It is estimated that 50 to 70 million Americans chronically suffer from a disorder of sleep and wakefulness, hindering daily functioning and adversely affecting health and longevity (Institute of Medicine par. 1). Sleep disorders are commonly referred to as conditions that prevent a person from getting restful sleep and, as a result, can cause daytime sleepiness ad dysfunction (“Common Sleep Disorders”). Sleep disorders are among the most common yet frequently overlooked and readily treatable health problems which results in 80 to 90 percent of adults with sleep-disordered breathing problems to be undiagnosed (Institute of Medicine par. 1). There are many different types of sleep disorders that can affect one’s overall health. The side effects of these disorders can be detrimental; however, there are many tests to determine if one has a sleep disorder, and which type.
According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, sleep disorders can be classified and broken into six main categories. The AASM classifies these disorders into insomnias, hypersomnias, parasomnias, sleep related breathing disorders, sleep-wake disorders, and sleep movement disorders. Within each of the six categories, falls many different types of sleep disorders. For example, narcolepsy would fall into the hypersomnias category and confusional arousals would fall into the parasomnias category. Another example would be restless legs syndrome which would fall under the sleep movement disorder category and jet lag would fall under the sleep-wake disorder category (American Academy of Sleep Medicine).
Insomnia is the most well-known type of sleep disorders. There are a variety of sleep disorders that are classified as a form of Insomnia. This type of sleep disorder involves the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep. The causes, symptoms and severity of insomnia vary from person to person, but a few of those include difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep throughout the night, and waking up too early in the morning. Research shows that insomnia negatively affects work performance, impairs decision-making and can damage relationships which leads to a worse overall quality of life. Insomnia is usually seen in older adults, women, people under stress and people with certain medical and mental health problems such as depression. There are two types of insomnia based on the regularity and duration of the sleep disturbance and daytime symptoms: short-term insomnia and chronic insomnia. Short-term insomnia lasts up to three months and is usually very brief. The AASM has found short-term insomnia to occur in 10 to 20 percent of people. Chronic insomnia occurs at least three times per week and lasts for at least three months, with about 10 percent having this type. As many as 30 to 35 percent of adults complain of having insomnia (American Academy of Sleep Medicine).
“Hypersomnias are a group of sleep disorders that causes a person to be excessively sleepy. People with hypersomnia may fall asleep at ties that are inconvenient or even dangerous, such as at work or while driving.” Although there are many types of hypersomnias, the most well know hypersomnia is narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder that makes one feel overwhelmingly tired and is a lifelong disorder. Narcolepsy is very dangerous, considering one can have excessive sleepiness or a sleep attack at any given time. This disorder can cause one to fall asleep during normal, everyday activities such as eating, walking, and even driving. About one in 2,000 people have narcolepsy, yet many of them don’t know that they have this disorder. Researchers are still unsure about the cause of narcolepsy. Some researchers believe that most people with narcolepsy have low levels of the neurotransmitter hypocrite, which is a chemical that regulates wakefulness and appetite. Narcolepsy is broken into two types known as narcolepsy type 1 and narcolepsy type 2. Narcolepsy type 1 involves a combination of excessive daytime sleepiness and one or both of cataplexy and low or absent CSF hypocrite-1 levels. Cataplexy is the sudden loss of muscle tone, while awake, that occurs during an attack. Narcolepsy type 2 occurs when one has continuous excessive sleepiness but no cataplexy. Narcolepsy symptoms begin to start between the ages of 15 and 25 but can still occur before and after that age period. In order to become diagnosed with narcolepsy, one would usually experience one of the following: excessive daytime sleepiness, hallucinations, sleep paralysis, disturbed nighttime sleep, memory problems, and cataplexy (American Academy of Sleep Medicine).
