A sleep disorder (somnipathy) is a medical disorder of the sleep patterns of a person or animal. Some sleep disorders are serious enough to interfere with normal physical, mental and emotional functioning. A test commonly ordered for some sleep disorders is the polysomnogram.
The most common sleep disorders include:
Just about anything can cause a sleep disorder - emotional, physical - internal or external. Fear is a strong component of loss of sleep as it produces anxiety, sweats and palpitations. Sleep loss can be temporary or long term, and will cause illnesses as a result. The mind was not built to go without sleep - a time in which the soul processes in another frequency. Changes in life style, such as a shift work change (SWC), can contribute to sleep disorders.
Other problems that can affect sleep:
Treatments for sleep disorders generally can be grouped into four categories:
None of these general approaches is sufficient for all patients with sleep disorders. Rather, the choice of a specific treatment depends on the patient's diagnosis, medical and psychiatric history, and preferences, as well as the expertise of the treating clinician. Often, behavioral/psychotherapeutic and pharmacological approaches are not incompatible and can effectively be combined to maximize therapeutic benefits. Management of sleep disturbances that are secondary to mental, medical, or substance abuse disorders should focus on the underlying conditions.
Medications and somatic treatments may provide the most rapid symptomatic relief from some sleep disturbances. Some disorders, such as narcolepsy, are best treated pharmacologically. Others, such as chronic and primary insomnia, may be more amenable to behavioral interventions, with more durable results.
Special equipment may be required for treatment of several disorders such as obstructive apnea, the circadian rhythm disorders and bruxism. In these cases, when severe, an acceptance of living with the disorder, however well managed, is often necessary.
Due to rapidly increasing knowledge about sleep in the 20th century, including the discovery of REM sleep and sleep apnea, the medical importance of sleep was recognized. The medical community began paying more attention than previously to primary sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, as well as the role and quality of sleep in other conditions.
By the 1970s in the USA, clinics and laboratories devoted to the study of sleep and sleep disorders had been founded, and a need for standards arose.
Sleep Medicine is now a recognized subspecialty within internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, otolaryngology, psychiatry and neurology in the United States.
One of the most common treatment is hypnosis, to get to the cause of the problem causing the sleep disorder.
Competence in sleep medicine requires an understanding of a plethora of very diverse disorders, many of which present with similar symptoms such as excessive daytime sleepiness, which, in the absence of volitional sleep deprivation, "is almost inevitably caused by an identifiable and treatable sleep disorder", such as sleep apnea, narcolepsy, idiopathic central nervous system (CNS) hypersomnia, Kleine-Levin syndrome, menstrual-related hypersomnia, idiopathic recurrent stupor, or circadian rhythm disturbances. Another common complaint is insomnia, a set of symptoms which can have a great many different causes, physical and mental. Management in the varying situations differs greatly and cannot be undertaken without a correct diagnosis.
Sleep dentistry (bruxism, snoring and sleep apnea), while not recognized as one of the nine dental specialties, qualifies for board-certification by the American Board of Dental Sleep Medicine (ABDSM). The resulting Diplomate status is recognized by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), and these dentists are organized in the Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine (USA). The qualified dentists collaborate with sleep physicians at accredited sleep centers and can provide oral appliance therapy and upper airway surgery to treat or manage sleep-related breathing disorders.[
Brain regions sleep more deeply when used more -- also in birds PhysOrg - January 12, 2011
During deep sleep the brain is highly electrically active - but only in those regions, which were heavily used previously while awake. When we are asleep, those regions of our brain that were particularly active during wakefulness sleep more deeply.
Sleep mode: The energy cost of sleep deprivation PhysOrg - January 12, 2011
The findings show that missing a night of sleep burns roughly 135 calories, the equivalent of two slices of bread or a 225 ml glass of semi-skimmed milk. In terms of physical exertion, this amounts to walking just under two miles. On the flip side, eight hours of sleep saved the same approximate amount of energy.
The key to being attractive (and looking healthy)? A good night's sleep PhysOrg - December 15, 2010
If you want to look attractive and healthy, the best thing you can do is get a good night's sleep, finds research in the Christmas issue published in the British Medical Journal today. For the first time, say the authors, there is scientific backing for the concept of beauty sleep. The study, led by John Axelsson from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, investigated the relationship between sleep and perceptions of attractiveness and health. The authors believe this research is important in today's 24 hour society with the number of people suffering from sleep disorders and disturbed sleep on the rise.
Sleep helps brain sift memories, study shows PhysOrg - December 1, 2010
Most adults say they can't remember things as well as they used to. But what they really mean is that they canŐt remember anything for very long - and poor sleep may be the cause.
Where Sleep Resides in the Brain Live Science - September 24, 2010
Researchers have identified a mechanism crucial to the transition from wakefulness into sleep. Their work has pointed to the molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) as a key player in the zonking-out process.
Vivid dreams improve our memories Telegraph.co.uk - August 16, 2010
People who enjoy a dream-filled sleep are significantly better at recalling information and making links between facts when they wake, scientists found. But recharging with a shallow nap offers no such mental boost, the research suggests.
Secrets of Sleeping Soundly Uncovered National Geographic - August 10, 2010
Sound sleepers' brains have "blockades" against noise, study says.
Sleep enhances our ability to remember to do something in the future PhysOrg - June 23, 2010
When it comes to executing items on tomorrow's to-do list, it's best to think it over, then "sleep on it," say psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis. People who sleep after processing and storing a memory carry out their intentions much better than people who try to execute their plan before getting to sleep. The researchers have shown that sleep enhances our ability to remember to do something in the future, a skill known as prospective memory.
