Oftentimes, people are unaware that they suffer from a sleep disorder. Many people have lived with the condition for so long that they think it is natural to feel sleepy or fall asleep during the day. Some people don’t realize that if they get a full night of uninterrupted sleep - they will feel alert and awake all day.
Sleep is a complex, dynamic physiologic and psychologic state. Proper sleep architecture and sufficient total sleep time are essential for normal functioning. For this reason, patients must be made aware that it is important to negate any sleep deficit. Providers can gain valuable insight into a patient's medical complaints by inquiring carefully about medication use, sleep habits, and sleep problems.
In this report I will discuss different sleep disorders among different group of ages. In addition I will also discuss treatment methods for sleep disorders.
Sleep disorders are a group of syndromes characterized by disturbance in the patient's amount of sleep, quality or timing of sleep, or in behaviors or physiological conditions associated with sleep.(1) There are about 70 different sleep disorders. To qualify for the diagnosis of sleep disorder, the condition must be a persistent problem, cause the patient significant emotional distress, and interfere with his or her social or occupational functioning. The fourth edition (1994) of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) specifically excludes temporary disruptions of sleeping patterns caused by travel or other short-term stresses.
Although sleep is a basic behavior in animals as well as humans, researchers still do not completely understand all of its functions in maintaining health. In the past 30 years, however, laboratory studies on human volunteers have yielded new information about the different types of sleep. (2) Researchers have learned about the cyclical patterns of different types of sleep.....
