Do you feel sleepy and drained the whole day? Do you feel as if you didn’t get a peaceful sleep at night? Or, where you keep waking up and could not go back into a deep slumber? If your answer is yes, then you may be suffering from a sleep disorder. Let’s have a glance at these four common sleep disorders that may be affecting your peaceful sleep.
Most Common Sleep Disorders
1. Insomnia
Insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders characterized as having trouble in a peaceful sleep that makes you feel sleepy and tired the whole day. It affects around 50% of adults. Insomnia is mainly of two types – acute insomnia, which usually persists for a few days to weeks, and chronic insomnia, which continues for months.
Significant symptoms of insomnia are –
- Difficulty in getting restful sleep or falling asleep at night.
- Disturbed sleep or waking up often during the night.
- Waking up early in the morning that’s not desired or planned.
Insomnia can be caused due to anxiety, depression, stress, medications, exhaustive working, etc. Getting less sleep affects everyday life badly. It will lead to feeling lazy and tired, forgetfulness, irritation, difficulty concentrating, decreased quality of life, and depression.
2. Restless Leg Syndrome
Restless leg syndrome is a sleep disorder characterized by an overwhelming urge to move one’s legs while resting. This sleeping disorder usually affects 10% of adults and 2% of children. The cause is unknown, but it is said to be hereditary.
Significant symptoms of restless leg syndrome are –
- Throbbing and aching of legs
- Pain in legs
- Pulling, creeping, or burning sensation in legs
All these symptoms arise when the person is relaxing or resting, making them move one’s legs for temporary relief. But it hampers their sleep. Restless leg syndrome leads to sleep deprivation, excessive daytime sleepiness, memory impairment, and lack of energy the whole day.
3. Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea also belongs to the common sleep disorders list, affecting most people, and they don’t realize it. It happens as the person’s breathing stops for several seconds, caused due to blockage in the upper respiratory system.
As the person falls asleep, the soft tissues in the throat relax and collapse into the airway, blocking oxygen from getting to the lungs. It makes the brain aware and forces the respiratory system to breathe harder, thus reducing sleep quality. Mostly, the person starts snoring during the night.
Significant symptoms of sleep apnea are –
- Loud snoring
- Inefficient sleep
- Morning headaches
The cause is partial or complete obstruction of breathing during nights. Sleep apnea is a severe sleep disorder that doesn’t let you fall asleep in peaceful slumber. It keeps you partially awake the whole night, making you feel dull and tired the next morning, affecting the daily routine. It could even lead to heart failure, heart attack, heart arrhythmia, etc.
4. Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder characterized as the inability of the brain to control wakefulness and sleep. It causes daytime drowsiness and sudden sleep attacks. People usually fall asleep unexpectedly during the day.
Significant symptoms of narcolepsy are –
- Excessive daytime sleeping
- Cataplexy – A condition in which muscle suddenly collapses due to being excited, a sudden rush of emotions, or getting startled, fear. And even though the person is completely awake, he couldn’t move or speak for a few moments. Cataplexy always affects during the daytime, when the sufferers are conscious.
- Sleep Paralysis – Sleep paralysis is the inability to move or speak when a person is asleep or about to wake up. It usually lasts for a few seconds to a few minutes. The sufferers are aware of their surroundings but can’t move the voluntary muscles since they are paralyzed.
- Hallucinations – Hallucinations are mostly frightening. It could be auditory as well as visual. Hallucinations are of two types: hypnopompic and hypnogogic. During hypnopompic, hallucinations occur when the person is waking up from sleep. During hypnogogic, hallucinations happen when the person is about to fall asleep.
If you are suffering from any of these common sleep disorders, you should meet your doctor for effective therapy and medications. It would be good if you never ignored your peaceful slumber. Restful sleep is essential to have a refreshing, bright day ahead.