People spend 1/3 of their lives in sleep. If you are a good sleeper, you may not take insomnia seriously; however, once you join the ranks of insomniacs, you will feel the pain in the dead of night. According to surveys, many people suffer from sleep disorders or sleep-related diseases, and the proportion of adults with sleep disorders is as high as 30%. Experts point out that sleep is an extremely important physiological function to maintain human life and is essential for the human body. Therefore, sleep disorders must be given sufficient attention. So what is a sleep disorder, and what are the manifestations and hazards of sleep disorders? Here is a brief introduction to everyone.
First, what is sleep disorder?
People often equate sleep disorder with insomnia, but it is not, insomnia is only one type of sleep disorder, sleep disorder is not only a reduction in the amount of sleep or sleep quality, but also includes too much sleep, and abnormal behavior in sleep o can also appear sleep and wake rhythm disorders. It can be caused by a variety of factors. o It is often associated with somatic disorders. Including sleep disorders and heteronormative sleep.
Second, what are the types of sleep disorders?
1, the abnormal amount of sleep, can include two types: one is the excessive amount of sleep, such as sleepy state or lethargy caused by various encephalopathies, endocrine disorders, metabolic abnormalities, and episodic sleep disorder caused by brain lesions, which is manifested by frequent short (usually less than 15 minutes) irresistible sleep episodes, often accompanied by symptoms such as falls, sleep paralysis and hallucinations before going to sleep. The other type is insomnia with insufficient sleep, with less than 5 hours of sleep throughout the night, manifested as difficulty in falling asleep, light sleep, easy waking or early waking, etc.
2. Episodic abnormalities in sleep refers to some abnormal behaviors in sleep, such as sleepwalking, somnambulism (talking in sleep), night terrors (sudden commotion, shrieking, rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, general sweating, disorientation or hallucinations in sleep), nightmares (nightmares), teeth grinding, involuntary laughing, involuntary jumping of muscles or limbs, etc. These episodes of abnormal behavior do not occur during the whole night sleep, but mostly occur during certain periods of sleep.
Third, how to diagnose different types of sleep disorders?
First is detailed history taking, which is the most basic and important examination method. A well-trained doctor can get a preliminary understanding of the basic state of sleep disorder, accompanying symptoms, possible causes, etc. by talking with the patient, so as to make a corresponding impression diagnosis.
Next is the physical examination, which is the simplest and easiest way to distinguish between functional and somatic diseases causing insomnia.
Of course, some laboratory and auxiliary tests are needed to further clarify the causes of sleep disorders, and the most specific test is polysomnography (PSG), which is currently recognized as the “gold standard” of sleep detection, mainly by monitoring continuous breathing, arterial oxygen saturation, electroencephalogram, electrocardiogram, heart rate, etc. at night. PSG is very important for diagnosing and recording the severity of sleep disorders.
The role of polysomnography (PSG) in the diagnosis of insomnia
Normal sleep is usually composed of a cycle formed by two sleep phases, non-REM and REM. In normal adults, there are 3-6 cycles in a night, and each cycle lasts about 90 minutes. PSG can be applied to insomnia to: 1. objectively, scientifically and quantitatively understand the real situation of sleep and assess insomnia. For example, the sleep latency, the number and time of awakening, the time of waking up, the ratio of light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep, and the total time of sleep, etc., all have unified quantitative standards internationally. 2. Discover the causes of certain insomnia. For example, according to the length and proportion of REM sleep latency, we can determine the organic brain lesion or depressive insomnia; we can also find the causes of insomnia such as sleep breathing disorder, periodic leg movements, and severe heart rate abnormalities. 3.Exclude the sleep phase delay syndrome (the whole sleep cycle is delayed compared with normal people, mistaken for difficulty in falling asleep) and sleep phase advance syndrome (the whole sleep cycle is advanced compared with normal people, mistaken for early sleep) which can be misdiagnosed as insomnia. (the whole sleep cycle is earlier than normal, mistaken for early awakening) and short sleepers, etc.
V. What are the manifestations of insomnia?
1.Difficulty in falling asleep: the time from going to bed to falling asleep is more than 30 minutes.
