Some Types of Sleep Issues

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Some Types of Sleep Issues

There are several sleep issues which could disrupt the smooth and the comfort of our sleeping time, it would be very detrimental to our health. It’s a good idea to know whether we are one of the people who face that kind of sleep issues.

Sleep apnea

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If you experienced a blockage in the upper respiratory airways whenever you were sleeping and it always disturbs you and makes you awake every time, it’s likely that you suffer from sleep apnea.

Sleep apnea is a common sleep issues in which your breathing temporarily disturbed during sleep due to the blockage of the upper respiratory tract. These will interrupt your sleep every hour of your sleeping time.

People who have obesity problem or have a nasal obstruction such as polyps are at greater risk for sleep apnea. The symptoms are chronic snoring, Frequent pauses in breathing during sleep, gasping, snorting, or choking during sleep, shortness of breath, chest pains, headaches, nasal congestion, or a dry throat.

Sleep apnea will cause exhausted feeling and lack of sleep, irritable and depressed, or a decrease in productivity.

Sleep apnea can be cured with Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP). CPAP is respiratory ventilation in form of a mask-like device that delivers streams of air while you asleep. The device prevents arousal from sleep by delivering a stream of compressed air via a face mask so that breathing process becomes normal.

Sleeping on your side or sleeping with your head position higher will help decreasing mild to moderate sleep apnea. For the people who with obesity problem, losing weight are one of the best solutions to overcome sleep apnea.

Restless legs syndrome (RLS)

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Have you ever experienced throbbing, pulling, creeping, or other unpleasant sensations in the legs and an uncontrollable urge to move them? If yes, it’s likely that you have RLS.

Restless legs syndrome is a sleep disorder that causes an almost irresistible urge to move your legs or sometimes arms. The most distinctive aspect of the condition is that lying down and trying to relax will trigger the symptom or even make it worse.

The urge to move occurs when you’re resting or lying down and is usually due to uncomfortable, tingly, aching, or creeping sensations. Most people with RLS have difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep.

The type of RLS symptoms ranges from mild to intolerable. Symptoms can come and go and generally worse in the evening and at night. For some people, symptoms may be able to significantly impair their quality of life because this causes exhaustion and daytime fatigue.

Common symptoms of RLS include uncomfortable sensations deep within the legs, accompanied by a strong urge to move them and the leg sensations are triggered by rest and get worse at night.

The uncomfortable sensations temporarily get better when you move, stretch, or massage your legs.

Narcolepsy

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Narcolepsy leads to uncontrollable daytime sleepiness. It is caused by a dysfunction of the brain that controls waking and sleeping. People with narcolepsy may have “sudden sleep attacks” in the middle of their activities, such as suddenly sleeping while working, eating, watching TV, but the most dangerous is when driving.

People with Narcolepsy will experienced hearing and seeing things when feeling drowsy or starting to dream before even fully asleep. Sometimes they suddenly feeling weak and losing control of muscles, after that they will paralyzed and unable to move and dreaming right away after that.

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Reference:

www.helpguide.org/articles/sleep/sleep-disorders-and-sleeping-problems.htm
mwww.webmd.com/brain/restless-legs-syndrome/tc/restless-legs-syndrome-rls
www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/restless_legs/detail_restless_legs.htm
answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061229062553AAvgDR6