Sleep Disorders: You Deserve a Good Night's Rest

We spend about a third of our time daily sleeping, so the importance of a good night's sleep cannot be overlooked.

Those who don't sleep well end up yawning during the day, or worse, making wrong decisions at work because the mind isn't alert.

Many people suffer from sleep disorders, without knowing that they need help. Sleep disorders are probably under-diagnosed because of the lack of awareness.

Sleep disorders are conditions that prevent a person from having a restful sleep and as a result, can cause daytime sleepiness and dysfunction.

While some people, such as shift workers, are more vulnerable to sleep disorders, they can hit just about anyone. The 2 most common sleep disorders here are obstructive sleep apnoea and insomnia.

People suffer from obstructive sleep apnoea stop breathing momentarily during sleep because of the narrowing of the airways. If left untreated, they have risk of developing high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. In severe cases, patients die from sleep apnoea.

The common symptoms of obstructive sleep apnoea are snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness.

Depending on the patient's age and health, doctors may recommend wearing a nasal continuous positive airway pressure mask to sleep. Patients may have to undergo palate or tongue surgery to clear the obstruction.

Meanwhile, insomnia affects those who have difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep. Insomnia is a symptom, not a disease. It's associated with a large variety of medical, psychiatric, and sleep disorders.

Treatment of insomnia can be in the forms of medication or therapy, which require a multi-disciplinary approach. But medication alone does not cure insomnia. However, they may provide symptomatic relief and should be use to supplement non-drug therapy. The most common cases of insomnia tend to be psycho-emotional stress and issues. The treatment begins with education about the sleep problem and appropriate sleep hygiene.

In order to have a healthy good sleep, go to bed and get up at the same time everyday, get regular exercise in the morning, keep the temperature in your bedroom comfortable, keep the room quiet when sleeping, and make the room dark enough to facilitate sleep. Don't ever exercise, have caffeine, watching an exciting television show, play competitive game before sleep. Command yourself to sleep only makes your mind and body more alert and certainly can help you to sleep.

So, don't hesitate to get help from experts when you have problem to sleep. Don't take sleeping pills without your doctor's advices.