2.Easy to wake up: too many times or too long sleep awakenings.
3.Shallow sleep: insufficient sleep depth.
4.Early awakening: unable to fall back asleep after waking up, waking up more than one hour earlier than usual when sleeping.
5. sleep deprivation: less than 5 hours of sleep for adults
6. sleep structure disorders: fast-acting eye sleep/slow-acting eye sleep less than 3 and/or a disproportionate ratio.
7. frequent awakening from nightmares, feeling that they have been having nightmares all night.
8.Energy is not restored after sleep.
VI. What are the common causes of insomnia?
Insomnia can be caused by external environmental factors (too much light in the room, too much noise around, night shift, taking a car or boat p just arrived in an unfamiliar place), physical factors (pain, itching, violent cough, drinking strong tea or coffee before going to bed, frequent night urination or diarrhea, etc.) or psychological factors (anxiety, fear, excessive thoughts or excitement). Some diseases are also often accompanied by insomnia, such as neurasthenia, anxiety, depression, etc.
Seven, the harm of insomnia
Many people have experienced insomnia and have felt the pain of insomnia. Short-term insomnia can cause fatigue, restlessness, general discomfort, lethargy, slow reaction, headache, poor memory, and then accidents and even life-threatening when engaging in high-risk occupations. Long-term insomnia is even more harmful, long-term insomnia will accelerate the aging of the skin, leading to high blood pressure, inducing neurasthenia, depression, anxiety and other emotional problems, and neurasthenia, depression, anxiety patients will aggravate insomnia, and so repeatedly form a vicious circle.
Eight, what is the standard of healthy sleep?
The standard of healthy sleep is: 1, fast sleep, fall asleep in about 10-20 minutes; 2, deep sleep, deep and long breathing is not easy to wake up; 3, no night or rarely get up, no alarming dream phenomenon, soon after waking up to forget the dream; 4, get up quickly, good spirit in the morning after waking up; 5, clear mind during the day, high efficiency, not sleepy.
Nine, how to develop good sleep habits?
1.Sleep and wake up time should be regular, that is, on weekends and vacations are no exception.
2, do not put the alarm clock in the bedroom, is to sleep normal people will also be because of the alarm clock ticking and sleep poorly.
3, choose the right mattress pad and maintain the appropriate bedroom temperature is also important.
4, do not lie in bed thinking about the problem.
5, avoid taking naps during the day.
6, do not drink coffee, tea and alcoholic beverages at night, and do not smoke.
7, appropriate physical activity helps sleep. However, insomniacs should be aware that two naps before bedtime do not do strenuous exercise. Some exercise in the afternoon and early evening may be helpful for sleep.
8, if insomnia affects your daily life, you should seek early medical attention.
9, taking sleeping pills should follow medical advice. In some cases, sleeping pills may temporarily help patients fall asleep, but taking sleeping pills for a long time may lead to addiction.
10.Do insomnia patients have to be treated with medication?
The treatment of insomnia should first be distinguished as primary or secondary, and then its treatment should be decided. For secondary insomnia, the basic disease or cause of insomnia should be dealt with, such as insomnia caused by drinking coffee, exertion and environmental changes, etc., which should be dealt with or treated for the cause first; for insomnia caused by depression, anxiety disorder or schizophrenia, the primary cause such as depression should be treated as early as possible. Generally speaking, insomnia will be cured after the cause is eliminated.
For the treatment of primary insomniacs, the most important thing is to encourage patients to adjust their sleep habits and restore their normal biological rhythms, and then to do some necessary explanations to patients. Because many people are not aware that sleep time varies from person to person, not everyone needs to sleep the full 8 hours, which is not an important indicator of sleep adequacy, as long as you feel energetic the next day, no discomfort, a shorter sleep time does not have much effect on the human body. After realizing this, some people will realize that they are getting enough sleep and do not need any medication at all. Some people take the problem of sleep too seriously and require several hours of sleep a day, otherwise they think it is not enough sleep; some people do not understand the nature of sleep and think that a long period of bad sleep will make people “crazy”. These people become very nervous when they have a bad sleep, making the brain much more alert, which in turn may develop into a real insomnia.