ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Sleep Disorders – Symptoms, Causes, Remedies

Updated on October 30, 2015

Most people have trouble falling asleep at some point in their lives. In fact, it is completely normal and temporary and may be caused by stress or any other number of outside factors. However, if sleeping problems become the norm and start to interfere with normal functions of daily life it ceases to be a normal occurrence and starts becoming a sleeping disorder.

Sleep disorders bring about more problems than just general sleepiness because if you toss and turn for hours at night and get but a couple of hours of sleep, it begins to take its toll on your body. In fact, it impacts your overall health, your energy levels, and even your emotional state. In the US alone, about 40 million people suffer from sleeping disorders and this costs employers around $18 billion in unproductivity due to lack of sleep.

People who think they are suffering from sleeping problems and disorders will do well to learn the symptoms of the most common sleep disorders, what can be done, and when to tell if it is time to see a professional.

Understanding Sleeping Disorders

Sleep can be used as a barometer of a person’s overall health. In many instances, people who enjoy good overall health tend to enjoy uninterrupted sleep for about 7 hours a night. On the other end of the spectrum, you find people who suffer from sleeping problems and the most common denominator in most cases is an underlying medical or mental illness. Whether the medical or mental illness is major or minor, it tends to have an effect on the quality of sleep a person has and often leads to a disorder. Sleeping well is crucial to emotional well-being and physical health and it is unfortunate that even the most minimal amount of sleep loss can take its toll on people’s ability to handle stress, moods, efficiency, productivity, and energy levels.

Ignoring sleep disorders and problems does not work because they do not go away on their own. In fact, leaving them alone may be the worst thing you can do since they will just get worse over time as your emotional, mental, and physical conditions get worse. As a matter of fact, ignoring sleep problems can lead to poor health, impaired job performance, relationship stress, and accidents. According to studies, 60% of adult drivers in the US confessed to driving while they were sleepy and 37% of those have fallen asleep even while they were behind the wheel. Even more alarming is the 4% (11 million drivers) who confessed to having accidents or near accidents on the road since they fell asleep behind the wheel.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that 100,000 of total crashes reported by the police were caused by driver fatigue. Approximately 1,550 deaths and 71,000 injuries were recorded to be caused by drowse drivers.

Symptoms of Sleeping Disorders

As mentioned earlier, it is perfectly okay for people to lose sleep every once in a while and feel sleepy but how can people tell if their lack of sleep or sleepiness is merely a passing problem or a sign that something more serious may be wrong? Check out some of the most common symptoms below:

  • Sleepy during the day
  • Has difficulty staying awake while watching TV, reading, and sitting still
  • Falls asleep while driving
  • Has trouble concentrating
  • Looks tired
  • Has slow reaction time
  • Has trouble controlling emotions
  • Feels the need for a nap almost everyday
  • Needs caffeine to stay awake

People who answered “yes” to these may have sleeping problems or disorders.

Most Common Sleeping Disorder

There are many kinds of sleep disorders out there and they are:

  • Restless Leg Syndrome
  • Narcolepsy
  • Sleep apnea
  • Insomnia

Of the four, it is insomnia that plagues people the most. It has been reported that 1 out of 10 adults in the US suffer from insomnia and it is important to note that it may be caused by any number of factors such as:

  • GERD
  • Dementia
  • Conditions that bring about chronic pain
  • Headache disorders
  • Constructive obstructive disease
  • Anxiety
  • Abnormal thyroid functions
  • Enlarged prostate

Insomnia may also be caused by medications like decongestants, steroids and beta blockers. A dependence on nicotine, caffeine, and other stimulants may also bring about insomnia. Sleep disruptions that are caused by medications, medical conditions, and substances may get resolved by way of treatment. However, this does not always happen for everyone and the condition may persist even after the medical problem is resolved and managed.

Treatment for Insomnia

People who seek treatment for their sleep disorder may be asked to try different treatments. Some treatments may even be used together to achieve effectiveness. Some examples of treatments include:

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy or Insomnia or CBTI
  • Exercise
  • Diet change
  • Sleeping aids

The best way to deal with insomnia and other sleeping disorders is to have a talk with a qualified medical professional. This way, symptoms may be discussed along with possible causes and remedies.

How many hours of sleep do you get every night?

See results
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)