Chronic Sleep Deprivation

Sleep deprivation is a common complaint among people of all ages. It routinely goes undiagnosed or ignored by most people for long periods of time because they feel they have no viable options.

It is time to stop ignoring this problem and start acting on solving it because it has many more adverse effects than just waking up tired in the morning.

Once you conquer your bad nights sleep you will become more alert, active, healthy, and stress free than you have been in a long time. Keep reading this article to learn a few different types of sleep deprivation causes with signs and symptoms.

Sleep Apnea is a very common sleeping disorder that is quite hard to diagnose. This is a condition where a person actually stops breathing during their sleep and can be very dangerous if left untreated. The person will stop breathing for a while and then start again, all without waking up or any knowledge of the event in many cases. The main issue here is that while not breathing the blood and brain is not getting the oxygen it needs which can help promote serious long term health issues. Health effects include:

• High blood pressure
• Stroke
• Heart failure, irregular heart beats, and heart attacks
• Diabetes
• Depression
• Worsening of ADHD
  

Insomnia can be acute or chronic, and is generally referred to as an inability to fall asleep or just stay asleep. It is found in people of all ages and most people that have it are aware of how long it takes them to fall asleep or how many times they wake up during the night. Common symptoms include:

• Sleepiness during the day.
• General tiredness.
• Irritability.
• Problems with concentration or memory.

Although this is a very common problem, many people refuse to seek help on the subject thinking that it wont help them. Visiting your doctor or trying over the counter medications for this one can be one of the single greatest things you can do for yourself. By getting more sleep your quality of life will improve dramatically.

Restless Legs Syndrome is caused by a disorder in the nervous system that causes your legs to feel 'irritable' like they need to move all the time. Because of this constant motion, you will toss and turn all night making it hard to get into that deep REM sleep that you really need. Some common symptoms include:

• Itches or a crawling feeling on your legs
• The urge to constantly move your legs
• Involuntary movement of your legs
  

Narcolepsy is a problem that effects your ability to stay awake during the day. People with Narcolepsy will often feel like they need to go to sleep and can even in severe cases randomly fall asleep during daily activities. It usually effects people during the age range of 15 to 25, but the cause of Narcolepsy is still mostly unknown. Symptoms of Narcolepsy include:

• Cataplexy
• Hallucinations
• Sleep paralysis
• Excessive daytime sleepiness
  

Whether it is you who snores or the person that sleeps with you, snoring can be a huge problem for not only yourself, but also the person you sleep with. While you may be able to sleep through the noise, you could be keeping someone you love up the entire night. This can often lead to them being stressed out and sleep deprived which is not good for either of you. Some common causes of snoring are:

• Obstructed nasal airways
• Poor muscle tone in the throat and tongue
• Bulky throat tissue
• