How to Recognize Symptoms For Sleep Disorders?

If you are spending sleepless nights and listless days and your everyday activities are getting affected, then you have real reasons to concern about. Not only this can have an adverse impact on your mental and emotional well being, but continued sleep deprivation can be precursor to many diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, have trouble staying focused, etc...

According to National Sleep Foundation, approximately 70 million Americans suffer from this disorder. Among them, nearly 40 millions are affected with chronic disorder and the rest are victims of intermittent sleep-related problems. America loses nearly $100 billion annually due to loss in productivity, medical expenses, etc arising out it.

How to Recognize Symptoms for Sleep Disorders?

Following are the ways to recognize the symptoms:

• Are you getting enough of it? While adults can do away with 7-8 hours of daily sleep, some people might also need 10 hours. Most teenagers need 9 hours per day.
• Do you wake up every night listening to your own snoring?
• Are you suffering from excessive lack of energy during the day?
• Are you having difficulty remembering things lately?
• Are you having mood swings?
• Are you suffering from rise in blood pressure and lack of interest in sexual activity?
• After waking up is your throat feeling dry or scratchy or are you gasping for air or having headache?
• Are you having tingling sensations in the arms and legs during the evening?
• You may ask someone in your family to watch your sleeping pattern. He can observe whether you are showing some of the symptoms of sleep disorders - pauses in breathing for more than 10 seconds, loud and excessive snoring, etc.
• If you are an overweight male with neck size of more than 16 to 17 inches, then you may be at risk of disorder. You can also inherit it from your family. Other than these, lung or heart diseases can also contribute to this.

Signs of Sleep Disorders:
There are more than 70 types of disorders and these are broadly categorized into 3 groups. Some common disorders are: Insomnia, sleep apnea, narcolepsy or day time sleep attacks, restless leg syndrome, hypersomnia, circadian rhythm sleep disorders, etc.

What can you do when you have Sleep Disorders?:
This problem can go unnoticed for weeks to years. When you have trouble falling asleep and feel sleepy and tired during the day time, you may immediately want to consult a doctor. You can provide him with details regarding your sleeping patterns. Early diagnosis can help avoid further complications.

Why Sleep is so Vital?:
Though the exact benefit is still not known, it is believed that it is necessary for proper functioning of our nervous system. During sleep, the major organs of our body and the nervous system get more activated. During REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, our brain processes emotions and activities. This can play an important role in learning and remembering. According to a poll report in 2008, it was found that those who sleep for less than 6 hours daily have greater risk of becoming obese than those with 8 hours or more.