Common Sleep Disorders

Sleep disorders are surprisingly common. They include everything from insomnia, to conditions that people might not even realize can be disorders. Some can be severe and require medical treatment, while others can be helped with lifestyle changes.

There are a lot of resources to learn more about sleep disorders and find out if you might have one, like taking sleep disorder tests Columbus online. Here are some of the most common sleep disorders to get you started:

Snoring

Snoring by itself (habitual snoring) is nothing to worry about – almost everyone snores sometimes. Chronic snoring, on the other hand, can be a sign of a more serious issue like Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Snoring happens when the soft tissue in your throat is relaxed. The relaxation causes the tissue to vibrate when air passes over it. This kind of snoring can be caused by things like a deviated septum, allergies, or even your sleeping position. Habitual snoring isn’t a major health concern, but it can disrupt sleep, leading to irritability, fatigue, and concentration problems.

Sleep Apnea

The most common form of sleep apnea is Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) where you repeatedly snore then stop breathing throughout the night. Like habitual snoring, OSA is related to throat muscles relaxing, but the symptoms are more severe. They include heart problems and high blood pressure, intermittent sleep, and gasping for air or stopping breathing during sleep.

Sleep apnea is treated by the use of a CPAP machine which helps with breathing and air flow.

The other two types are Central Sleep Apnea, which happens when the nervous system doesn’t send the right signals to your breathing muscles, and Complex sleep apnea syndrome, when someone has both OSA and Central Sleep Apnea.

Restless Leg Syndrome

Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) is intense discomfort in the legs or feet that usually occurs at night. People with RLS report feelings of itchiness, aches and pains, throbbing, and twitching. They also report that moving their legs helps lessen these feelings. The uncomfortable sensations and the urge to move your legs make it difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep, especially since symptoms worsen in the evening.

There’s no known cause of RLS, but it does seem to commonly occur alongside other conditions like iron deficiency and nerve damage.

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that causes issues regulating your sleep cycle. Unlike fatigue from staying up too late, narcolepsy involves brief periods (usually minutes or seconds) of daytime tiredness that reoccur throughout the day. You can even fall asleep for brief periods during the day without realizing it. Narcolepsy can also manifest in cataplexy, sudden, short-term muscle weakness resulting in things like slurred speech and buckling knees.

Insomnia

One of the most common sleep disorders, insomnia is a blanket term for having trouble sleeping. Many people experience acute (short-term) insomnia for a night or a few nights, especially in times of stress like before an exam or a job interview. There’s also chronic (long-term) insomnia, which is when someone has trouble sleeping for a month or longer, with no obvious trigger for the issue. Symptoms include fatigue, anxiety about sleeping or falling asleep, and irritability.

If you think you have a sleep disorder or online resources like sleep disorder tests suggest you might, there are doctors and experts who can help.