Some Common Causes and Treatments to Sleeping Disorders
According to most experts, the average adult needs at least eight hours of sleep a night. But in the real world, Americans simply aren’t getting that. Why? Well, there are many reasons ranging from stress to lack of exercise to too much caffeine or sugar. But the number one reason that people fail to get enough sleep is that they suffer from sleep disorders.How prevalent are these disorders?According to recent statistics, over seventy million Americans suffer from sleep disorders. The most common of these is insomnia. How common? Experts say that 1 out of every 3 people suffer from insomnia at some point in their lives. Of those, more than sixty percent are full-fledged insomniacs, which means that they have a chronic disorder.Another common sleeping disorder is sleep apnea which is characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep. According to sleep statistics more than 18 million Americans suffer from it, though many more remain undiagnosed. There are even several fairly uncommon sleep problems like somnambulism (sleep waking) and narcolepsy (characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness).What causes sleeping disorder?Though doctors, researchers, and specialists have been studying sleep problems for decades now, they are still in the dark about what really causes them. For example, when it comes to insomnia, the most common sleep disorder, there are several possible culprits. It could be anxiety, stress, depression, hormonal changes, medications, alcohol, caffeine, or just general aches and pains.As you might expect, finding the cause of a sleeping disorder is almost as frustrating as suffering from one. However, there are a few things that patients can do to help alleviate the symptoms a bit. In the next section, we are going to take a look at some possible treatments.What are the treatments?One of the main reasons that so many people suffer from sleep disorders is that they simply cannot bring themselves to change their behavior. That’s right. Most people suffer from sleepless nights due to their own negligence. But they are not entirely to blame. No, more often than not, it is simply modern living that causes restless nights. For example, a person who has a stressful job and a stressful home life has little chance to get a good night’s rest. The simple fact is that the anxiety and worry that these people suffer from also cause them to lose sleep.The most effective treatment for these poor souls is to simply find a relaxing hobby that will take their minds off of things, if only for an hour. Another good idea is to relieve stress by performing daily exercises. Studies have shown that frequent exercise, especially cardio-vascular exercises, can lead to better, more restful sleep.For those folks who do not lead particularly stressful lives and still suffer from sleep disorders, in all likelihood their sleeping problems can be traced back to their diet. As most of us know, drinking too much caffeine will keep us up at night. But some folks are particularly sensitive to the drug and a single cup of coffee in the afternoon may actually affect their sleeping patterns. Another common culprit is alcohol. We all know that it makes you drowsy. However drinking too much alcohol can also keep you from having a continuous restful sleep. Sure, you might fall asleep faster, but you will often find yourself waking up several times during the night.There are also a number of products that can help with sleep problems. A popular one is the white noise sound machine. It generates continuous, soothing and random white noise which helps people to fall asleep and stay asleep. There is also a watch-like device which monitors your sleep stages to determine the optimal time for waking you up so that you wake up afresh instead of sleepy.There are no easy treatments to sleeping disorders. It may well require a multi-prong approach. However making sensible decisions regarding your lifestyle and diet can be a helpful first step to take.
Tags: sleep problem, Sleeping Disorder