The Secrets of Sleep National Geographic - May 28, 2010
From birth, we spend a third of our lives asleep. After decades of research, we're still not sure why.
Sleeping well at 100 years of age: Study searches for the secrets to healthy longevity PhysOrg - May 2, 2010
A study in the May 1 issue of the journal Sleep is the first to examine sleep issues in a large sample of exceptionally old adults, including nearly 2,800 people who were 100 years of age and older.>
Why you are not thirsty while sleeping PhysOrg - March 2, 2010
New research suggests the body's internal clock is what prevents you from becoming dehydrated and needing to drink during sleep.
Needing less sleep as you age is a myth claims scientist and could do you harm Telegraph.co.uk - February 22, 2010
The role of sleep in brain development PhysOrg - February 21, 2010
Building on his research that the brain during sleep is fundamentally different from the brain during wakefulness, Dr. Frank has found that cellular changes in the sleeping brain that may promote the formation of memories. "This is the first real direct insight into how the brain, on a cellular level, changes the strength of its connections during sleep," Frank says.
A midday nap markedly boosts the brain's learning capacity PhysOrg - February 21, 2010
If you see a student dozing in the library or a co-worker catching 40 winks in her cubicle, don't roll your eyes. New research from the University of California, Berkeley, shows that an hour's nap can dramatically boost and restore your brain power. Indeed, the findings suggest that a biphasic sleep schedule not only refreshes the mind, but can make you smarter.
Study shows that adults have dreamlike thoughts during sleepwalking and sleep terrors episodes PhysOrg - December 1, 2009
Sounds During Sleep Aid Memory, Study Finds New York Times - November 19, 2009
cience has never given much credence to claims that you can learn Chinese or French by having the instruction CDs play while you sleep. If any learning happens that way, most scientists say, the language lesson is probably waking the sleeper up, not causing nouns and verbs to seep into a sound-asleep mind.
Waking up memories while you sleep PhysOrg - November 19, 2009
The research strongly suggests that we don't shut down our minds during deep sleep.
Dreams may have an important physiological function PhysOrg - November 12, 2009
Dreams have long been assumed to have psychological functions such as consolidating emotional memories and processing experiences or problems, but according to a Harvard psychiatrist and sleep researcher the real function may actually be physiological.
The waking nightmare of sleep paralysis Guardian.co.uk - October 5, 2009
Imagine awaking to a strong sense of a 'presence', pressure on your chest, intense fear and hallucinations, but being incapable of moving a muscle
New Theory Questions Why We Sleep Live Science - August 26, 2009
The purpose of sleep remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in science. Although we spend roughly one-third of life asleep, researchers still do not know why. While sleep is often thought to have evolved to play an unknown but vital role inside the body, a new theory now suggests it actually developed as a method to better deal with the outside world.
Why sleep? Scientist delves into one of science's great mysteries PhysOrg - August 20, 2009
Bats, birds, box turtles, humans and many other animals share at least one thing in common: They sleep. Humans, in fact, spend roughly one-third of their lives asleep, but sleep researchers still don't know why.
Association Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea And Weight Gain Found Science Daily - June 25, 2009
According to a research abstract that will be presented on June11, at Sleep 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, a link exists between the severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and weight gain.
Brains replay memories while we sleep and store the highlights, claim scientists Telegraph.co.uk - June 24, 2009
We may think we are asleep - but deep in the recesses of our mind a "memory editor" is working overtime, replaying the experiences of the day and storing the highlights on our brain's version of a video recorder, claim scientists.
Sleep helps build long-term memories PhysOrg - June 24, 2009
Experts have long suspected that part of the process of turning fleeting short-term memories into lasting long-term memories occurs during sleep. Now, researchers at the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics of MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have shown that mice prevented from "replaying" their waking experiences while asleep do not remember them as well as mice who are able to perform this function.
Light Receptors In Eye Play Key Role In Setting Biological Clock Science Daily - August 16, 2008
... a switching mechanism in the eye plays a key role in regulating the sleep/wake cycles in mammals.
Sleep deprivation affects ability to make sense of what we see Science Daily - May 20, 2008
Neuroscience researchers at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore have shown for the first time what happens to the visual perceptions of healthy but sleep-deprived volunteers who fight to stay awake, like people who try to drive through the night.
Violent Sleep Disorder Linked To A Form Of Dementia Science Daily - May 17, 2007
John Zimmerman, an associate professor in Carnegie Mellon University's School of Design and Human-Computer Interaction Institute, has developed an unconventional alarm clock every new parent needs - a clock to keep their children sleeping. Called the Reverse Alarm Clock, the product aims to keep young children from interrupting their parents' sleep.
Professor Creates 'Reverse Alarm Clock' That Keeps Young Children Sleeping Science Daily - May 15, 2007
John Zimmerman, an associate professor in Carnegie Mellon University's School of Design and Human-Computer Interaction Institute, has developed an unconventional alarm clock every new parent needs - a clock to keep their children sleeping. Called the Reverse Alarm Clock, the product aims to keep young children from interrupting their parents' sleep.
Learning while we sleep and dream PhysOrg - May 15, 2007
Suppose you have a lot of information and you want to put it together so it makes sense. Here's a suggestion from psychologists at Harvard Medical School - sleep on it.
No sleep means no new brain cells BBC - February 12, 2007
Missing out on sleep may cause the brain to stop producing new cells, a study has suggested.
The work on rats, by a team from Princeton University found a lack of sleep affected the hippocampus, a brain region involved in forming memories. The research in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science showed a stress hormone causes the effect. A UK expert said it would be interesting to see if too little rather than no sleep had the same consequence.
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