Sleep Disorders
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A sleep disorder can affect your overall health, safety and quality of life. Sleep deprivation can affect your ability to drive safely and increase your risk of other health problems.
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Some of the signs and symptoms of sleep disorders include excessive daytime sleepiness, irregular breathing or increased movement during sleep, and difficulty falling asleep.
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There are many different types of sleep disorders. They're often grouped into categories that explain why they happen or how they affect you. Sleep disorders can also be grouped according to behaviors, problems with your natural sleep-wake cycles, breathing problems, difficulty sleeping or how sleepy you feel during the day.
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Some common types of sleep disorders include:
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Insomnia, in which you have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep throughout the night.
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Sleep apnea, in which you experience abnormal patterns in breathing while you are asleep. There are several types of sleep apnea.
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Restless legs syndrome (RLS), a type of sleep movement disorder. Restless legs syndrome, also called Willis-Ekbom disease, causes an uncomfortable sensation and an urge to move the legs while you try to fall asleep.
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Narcolepsy, a condition characterized by extreme sleepiness during the day and falling asleep suddenly during the day.
Why should your sleep apnea be treated now?
Some people may have mild symptoms of sleep apnea and don't recognize many of the symptoms as being a sleep disorder. Others may not understand the seriousness of untreated sleep apnea. However, sleep apnea is one of the easiest sleep disorders to treat. Through the use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines, or alternative treatment options, symptoms of sleep apnea can be managed quite easily.
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The trouble lies with getting many people to recognize their symptoms or get motivated to get their disorder diagnosed. That's why we've composed 8 of the best reasons to get your sleep apnea treated.
If you don't have diagnosed sleep apnea, you may be putting yourself at risk if you take certain medications or undergo general anesthesia during surgeries. Medications such as sedatives and narcotic analgesics as well as general anesthesia can further relax your upper airways making your sleep apnea symptoms worse. Even if the doctors know about your sleep apnea it can cause complications in breathing if you undergo anesthesia, which means that things can get a lot worse if not treated.
Similar to how a lack of sleep can be disastrous at work or school, sleep deprivation can cause actual disasters. Lapses in attention can cause accidents in the workplace and while driving. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, drowsy driving is estimated to be responsible for 2.5% of fatal crashes, and 2% of crashes causing injury. That's about 5-6 thousand vehicle accidents due to drowsy driving every year.
When you treat your sleep apnea, your brain gets to perform its job the way it's supposed to–uninterrupted. And when it gets to work in the ways it needs to, your body and mind get the rest they need allowing you to feel more awake and alert the next day.
If you don't have diagnosed sleep apnea, you may be putting yourself at risk if you take certain medications or undergo general anesthesia during surgeries. Medications such as sedatives and narcotic analgesics as well as general anesthesia can further relax your upper airways making your sleep apnea symptoms worse. Even if the doctors know about your sleep apnea it can cause complications in breathing if you undergo anesthesia, which means that things can get a lot worse if not treated.