Types Of Sleeping Disorders

How to Identify and Treat the Various Types of Sleeping Disorders

There are a number of different types of sleeping disorders that affect millions of people across the world. A sleeping disorder is considered to be any disorder that arises and is evident in the sleep patterns of a person or animal. The most common types of sleeping disorders are: Bruxism, delayed sleep phase syndrome, hypopnea syndrome, insomnia, jet lag, narcolepsy, night terrors, parasomnias, periodic limb movement disorder, rapid eye movement behavior disorder, restless legs syndrome, shift work sleep disorder, sleep apnea, sleep paralysis, sleepwalking, and snoring.

Different Types of Sleeping Disorders

One of the most common types of sleeping disorders is that of sleepwalking. Sleepwalking is a sleeping disorder in which the sufferer engages in activities while still asleep or in a sleeplike state. This sleeping disorder can affect people of all ages, and activities such as eating, dressing, and even driving cars have all been reported of occurring while a person was sleepwalking.

Another of the most common types of sleeping disorders is that of parasomnias. Parasomnias include any type of sleep disorder of the following: sleepwalking, sleep sex, teeth grinding, night terrors, rhythmic movement disorder, REM behavior disorder, restless leg syndrome, and somniloquy. These types of sleeping disorders are most typically associated with stress and depression. Those that are included in the parasomnia category are considered as being acute, undesirable, and episodic physical phenomena that usually occur during sleep, or are at least exaggerated by sleep.

Sleep apnea is another sleeping disorder, one that is characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep. There are two basic forms of sleep apnea -- central and obstructive. The central form of sleep apnea occurs when breathing is interrupted by the lack of effort, whereas the obstructive form of sleep apnea occurs when there is an actual physical blockage to the airflow.

Jet lag is an incredibly frequent and commonly reported sleeping disorder that is a condition that is a basic consequence of alterations to the circadian rhythm. In other words, when traveling across a number of time zones, the human body immediately gets out of sync with the destination time, thereby experiencing daytime and nighttime contrary to the rhythms that it has grown accustomed to. This is why you might feel like having breakfast immediately upon arriving in Paris at midnight! Jet lag occurs then obviously in people who spend a lot of time traveling, especially in airplanes or jet planes.

(c)  Sleep Disorders - Tyler's Articles 2006