Sound Sleep Guide

Archive for April, 2007

Sleep disorders can occur at any age to anyone due to any existing medical condition, stress or medication. Whatever the reason, sleep disorders can affect your health and everyday performance, which can develop in to serious health conditions and even turn fatal.

Treating Sleeping Disorders

In order to be able to start treating a sleeping disorder you must be able to recognize it and that can only be done by educating yourself about your body and health. It is essential we get regular night time sleep, as that is the time when the body and mind recharges itself from a whole day of physical activity, stress and work. Lack of sleep will produce one or more of these symptoms: fatigue, irritability, aggressiveness, inability to focus or think clearly and change in appetite.

Any of these symptoms can put your health and life at risk if you are dealing with sharp objects when you cannot focus or if you are driving. Lack of sleep will affect your work and relationship with your family, spouse and friends.

Sleep Disorders and Sleep Diaries

If you see some changes in the pattern of your sleep but are not sure if they can be connected to a sleeping disorder you can start to track the symptoms down by keeping a sleep diary. The connection in sleep disorders and sleep diaries is that you will be able to check your sleeping pattern in a given period of time, which should not be less then a week. Thus, along with your doctor, you will determine if you are suffering from a sleep disorder and what is the right course of treatment.

A sleep disorder sleep diary will include notes of things such as your sleeping time, waking time, how many times you woke up during the night, what you ate before sleep, did you dream and how do you describe the quality of your sleep. These notes will help your doctor vastly to determine if you are having a sleeping disorder and what treatment will be best for you.

Sleep disorders and sleep diaries should continue to be maintained even when you are following a treatment, as through them you will be able to see if you have improved your quantity and quality of sleep. The sleep disorders and sleep dairies notes should be maintained for the entire time of the treatment or as much as the doctor suggests.

Sleep disorders that result in interference with the person’s mental as well as emotional functioning can be hard to combat. Allergies too play an important role in affecting the sleep patterns adversely, and sleep disorders may be considered as a group of syndromes that cause disturbance in a person’s quantity and quality of sleep.

Sleep is no doubt a basic behavior common to humans and animals, but in spite of a lot of research into the topic, researchers are still unable to completely comprehend all of its functions. Over the last 30 years, with more laboratory studies having been conducted, new information has emerged regarding cyclical patterns of different types of sleep as well as how they are related to breathing, heart rate, brain waves and more.

Besides normal sleep disorders, there are three more categories that are the result of or related to substance use or other mental or physical disorders. Depression as well as anxiety disorders cause sleep disturbances, and chronic insomnia occur due to psychiatric disorders. Using drugs, alcohol as well as caffeine is often the cause of disturbed sleep patterns, and alcohol abuse, in particular, leads to insomnia. Amphetamines or cocaine causes people to suffer from insomnia while using these drugs, and during drug withdrawal, there may be hypersomnia.

Children and Sleep Trouble

Children too suffer from sleep disorders, and according to some pediatric estimates, at least 20 to 30 per cent of children are affected. This includes sleepwalking and night terror as also narcolepsy and sleep apnea.

The causes and symptoms of sleep disorders have been studied in depth, and the most important symptoms noticed were insomnia as well as sleepiness during waking hours. The diagnosis of sleep disorders may often warrant studying the psychological history, medical history of the patient, gender and age of the patient.

To further help solve the problem of sleep disorders, doctors may need to make use of other means including asking patients to keep a sleep log to record their sleep behavior. This can help identify the severity as well as characteristics of their sleep disturbance and psychological testing to evaluate insomnia and self-report tests to assess daytime sleepiness. They can also use laboratory studies in sleep laboratories or by using portable instruments at the patient’s homes and other tests to get to the bottom of sleep disorders.

Treating sleep disorders depends on its cause, and medications such as sedatives or hypnotic medications are also used, though only for insomnia related to temporary stress or overdose. In the case of narcolepsy, stimulants may be used including dextroamphetamine sulfate or methylphenidate. Psychotherapy is also used for those having sleep disorders in conjunction with other medical disorders. Even lifestyle changes can be recommended that includes quitting smoking, avoiding alcohol or drug abuse as well as needing to lose weight so that the upper airway becomes more stable.

There are many different sleep disorder treatments available that include over-the-counter drugs to herbal remedies, and in some cases, even surgery. There are many sleep aids that can be obtained over-the-counter in drug stores, grocery stores and also online. Medications such as Melatonin claim great things though some experts consider it as a dietary supplement which, towards the evening, sees a rise in melatonin production in the body that induces a relaxed, drowsy state and eventually, sleep.

Many Herbal Remedies Are Available

There is a lot of variety available when it comes to herbal remedies that can be used for sleep disorder treatment. The reason why so many herbs help in sleep disorder treatment lies in the fact that they are synergetic and work on one problem, and when that problem is relieved, the entire body functioning improves and so, allows for better sleep.

A few of these herbs include Black Cohosh, California Poppy Root, and Camomile. Black Cohosh is a Native American herb that helps to relax a person, eases pain and is wonderful for female problems though it should not be used in high dosages when it may cause nausea as well as dizziness. California Poppy Root helps to ease anxiety as well as nervousness that make a person feel sleepless. Camomile promotes well-being and a cup of Camomile will encourage sleep.

Doctors may also prescribe drugs that can help in sleep disorder treatment and though these are not cures for sleep disorders, they will make living with such a condition considerably easier. The important thing to remember is that sleep disorder treatment is dependent on the root cause of the disorder.

Psychotherapy is great for patients that have sleep disorders along with other mental disorders. Depending on the patient’s scores on the Beck or Zung inventories, an appropriate direction of treatment may be found. In the case of children having sleep disorders, a regular pattern of pre-bedtime rituals that help to relax the child as well as prepare him or her for bed would be helpful.

There are also alternative treatments that are also effective with treating sleep disorders such as insomnia caused by anxiety or emotional stress. Practicing meditation, performing breathing exercises as well as yoga may all help break the vicious cycle of sleeplessness, worrying about not being able to sleep, as well as other sleeplessness causes.

There are also homeopathic practitioners who recommend people with chronic insomnia should consult a professional homeopath, and there are specific remedies available for sleep disorder treatment. Chinese practitioners perceive insomnia to be a symptom of excess yang energy, and magnetic magnetite is recommended for such disorders. Even changes in diet can help treat sleep disorders by eliminating stimulant foods such as cola, coffee as well as chocolate, and also avoiding late-night meals and snacks.