What Are the Different Types of Sleep Disorders?

Millions of people around the world suffer from sleep disorders of one kind or the other. These include trouble in falling sleep or sleeplessness or just staying awake the entire night. Abnormal behavior while sleeping such as sleep walking or fear at night also comes under the category of sleeping disorder. There are various types of sleep disorders that affect individuals both mentally and physically.

1. Insomnia – Insomnia is not a disease but a symptom that is characterized by trouble in falling sleep or marinating sleep. This is caused due to lack in the amount of sleep or the quality of sleep.

There are three types of insomnia –

* Transient Insomnia which lasts from few days to weeks. This is caused by stress, depression, and irregular sleep hour and sleep environment.

* Chronic Insomnia lasts for almost a year. Effects vary according to the cause of its occurrence.

* Acute Insomnia lasts for three weeks to six months. A person is unable to have a sound sleep due to insomnia.

2. Parasomnias – They are other types of sleep disorders which involve unnatural and unusual actions during the sleep. It also includes various emotions, behaviors, dreams and perceptions that take place during the sleep, between sleeping diseases or when the person is falling asleep or waking from sleep.

* REM Parasomnias is a disorder where the muscle atonia is absent. This makes the person act according to his or her dreams. This can be disastrous for the patient and the person sleeping next to the patient.

* NREM Parasomnias is also known as slow wave sleep. Under its symptoms the patient is caught between stages of falling asleep and waking from it. Few of NREM Parasomnias occurs during childhood but reduce with the growing age.

3. Sleep Apnea – It is one of the many types of sleep disorders in which a person takes a pause of minimum 10 seconds in breathing during the sleep. It is a continuous process. The patient is unaware about this disease until someone else notices its symptoms. Symptoms of sleep apnea are frequent silences, sleepiness, exhaustion, regular awakening and loud snoring. This is a very dangerous disorder found in people. It can even be harmful to the extent that it can cause death.

Reasons of Sleep Disturbance

All of us understand the importance of sleep but there are quite a few reasons that hinder a good sleep. Some of these are,

* Irregular bed time causes physical and mental health problems along with disturbance in sleep. Maintaining a sleeping schedule is not possible by everyone but one has to learn to do so. Quality and quantity equally matters for a good sleep.

* A disturbed and stressed mind will give you no chance to relax. This will result in various types of sleep disorders.

* For a healthy life you require good sleep, exercise and fresh fruits and vegetables. Without these you can not remain fit.

Source by David D Nguyen