Parasomnias are the third main type of sleep disorders. Parasomnias occur when one is falling asleep, sleeping, or waking up. Parasomnias usually include abnormal movements, behaviors, emotions, perceptions or dreams. Although these things may occur, one remains asleep during the event and most people have no memory of anything happening (American Academy of Sleep Medicine). The most well known types of parasomnias are sleepwalking and sleep talking. Sleepwalking is very common but it could be dangerous and become harmful to the person. If one sleepwalks, they get up from bed and walk around while they are still asleep. Sometimes sleepwalkers even go outside. For those that are near the sleepwalker, one wouldn’t know that they are actually asleep and don’t really know what they are doing. When someone sleepwalks they experience normal things, therefore other people wouldn’t expect it to be sleepwalking. Sleep talking is another type of parasomnias that many people experience. Sleep talking is very similar to sleepwalking in the sense that those with these disorder experience normal, everyday things. Sleep talking is very common and occurs in about 50 percent of young children and about five percent of adults (American Academy of Sleep Medicine). The talking can include jibber jabber or it could include full on conversations with the listener.
Sleep related breathing disorders involve difficulty breathing during sleep. Sleep related breathing disorders can range from snoring to not breathing at all. The most common type of sleep related breathing disorder is known as sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is when one stops breathing during sleep. Sleep apnea has a broad spectrum which contains many different types of sleep apnea. From obstructive sleep apnea to central sleep apnea, each of these involves the flow of oxygen to stop at one point or another during sleep (“Common Sleep Disorder”). Sleep apnea is not only found in adults but children as well. If one has sleep apnea and experiences the loss of oxygen while sleeping, one will usually wake up choking or snoring loudly as they try to breathe. Sleep related breathing disorders have many long-term negative consequences on one’s overall health. This disorder can cause high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, pre-diabetes, diabetes, and/or depression. Not only does it cause all of these but it also causes one’s brain and body to become deprived of oxygen. This disorder also makes one feel fatigued, having a hard time concentrating or unintentionally falling asleep (American Academy of Sleep Medicine).
Sleep-wake disorders involve an abnormal sleep schedule. If someone has this disorder it is usually because their normal sleep times are out of alignment and not on a regular schedule. These sleep-wake disorders can be caused by long airplane rides, long work shifts, or long days. Most everyone has heard the term jet lag before. Jet lag occurs when one travels across multiple time zones and have a hard time adjusting to the new schedule. Most people don’t see jet leg as that big of a deal, however, if one doesn’t take care of themselves it could become very harmful. Jet lag can become worse by: stress, air pressure, caffeine or alcohol use, sitting in uncomfortable positions, and sleep loss (American Academy of Sleep Medicine). Most of the time sleep-wake disorders have to do with one’s circadian rhythm. A circadian rhythm is like an internal clock that signals when one is supposed to feel sleepy or alert.
Sleep movement disorders involve movement during or before sleep. The most common type of sleep movement disorder is known as restless legs syndrome. Restless legs syndrome is when one has the urge to move the legs (“Common Sleep Disorders”). RLS typically occurs at night and is caused by lying down in bed and sitting for prolonged periods. Often, people with this disorder do not normally seek treatment for years because they don’t see it as a serious problem (American Academy of Sleep Medicine). Although this disorder doesn’t seem that serious it can have many consequences on someone. For example, people with RLS will development depression or anxiety more than likely. People with RLS tend to walk around shaking their legs to help relive the uncomfortable sensation (“Common Sleep Disorders”). RLS also causes one to get sometimes less than five hours of sleep causing one to be irritable and make concentration difficult which might have an impact on both ones professional and personal life. Most people who have RLS began to develop the symptoms after the age of 45. If there is a patter of RLS in one’s family, one is more susceptible to getting the disorder because the risk is about three to six times greater. Also, women are twice as likely as men to develop this disorder (American Academy of Sleep Medicine).
Overall, each of these disorders cause many consequences both short and long term to one’s health. The public health consequences of sleep loss and sleep-related disorders are far from benign (Institute of Medicine par.2). For many years the consequences of sleep disorders have been “unknown” because there hadn’t been much research on sleep disorders. After decades of research, the case can be confidently made that sleep loss and sleep disorders have profound and widespread effects on human health (Institute of Medicine par.2).