Sleep disorders are common and general: people of all ages often accused of not getting enough sleep, not sleep well or not be able to sleep. Immediate and visible are the effects of a lack of sleep: bags under the eyes, skin not very bright, eyelids are heavy and limp as well as anxiety, irritability, nervousness and fatigue. Sometimes the inability to sleep is caused by reasons quite simple to understand, for example a partner snoring loudly or frequent bad dreams, in which case it is easier to tackle the problem. Often, however, there are underlying reasons for difficult resolution requiring a doctor or specialist. Advancing age is often associated with an inability to sleep well.
When the sleep disturbance is not due to psychological factors or by changes in the normal biorhythm may be helpful some simple steps that help our body, like a warm bath or a relaxing massage, solutions that encourage relaxation and can avoid ‘ unnecessary medication.
The most common and frequent sleep disturbances are parainsonnie, snoring and insomnia.
PARAINSONNIE
Parainsonnie The term encompasses a number of disorders and physical manifestations that are evident during sleep and make sleep difficult and restaurateur. The most frequent and common are bruxism, somnambulism.
Bruxism
E ‘grinding of teeth while we sleep. This movement over the course of time can cause damage to the teeth so that the teeth show wear facets on the chewing surface. The mouth is subject to continuous night work loads great chewers, so that on waking often develop aches, pains in muscles by clenching, pain in the temporomandibular joint articulation and sometimes headache. There is no medication to prevent bruxism, which is caused by anxiety and stress, but the damage to teeth and consequent disorders can be prevented by using a bite, a shower in a protective resin material and rubber packed to the dentist.
Sleepwalking
Walking during sleep is fairly common. The phenomenon is particularly evident in childhood, but also adults, especially in times of stress or anxiety may suffer from this phenomenon. Walking at night is particularly true during deep sleep of the first stage of the night and this explains why it is so common in children. The adult sleepwalking is often associated with alcohol consumption, which alters the sleep-wake ratio, or at irregular hours of rest, due for example to work shifts that make it impossible to sleep in a balanced manner.
Some diseases can cause sleepwalking: headache, seizure, Alzheimer’s disease and senile dementia. In the latter two cases the person walks at night are not asleep, as is typical sleep-walker, but is awake and the state of confusion and disorientation in which lies are probably due to the pathological condition exists.
Those who suffer from sleepwalking should avoid going to bed at irregular hours, no excessive fatigue, try to relax to relieve tension and, if possible, avoid doing jobs that require the presence at night. Physical activity in a balanced way that energy helping to unload the excess, it is useful at any age, helps to sleep well and, sometimes, to avoid the problem. Sleepwalking is often caused by deep anxiety and temperament that requires expert assistance. The phenomenon, which seems to present a familial tendency, most commonly affects males and usually occurs before the ten years of age.
Feature of the sleepwalker is the ability to perform common daily activities, dressing or walking, for example, in a perfect way, but without being conscious of what he is doing. This is all due to this confusion in the mechanisms of sleep and wakefulness. The episode of sleepwalking has a duration ranging from several minutes up to an hour, but it is rare that the subject awoke to remember what happened. Fortunately, the sleepwalker does not perform maneuvers difficult or risky and manages to avoid any obstacles it encounters on its path. The advice can be given to those living with a sleepwalker is not groped to fight them, but to reassure them, to reassure him and, if possible, to accompany him to bed. It happens sometimes that bring a person in bed is difficult, in these cases do not have to use forceful manner, but rather should be walking with the sleepwalker and then slowly bring him back in his bed.
RUSSIA AND Sleep apnea
Snoring is definitely a problem that affects a large proportion of the population and that can disturb the sleep of the sufferer and the person who sleeps nearby. Cause of snoring is obstruction of the upper respiratory tract. Happens when you sleep the muscles of the upper and inner throat relax. This muscle relaxation leads to a relaxation of the tissues of the soft palate at the back of the throat, as a consequence of this, vibrate with each breath and the air passage thus causing snoring.
Some conditions, such as aging, which involves a physiological relaxation of muscles, or obesity, because fat affects the normal functioning muscle
Snoring. Un can cause the common cold, allergy, nasal polyps, l ‘ enlarged tonsils or adenoids blocking the nasal passages can lead to snoring in a transitional form that can be solved treating the disease. Alcoholism, smoking, consumption of sleeping pills and the habit of sleeping in the supine position are conditions that facilitate the onset of this disorder. Some people do not realize that snoring and snoring does not prevent them from sleeping, but others are waking up, sleep is fragmented and broken and this causes fatigue, nervousness and sleepiness continues.
