Sleep disorders affect how we respond to our environment. If you are dragging around through the day and finding it hard to function you may have a sleep disorder.
Most of the time a sleep disorder is only a temporary symptom due to stress in our lives. At night you snuggle in bed waiting on that peaceful sleep and find yourself tossing and turning instead. Maybe you went to sleep ok but at 3am your eyes pop open and sleep just won’t return. Dawn comes around and during your day you cannot function. The good news is that this is a reaction to stress in our life and clears up in a day or two.
Sometimes it is a more serious condition called chronic insomnia. It requires a doctor to unveil, because any chronic pain can interrupt sleep. Some of these are arthritis, ulcers, endocrine gland disorders, thyroid disease and depression. Fibrositis where deep sleep is unattainable. Even alcohol and sleeping pills cause you to lose sleep. They interfere with deep sleepand result in restless sleep causing you to feel groggy and sluggish the next day.
A change in the life cycle effect your sleeping habits. Boredom,isolation, loss of social contacts, and preoccupation with self can hit like a ton of rocks. Sleep becomes harder and harder to achieve.
Types of insomnia
- Sleep apnea: Sleep disorder caused by suspended breathing.
This sleep disorder does not always wake you but causes poor quality sleep. It is usually associated with snoring and usually occurs in overweight people.This insomnia does not always awaken you but because of poor quality sleep you feel drowsy unable to function very well.
- Fibrositis: Sleep disorder where deep sleep is unattainable.
This disorder affects the perfectionist, they are tense and this results in muscle spasms and pain in parts of the body called tender body spots.
- Nocturnal myoclonus Sleep disorder where there is repetitive kicking movements of the legs.
This kicking has ended many marriages when a spouse kicks a spouse out of bed. No one knows why this kicking action takes place only that it gets worse as the person gets older. muscle spasms and tender spots and pain in various parts of the body.
There are several things you can do if you are suffering from mild insomnia. Reintroduce a normal sleep pattern and keep regular sleep hours.
- Go to bed the same time each night.
- Get up the same time each day.
This establishes a routine for your body rhythm.
- Avoid caffeine late in the day.
- Avoid exercise late in the day it revs up the body.
- Don’t use alcohol as a sedative you may sleep but its abnormal sleep.
- Make your bedroom dark, quiet,and comfortable.
- A light snack and glass of warm milk or bananna (they contain tryptophan which the brain converts to serotonin which induces sleep)
- Avoid naps through the evening no matter how tired you may get.
- Try to keep your mind off yourself be a other-preoccupied not a self preoccupied.
- Don’t fight going to sleep go intp another room read, watch tv until you become sleepy. Then go back to bed.
