Insomnia meaning, causes and treatment

Sleep is a basic human need, how much we do varies depending on age and varies from person to person, usually an adult need to sleep about seven to nine hours each night. But why do we need to sleep that time? Sleep helps your brain function properly, you would have too many potential consequences as fatigue and decreased energy, irritability, and problems focusing also on depression or anxiety. As we read several disorders associated with both physical and emotional problems, are one of the main causes of medical consultation that can affect people of any age or socioeconomic status, so If we want to have a good life we need to sleep enough because sleep disorders involve problems with the quality, timing and amount of sleep, which cause problems with functioning and distress during the daytime. Some of the sleep disorders are:

Insomnia

It is the subjective complaint of an inadequate or insufficient dream, even If you are talking about conciliation, alteration in continuity or maintenance insomnia or premature awakening. There is a mixture of these categories, which is global insomnia.

The causes of insomnia could be Idiopathic, no specific findings, respiratory disorders also Alcohol, caffeine, tea, tails, central nervous system stimulants, steroids, anorexic, psychiatric disorders, other medical disorders (asthma, coronary heart disease). Insomnia from withdrawal of drugs and alcohol is also mostly seen

If you have insomnia you can treat by yourself that problem only If you have less than 3 weeks with this disorder by taking relaxing time, not drinking alcohol or coffee before sleep, making some daily exercise, and doing breathing training or you can use sleeping spray. If you have more than 3 weeks without sleeping very well you should go to a psychologist or a psychiatrist they are going to check your problem and then use a pharmacological treatment such as Benzodiazepines, Antihistamines, antidepressants, melatonin, antipsychotics, other treatments such as hypnosis.

Restless legs syndrome

Is a neurological sensorimotor disorder, manifests as an overwhelming urge to move the body to relieve the uncomfortable sensations, primarily when resting, sitting, or sleeping which the patient is not aware of We can see as a limbs movement and it feels like crawling, tingling, pulling, or painful it could be unilaterally or bilaterally and it is occurring with the knees, the ankles or even the lower limbs.

Is most commonly related to iron deficiency, pregnancy, uremia, dopamine deficit, genetic predisposition, etc. The treatment mainly could be Dopaminergic agents, Opioids, oxycodone—naloxone combination, iron supplement, some other anticonvulsants, and benzodiazepines. Hypnotic and sedative agents, folate, vitamin B12, magnesium, vitamin E, botulinum toxin, physiotherapy, phototherapy, and aerobic exercises but those are not recommended in clinical practice due to insufficient evidence. Also, Sleep hygiene should be corrected before all the pharmacological treatment.

To whom should I go? It would be treated by a neurologist, specialist in sleep problems, neurophysiology.

The Narcolepsy

Is a chronic disease that involves an alteration in the generation and order of sleep this means all the mechanisms that regulate sleep. The narcolepsy feels as excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy (loss of the tone of a specific muscle group such as falls of the head or bilateral facial myoclonic movement and could be partial or complete), alteration of night sleep, hypnagogic hallucinations and sleep paralysis also episodes of muscle weakness triggered by emotions.

Your specialist a sleep study doctor is who will help you with this disease. They will make some exams as Polysomnography (measures the electrical activity of the brain and heart, controls breathing and measures eyes and muscle movements during sleep) Multiple sleep latency tests, Measures in cerebrospinal fluid, etc.

Treatment usually starts with a mild stimulant, such as modafinil. If that does not reduce the symptoms enough, then a stronger stimulant, such as methylphenidate or amphetamines, may be required. When stimulants do not work there is another alternative to another medicine called sodium oxybate. Although there is no cure for narcolepsy, treatment to control the symptoms of the disorder can usually be very effective and allow most people to lead productive and satisfying lives.

Sleep Apnea

It is a cardiovascular risk factor, caused by repeated obstructions of the upper airway during sleep by Certain mechanical and structural problems in the airway which cause breathing interruption during sleep. The risk factors such as older age, sedentary life, male sex and especially obesity are the most important things to avoid.

As we said the sleep apnea is caused by an obstruction in the airway, this collapse can be by intrinsic properties of pharyngeal tissues because the area of respiration decreases more in patients with this disease than in a normal patient, Resistance to collapse due to muscle tone because muscle fatigue occurs and collapse is not prevented, edema and vascular congestion, the area where the air circulates and collapses decreases.

But, what happens during the apnea?

At the beginning of the dream, there is a retention of CO2 for all the causes before exposed, producing hyperventilation. When the imbalance between CO2 and 02 occurs, also may be pulmonary vasoconstriction giving rise to pulmonary hypertension or even a cerebral diffusion and hypoxia or hypercapnia and this is the reason because airway obstruction during sleep predisposes to cardiopulmonary disorders such as systemic hypertension, coronary artery disease, and stroke. If you have this episode of drowning while you are sleeping the doctor who will help you is a pulmonologist, otolaryngology, neurologist and even a good dentist who are going to make polysomnography and other exams to check If you have sleep apnea or another disease.

One of the good treatments is CPAP (Continuous positive airway pressure) Is a device that is placed on your face while you sleep. Includes a mask, tubes and a fan. Use the air pressure to push the tongue forward and open the throat. This allows air to pass through the throat. It reduces snoring and prevents sleep disorders. While a CPAP does not cure sleep apnea, it will help you get a good night’s sleep.

In the same case, you can use breathe right strips sleep apnea

In addition, there are other options for non-surgical treatment of patients with this disease; the most relevant are: sleep hygiene, weight loss, positional therapy, drug therapy, and speech therapy. So, as a conclusion what is a sleep doctor called? Sleep doctors and they specialize in sleep medicine and they often have other related medical specialties as pulmonology, otolaryngology, cardiology or neurology as we said in the article.

As we read, it depends on what kind of disease we have, we should go to a sleep medicine doctor like psychiatrist Brandon FL and expect to discuss your situation, provide a medical exam and if appropriate prescribe testing.

Author’s Bio: My name is yassinext, the founder and chief editor of sleep-land.com I decided to start taking my blog about sleep seriously to help people find what they need to experience better sleep and maintain their health. Do check out my website to learn more how to improve it now!