3 most common sleep disorders -Do you have one?

Everyone has an occasional sleepless night, when that happens to me. If I have not been able to fall back to sleep in about 20 minutes or 30 minutes maximum I get up and have a cup of Calamine tea, it does the trick for me.

Do you know  there are approximately 80 million Americans Suffering with sleep disorders, and there are more than some 70 recognized sleep disorders with some more prevalent than others.

Insomnia is the most common characterized by difficulty going  to sleep at night,  waking in the middle of the night, having trouble going back to sleep, waking up earlier than you planned or want to.

But insomnia and occasional sleepless nights are  greatly two different things. Insomnia is a sleep disorder that disrupts your ability to sleep at night.

Losing sleep regularly could lead to some trouble and difficulties during the day, like excessive daytime sleepiness, depressed work or school performance, accidents while driving, lack of energy, Forgetfulness, can  also lead to depression.

Causes of insomnia can be brought on from medical or physical problems, like stress and excessive worrying.

Types of insomnia acute,and chronic.

Acute insomnia usually last one night to a few weeks,  most caused by some stressful event in your life usually subsides without medical intervention.

Chronic insomnia is more serious causing disrupted sleep at least three nights a week for at least 3 months can be treated with non-medical or medical with over-the-counter meds or doctor prescriptions medications, possible causes.

Alcohol

Daytime naps

Worrying a lot

Sleep apnea

Sleep apnea is the second most common type of sleep disorder that is diagnosed and treated by Sleep clinics.

Sleep apnea can cause pauses in your breathing while you sleep that can last up to several minutes occurring several times a night, you may not realize that this is happening you wake up the next morning feeling tired and fatigued as if you didn’t get any sleep, this is caused by obstructive sleep apnea, where your airway becomes blocked during sleep causing shallow breathing and pausing a breath.

You’re airway  consist, of throat, mouth, nose, and wind pipe with little or no air flowing this causes a decrease in blood oxygen, this signals the brain to disrupt your sleep which helps you open your airway.

Sleep apnea is a treatable condition, with some lifestyle changes such as quitting smoking if you smoke, no caffeine, are large Meals within 2 hours of going to bed, lose weight, start exercising regularly, have a regular sleep schedule, and consult with a sleep apnea specialist.

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy  is the third most common type of sleep disorder, there is no cure for narcolepsy

But it can often be successfully treated through medication and behavioral therapy.

Narcolepsy is a neurological  disorder that causes you to fall asleep Without warning  at Inappropriate times Which could be very dangerous

The primary symptoms of narcolepsy are excessive daytime sleepiness and sometimes complexity a sudden attack of muscle weakness and slurring of speech and total collapse and sometimes sleep paralysis,  where you are wide awake but you cannot move it is very frightening.

I have had a few episodes of this myself, narcolepsy is the result of the brain not being able to regulate the sleep-wake Cycles.

Narcoleptics skip several stages of the normal sleep cycle and go in and out of REM sleep resulting in less restorative sleep.

According to the National Sleep Foundation this is how much sleep you need according to your age.

Newborns (0-3 months 14-17 hrs)

Infant (4-11 months 12-15 hrs)

Toddler (1-2 yr 11-14 hrs)

Preschool (3-5 yr 10-13 hrs)

Schoolage (6-13 yr 10-13 hrs)

Teenagers (14-17 yr 8-10 hrs)

Young Adults (18-25 yr 7-9 hrs)

Older Adults (65+yr 7-8 hrs)

Not getting enough sleep can cause, hypertesion, weight gain and weaken your immune system.