Sleep Disorders

Sleep is probably the only time in a period of 24 hours that the muscles in your body get a chance to relax. For people under a lot of stress and tough deadlines, a few hours sleep can be very few and far between. Suffering from any kind of sleep disorder can throw anybody, especially this brand of people, way off track during their daily lives and schedules. Moreover, sufficient sleep is also essential for the proper functioning of the immune system and helps maintain the ability of the body to fight off infections and diseases. There are a number of disorders that play havoc with our sleeping patterns. Probably the most common kind of sleep disorder is insomnia, here the sufferer experience significant difficulty in attaining sleep. Other individuals may suffer from disturbed sleep such as in the case of obstructive sleep apnea, while oversleeping, also known as narcolepsy, is also very common.

There are a number of factors that play a role in the development of certain kinds of sleep disorders. For example, insomnia can be caused by the body and mind going through a bout of severe anxiety, where the individual faces a period of apprehension, increased tension or an overall feeling of helplessness or uncertainty. Changes in the hormonal levels of the body, such as those that take place during the menstruation, pregnancy and menopausal stages of a woman’s cycle may all cause insomnia. Some people may also experience temporary insomnia because of factors like jet lag, changing between night shifts and day shifts or even as a side effect of certain medications. Sleep apnea is primarily a blockage of the air passages during sleep. When a person is awake, the throat muscles help to keep the airway stiff and open. However, when asleep, the throat muscles relax and allow the air to flow in and out freely during your sleep. Sleep apnea can be the result of the throat muscles relaxing too much, being overweight – where the extra soft fat tissue tends to thicken the wall of the windpipe – causing the opening to narrow and making it harder to open, or even the simple factor of aging where the signals sent to the brain to keep the throat muscles stiff usually reduces in effectiveness. Most cures for sleep disorders entail making a few adjustments to your lifestyles such as quitting intake of alcohol or smoking, losing weight, avoidance of sleeping on the back but sleeping laterally instead or even regularly changing your sleeping positions to ensure regular breathing.