Okay, there are a lot of these. And none are helpful at all. What a shame. Let’s start with the best known and most common disorder:
- Insomnia: This disorder is defined by difficulty is falling or staying asleep. This also includes waking up in the night and having trouble falling back to sleep. There are 4 types of Insomnia: Primary, Secondary, Acute and Chronic.
- Sleep Apnea: Defined by difficulty in breathing while sleeping. There are 2 types: Obstructive and Central. These are mostly caused due to obesity.
- Periodic Limb Movement Disorder: Characterized by rhythmic movements of the limbs. They typically involve legs and last for anything between a few minutes to several hours. Geez. The cause of this one is unknown, though it has some links with Narcolepsy, Parkinson’s and the use of antidepressants.
- Hypersomnia: Excessive daytime sleepiness, or excessive time spent sleeping during the day. 40% people have this problem from time to time. It is caused due to Narcolepsy, obesity, sleep apnea, drug/alcohol abuse, head injuries or you inherit it.
- Narcolepsy: This is a neurological disorder. The symptoms include extreme sleepiness, hallucinations, sleep paralysis and cataplexy. Let me explain: 1. Hallucinations: Abnormal, stressful and extremely vivid. 2. Sleep Paralysis: loss of muscle control while you are awake, because of early REM onset.
- 3. Cataplexy: Sudden muscle weakness caused by strong emotion. For example, head dropping or knees buckling. In severe conditions, you can even collapse. The disorder is marked by frequent blackouts or seizures.
- Parasomnia deserves it’s own blog post. So stay tuned.
- Click here to learn about Circadian disorders.
Sleep Sleep Sleep 