorders in the world. The most common sleep disorders are sleep talking, sleep walking, night terrors, insomnia, nightmares, narcolepsy, sleep apnea, and restless legs syndrome. In addition, there are treatments for these various sleep disorders.
The first sleep disorder is sleep talking. It is also called somniloquism. This sleep disorder is rather common. About forty percent of the college students who have been examined by investigators have been found to talk in their sleep. Usually they have no recollection of having done so. Sleep talking is considered to be a sign of poor sleep and of dream activity. (Laird 403). Another one is called somnambulism or sleep walking. It is not common as somniloquism. It is probably caused by emotional disturbances. (Laird 403). Sleepwalking is when a person moves around in bed or leaves the bed and walks around in a sound sleep. In adults, continued sleepwalking may be a sign of an illness such as epilepsy or of anxiety or stress. Treatment of the underlying disorder can relieve sleep problems caused by anxiety or emotional trauma. (MacMillan 93-94).
Night terrors are the next type of sleep disorder. It is also called pavor nocturnus. They are attacks of anxiety which are associated with distressing dreams. Usually, the victim tosses in bed and cries or moans without awakening. This disorder is more common among child...
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Each year at least 40 million Americans suffer from long term, persistent sleep disorders, and an additional 20 million experience occasional sleeping problems. About 60 million Americans a year have insomnia and it tends to increase with age and affects about 40 percent of women and 30 percent of men. It is estimated that 18 million Americas are suffering from sleep apnea, 12 million have RLS, and 250,000 are affected by narcolepsy. Adults typically need between 6 and 10 hours of sleep per 24 hour period, and most people need approximately 8 hours of sleep per day. Infants generally need about 16 hours per day; whereas, teenagers require 9 hours on average. In the first 3 months of...
Miller, Susan, Karen Springer, Peter Katel, and Binnie K. Fisher. "Melatonin Mania." Newsweek November 6, 1995: 60-63.
What is Insomnia? What Causes Insomnia?. (n.d.). Medical News Today: Health News. Retrieved December 1, 2009, from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
Chronic sleep loss is becoming more common in modern culture and less restricted to sleep-deprived diseases such as insomnia. Suggested to be the result of a number car, industrial, medical, and other occupational accidents, sleep deprivation is beginning to be recognized as a public concern. As a result, the Centers for Disease Control
Millions of people suffer from the same tossing and turning every which way, getting their sheets all disarranged and their insistent minds abundantly worse. Patients often proclaim indications of insomnia while sitting in the family health clinic. Insomnia traits include hindrance falling asleep, continueing to awaken, and rejuvenating before wanted. One may suffer from insomnia if one shows signs of an increased difficulty in attentiveness, decreased communal or scholastic skills, and a diminished mood or enthusiasm. (Foldvary-Schaefer 111). Countless individuals deal with insomnia for a large amount of their lives and some choose differing treatments, while some do not use any treatments at all. While never being uncommon, the amounts of causes leading to insomnia come in boundlessly; finding new studies and stories every day.
Stress is the biggest factor for sleeping disorders. A lot of students have trouble sleeping at night because of stress. Their workload, financial worries, and self-esteem give them stress through out the day keeping them up at night when they are trying to sleep. In a study done by Chen, Lee, Rogers, and Wuertz (2013), 103 female college students sleeping patterns were studied in relation to stress. It was found that most of them experienced three nights with bad sleep a week and 68% of them were classified as insomniacs (p. 854). Because of this the female’s who participated also reported
Hirshkowitz, M., & Smith, P. B. (2004). Sleep disorders for dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Pub.
Sleep is one of our basic needs to survive and to function in day to day operations, but not everyone needs the same amount of sleep. Some people can survive on very little sleep, i.e. five hours a night, and some people need a lot of sleep, to the extend that they are sleeping up to 10 to sometimes 15 hours a night (Nature, 2005). According to Wilson (2005) the general rule states that most people need from seven to eight hours of sleep. The deprivation of sleep in our society in continually increasing with the demands in society increasing work loads, the myth that a few hours of sleep is only necessary to function properly and that sleep is sometimes considered as killing time (Nature, 2005). Sometimes sleep deprivation is also caused by other situations like sleep disorders, i.e. sleep apnea, chronic insomnia or medical conditions such as stress (Wilson, 2005).
The discovery of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep suggested that sleep was not, as it was thought to be, a dormant state but rather a mentally dynamic one. Your brain is, in fact, very active in this state, almost to the level at which it is when a person is awake. Yet during this active stage in which most dreams occur, the movements of the rest of the body are completely stilled. To imagine this paralysis during dreams not occurring is a frightful image, since in many cases dreams are violent and active. When the neurotransmitters that control the movement of the body do not work properly the person develops REM sleep behavioral disorder (RBD).
Transition: Now that you know what the cause of narcolepsy is, let's talk about how people treat narcolepsy.
Sleeping is something that is an essential part of human nature and is a must in order for one to be a functional human being. Sleep is an idea that is accompanied by many wives’ tales, including the idea that one needs seven to eight hours of sleep each night and alcohol helps one fall asleep and sleep more soundly. One myth about sleep is that during sleep, one is in a state of nothingness. In truth, however, it has been discovered that during sleep the brain is active, variations in heartbeat and breathing occur, and the eyes and ears are active throughout the time of sleep. These activities during a person’s sleep are important because they help that person be more aware, awake, and alert during sleep.
Arousal disorders are the most common type of parasomnia. These disorders include: confusional arousals, sleepwalking, sleep terrors and nightmares. Experts believe that each is related and share some symptoms. Essentially, they occur because a person is in a mixed state of being both asleep and awake, generally coming from the deepest stage of non-dreaming sleep. The individual is awake enough to act out complex behaviors, but asleep enough not to be aware of or remember them.
Sleep disorders are an underestimated public health concern considering that fifty to seventy million Americans are affected. Technological advances in the field of sleep have facilitated various theories to explain the need for and the purpose of sleep. Scientist have uncovered many types of sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy. Sleep disorders affect men ,women, children, the elderly, and the obese in different ways. Factors such as the number of children and the effects of menopause have been studied to determine their effects on sleep. Various treatments have been utilized ranging from non-pharmacologic to pharmacologic methods. Scientist have pinpointed areas of the brain that are involved in sleep deprivation and hormones that ultimately affect sleep.
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