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The sleep apnea is a more serious problem and is characterized by a very loud snoring with attacks of suffocation. It happens sometimes that lock, for a limited time, the airway, because the soft palate during inhalation and was sucked into this event interrupts normal breathing asleep in the subject by creating the feeling of suffocation. The person wakes up with a start, panting and gasping for lack of air. Obstructive sleep apnea is a phenomenon that lasts a few seconds, but can be repeated 1000 times per night, causing great discomfort to the sleeper, which does not rest enough. In severe cases of sleep apnea of the subject is so compromised, so little rest that the person who suffers is not able to live the day job and is hindered in his work. Driving in these conditions of fatigue and stress, for example, can be very dangerous and sometimes fatal. The mood of the person suffering from this disorder is unstable, also the subject, always tired, often shows a lack of sexual interest. In severe cases of apnea decreased REM sleep, deep sleep is insufficient oxygen supply to the brain is low and this can also create problems on an intellectual level. When you block the airways and apnea occurs, the resulting lack of oxygen stimulates the brain sends danger signals to the muscles resume normal activities. The problem is more serious if apnea occurs during REM sleep, because the muscle paralysis that occurs at this time the body is more relaxed, and his reaction time is slower to poor oxygenation. Sleep apnea affects more fortunately light sleeper and rarely strikes during REM sleep. When certain forms of disease such as hypertension or certain heart disease, is associated with severe apnea in the issue may become important, because during the night may occur, therefore, the respiratory arrest, even heart attacks. Severe sleep apnea is also for those who suffer from asthma or other respiratory problems.
There are no drugs capable of treating snoring, but certain rules of life can certainly limit and improve the problem. Physical activity, not drinking too much alcohol, smoking, little or no smoke at all, maintain a healthy weight, avoid the use of sedatives and sleeping pills are rules help us to tackle the problem. Being able to sleep on her side and to avoid the supine position, which facilitates the sliding of the tongue towards the throat and block air flow, certainly improves snoring. There are some remedies that help limit this external noise: the patches and nasal forceps improve oxygenation and have some efficacy.
Today it is possible to undergo surgery to stop snoring that is to cauterize the soft palate, which, becoming more rigid, does not relax during sleep. Certainly this is a drastic solution, but very useful in severe cases of sleep apnea.
INSOMNIA
The term insomnia indicates the difficulty falling asleep, a feeling shared by many of not being able to sleep or the inability to stay asleep for long enough to be able to rest. You can talk about insomnia only in cases where the lack of sleep causes real physical or mental problems to the person, but not when a person sleeps little and still feel rested and happy sleep. Some people in fact have a minimal need to sleep a few hours are enough to make rest and this is because not everyone has the same physical requirements. Insomnia is a disorder, a symptom that shows the presence of an alteration or other problem in the body. The causes that determine the onset of the disorder are multiple and different kinds of insomnia.
There are three types of insomnia: the transient, the short-term and chronic.
The transient insomnia
And ‘that which arises as a consequence to an exciting event, an intense emotion or a good news or bad. In these cases, the anxiety that comes from the external factor that creates an excitement level of the nervous system that our brain is as alert and in a state of permanent vigil. It ‘hard to sleep the night before the wedding or if you lie down the next day you are faced with an exam or a very important event! Some physical symptoms, even trivial as a bad cold, or special outdoor events, such as different time zone after a long journey, or too strong to cause noise disturbance is not indifferent to our rhythm, biological clock and become difficult to sleep and rest quietly . In these cases the solution is to remove the problem that gave rise to insomnia.
Short-term insomnia
As the name suggests, indicates the form that lasts for a limited time, usually no more than two or three weeks. The causes are often emotionally important events and therefore, difficult and tragic life. The insomnia that occurs after a bereavement or a reaction to an illness of a loved one are a typical example. This situation causes the stress affects our mind and body so that you can not sleep well or you can not fall asleep until after he had shot for hours in bed, because it was unable not to think about the serious problem we have been facing during the day. Over time this type of insomnia tends to reduce and resolve, but in some particularly serious cases may be helpful to contact someone. Manifest his difficulties to a friend, or have a conversation with a specialist who urges us to face and accept the problem, can serve to speed up the time that separates us from the solution. The therapeutic intervention should be aimed first at restoring the condition and emotional stress and physical and then the rest. Chronic insomnia
And ‘the usual form and persistent over time. The factors that cause it are very many: psychological problems, physiological, environmental or dramatic events.
Whatever reasons, can trigger the onset of insomnia, which can be solved relatively quickly and endurance, but can also take on the character and become a chronic disorder for the problems arising there from. A habit of daily life, like drinking alcohol, if it becomes excessive, and in this instance becomes ether, can cause insomnia as well as a state of constant stress, for example due to a poor working condition, can give rise the chronic disorder of sleep. Rarely insomnia is caused by an insufficient functioning of the mechanism that regulates the alternation of sleep and orthodox paradox.
