More than 1 in 10 people suffers from a sleep disorder, and virtually all of these sufferers are undiagnosed.
Sleep experts say that if you snore or have daytime drowsiness you should have a sleep disorder assessment by a specialist doctor.
While some of the sleep disorders may be only minor, all will lead to sleep deficit which affects us physically and can interfere with our mental and emotional well being.
Some of the most common sleep disorders are:
- sleep apnea (undesired breathing pauses during sleep)
- hypopnea (below normal breathing airflow during sleep)
- sleepwalking (waking state behaviour during sleep, including walking)
- narcolepsy (involuntarily falling asleep outside sleeping hours)
- sleep paralysis (total body paralysis before sleeping and/or upon waking)
- restless legs syndrome (urge to move your limbs while asleep)
- jet lag (chronological disruption of sleep cycle)
There may be psychological or psychiatric problems which cause sleep disruption (i.e. depression, alcoholism, etc.), these should be diagnosed and cured in conjunction with the sleep disorders.
Sleep pattern disruptions which are due to your particular lifestyle necessities like jet lag or shift work sleep disorder can be controlled with light therapy or melatonin treatment.