Sleep is vital to the proper function of every human being. As opposed to someone who is sleep deprived due to a sleeping disorder, a well rested person will have a fully functioning immune system, their tissues will have plenty of rest to repair themselves, they will be happier due to less depression, and their systems are more able to fight off chronic diseases.
In a perfect world, every person would be able to get a full 8 hours every night, but due to the stress of a typical busy daily life, many people don’t get that much. Adding to the problem, many common sleeping disorders rob people of both quality and quantity of sleep. The long-term loss of quality rest may make the problem even worse, since the added stress on the human body can aggravate the situation. Two common sleeping disorders will be discussed here.
Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome
Many teenagers, adolescents, and even young adults experience a common condition known as “delayed sleep phase”. This syndrome basically means that your body’s natural rhythm is fine, it’s just delayed by a couple hours. Most teenagers and young adults don’t feel sleepy until late at night, or have trouble falling asleep when they lay down in bed too early. Coupled with the fact that teens need around 9 or 10 hours of sleep per night, you are left with a condition that affects everything from schoolwork to social lives to physical wellbeing.
The solution for this sleeping disorder can be hard to come by. In an ideal world, you would actually adjust your sleep schedule to what you body is demanding – going to bed a little later, and sleeping in a little later. This gives your body the rest it needs, and keeps a proper circadian rhythm, with adequate melatonin secretion. Unfortunately, due to the scheduling of school and other early events, many teens are unable to sleep in late enough for this cycle to work, and are faced with the only other options: Depriving their bodies of sleep, or going to bed early anyway.
Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea sufferers may wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air. Traditional sleep apnea is defined as going for 10 seconds or more without taking a breath. As you can imagine, this can greatly interfere with quality of sleep. The problem with sleep apnea is that unlike many sleeping disorders, the sufferer generally won’t know that they have sleep apnea because they aren’t awake to witness the symptoms. Even during long durations of suffocation, sleep apnea sufferers generally do not wake up. When they do wake up, they commonly don’t even know what happened.
Due to this, sleep apnea is a relatively difficult to diagnose sleeping disorder. An observation by a second party is required to determine if sleep apnea is a problem. Even in married couples sleep apnea often goes undiagnosed since their partner is generally asleep during the attacks. Untreated sleep apnea can cause daytime drowsiness, and a general feeling of being worn out or tired all of the time. Since this is a serious condition, consult your doctor if you think you may suffer from this disorder.
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