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Sleep Disorder

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Sleep Disorder
A sleep disorder can be defined as a disturbance of the normal sleep pattern. This causes a disruption in the way an individual typically sleeps, which can lead to other complications such as irritability and dysfunction during the day. Four common sleep disorders are insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and narcolepsy. Nearly 70 million Americans suffer from these and many other sleep disorders every year.
Insomnia is a sleep disorder in which the affected individual has difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. People affected by insomnia may suffer from the following symptoms: difficulty falling asleep, waking up often during the night and having trouble going back to sleep, waking up too early in the morning, and having at least one daytime problem such as fatigue, low concentration, or poor mood. There are two types of insomnia, acute insomnia and chronic insomnia. Acute insomnia is also known as short-term insomnia and chronic insomnia is long-term. This disorder can come and go, while the individual experiences periods of time in which they have no sleeping troubles. Acute insomnia can last anywhere from just one night to a few weeks and chronic insomnia is when a person experiences sleeping problems at least three times a week for months at a time. Treatment for insomnia can be very simple. For most cases, the person just needs to make sure they sleep in regular patterns every night or setting a nightly bedtime routine in order to let their body know it is time to sleep. These are solved with simple behavior therapies such as education about good sleeping habits, relaxation techniques, light therapy, or practicing sleep restriction in order to make sure a person is plenty tired when they go to bed at night.
Sleep apnea is a condition that affects a person’s breathing while they are asleep. If sleep apnea goes without being treated, the...

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