Not all people who suffer from this disorder react differently and insomnia often has different characteristics. Very common is the initial difficulty falling asleep and waking up from sleep and light sleep in these subjects without the feeling of never having been asleep. Of course the idea of not being able to sleep due to anxiety and agitation that is not good at all and do not help to decrease the difficulty.
One of the reasons most often causes insomnia, in all its forms, is certainly the psychological and mental persona.La rage, anger, anxiety, stress, inability to manage the situation are Common causes of so many people who suffer from insomnia. Mental relaxation, and consequently the physical, may be the solution of the problem: to obtain this result is not easy, because the advice is to consult a doctor who can help to limit or eliminate the psychological factors that lie behind the ‘ insomnia.
During the night through several cycles of sleep between them and usually we pass from waking moments for others to sleep without realizing it, usually after the stage of REM sleep. Waking moments are so short that we just do not realize it, but in some people these awakenings are longer than necessary. The person who is aware of this event can remain awake for hours and then suffer a form of insomnia. Alcohol, caffeine, drugs, some physical problems such as incontinence, or emotional, such as stress from too much work, determine the lengthening of time awake at night and the effects of this are naturally irritation and restlessness. Awakening frequently at night, creating noise to the person, can also be caused by involuntary muscle spasms in the legs. This condition occurs as a result of iron deficiency or abuse of caffeine, which affects the absorption of iron. Some defects in blood circulation, lack of calcium or some vitamins have the same effect. In these cases it may be useful to take supplements or have a slight physical activity.
Insomnia can also occur with a tendency to wake up too early in the morning and this form is quite common in the elderly. Aging sleep becomes lighter and the first light of day or the first sounds from outside are enough to wake the person, but surely it must be remembered that over the years the physical need for sleep changes and the hours needed to rest decrease. I wake up early can be regarded as a natural occurrence if the person still feels good, fresh, active and involved. When the early morning awakening is accompanied by malaise and fatigue can speak of a form of insomnia and should be taken.
Determined by early morning awakening insomnia can cause a form of depression.
The typical symptom of endogenous depression is just insomnia, because this disease affects the body clock and sleep takes on special features: odd hours or sleep rather disturbed. Deep sleep in depressed occurs later in the night while the REM shows at once. In these cases, insomnia requires medical treatment with specific drugs that correct the abnormal rhythm of sleep.
There is a particular form of insomnia in which sleep is characterized by the presence of alpha and beta waves, typical of the waking state, even at the stage of deep sleep. The deep, restorative sleep is short and, despite being asleep for a sufficient number of hours, wake up you feel refreshed rather the feeling of fatigue is the same as you felt before bedtime. Common effects of insomnia, in whatever form it occurs, are similar: fatigue, apathy, nervousness, emotional instability, lack of concentration, decreased efficiency and a general feeling of physical discomfort. If there is a cause of insomnia ill health or problems with the purely physical do not sleep worsens the situation even morbid.
Recommendations for insomnia
Some rules of life are valuable for addressing insomnia or sleep disorders in general. Remember that everything that is introduced into the body affect its smooth operation, shows immediately that avoid taking certain substances can make us feel better. Sleep is disturbed by caffeine, alcohol, nicotine or with drugs, so much to exclude or limit the use of these substances helps us to rest better. Physical activity practiced in moderation, respect for individual physical ability, without causing excessive fatigue, which could have undesirable effects on sleep, helps to improve the quality of rest and sleep. Lack of exercise is not good for sleep, in fact the light sleep and poor sleep are typical of the sedentary. It is not advisable to exceed even the other way, why overdo physical activity, especially during evening hours, stimulates the production of adrenaline which causes excitement and encourages a sense of fatigue. Both feelings do not fit well with the night. If insomnia is a symptom of psychological problems, as for 85 to 90% of the population, the council is to address the situation with the most appropriate therapeutic methods. Remove and resolve the anxiety, stress, depression or other factors also solves the insomnia, which, otherwise, it continues and worsens the already existing problems. Some external factors such as excessive noise, heat, cold, light can be controlled and simple technical measures can sometimes be enough to make us sleep well. Sometimes insomnia requires medication (sedatives, hypnotics, anxiolytics), which always must be prescribed by your doctor. We must remember that should be taken with caution, respecting the strengths and the rules, because these drugs are certainly not devoid of side effects and risks if you overdo it. Induced sleep differs from the natural fact that REM sleep and deep sleep are in different proportions. Who sleeps with the use of these substances has a deep sleep corresponding to only 50% of the total. Abusing drugs or take them for too long creates addictive with all the consequential effects and some withdrawal symptoms when they stop taking.
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