What Are Sleep Disorders?

What is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep Apnea is the most common sleep disorder, affecting more than 20 million Americans. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is caused by a blockage in the airway that interrupts breathing during sleep. These blockages occur when tissue in the airway relax excessively or collapse, causing an obstruction. These obstructions cause you to snore and stop breathing, and can occur hundreds of times throughout the night.

How does it affect me?
Untreated Sleep Apnea can cause excessive daytime sleepiness, weight gain, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, memory problems, and headaches. Sleep Apnea can also lead to poor work quality, decreased libido, automobile accidents, depression, and has been shown to be linked to ADHD in children. Fortunately, Sleep Apnea can be diagnosed and treated.

Symptoms and Associated Features of Sleep Apnea:

• High Blood Pressure
• Obesity
• Large neck size (greater than 17 inches)
• Snoring, Snorts, Gasps, Choking
• Daytime Sleepiness
• Restless Sleep
• Breathing Pauses
• Frequent Urination

Other Sleep Disorders

Restless Legs Syndrome(RLS): People who have RLS describe it in many different ways ,but most describe a "crawling" or "tingling" sensation that occurs in the legs when they are trying to sleep. RLS most often occurs in the calves of the legs and most people say it is temporarily relieved by stretching or moving the legs.

Narcolepsy: Narcolepsy is usually described as excessive daytime sleepiness. It can begin at any age and continues through life. It is believed that there is a hereditary predisposition. The main symptoms include "sleep attacks" that can occur without warning and cataplexy, which is the sudden loss of voluntary muscle control.

Insomnia: Insomnia is characterized by difficulty falling asleep, waking frequently during the night, waking too early in the morning and not being able to get back to sleep. Insomnia can be transient (lasting for several days), intermittent (when transient insomnia recurs), or chronic (lasting for more than a month).

REM Behavior Disorder(RBD): RBD is characterized by a blockage of REM sleep paralysis and the person is allowed to act out dramatic and/or violent dreams. RBD is most common in men over 60 years of age. Other features may include shouting or grunting. Unlike sleepwalking or PLMS, RBD occurs during REM sleep.

Periodic Limb Movements(PLMS): Periodic limb movements in sleep are repetitive movements, typically in the lower limbs, that occur about every 20-40 seconds. You may recognize these movements as brief muscle twitches, jerking movements or an upward flexing of the feet. They cluster into episodes lasting anywhere from a few minutes to several hours.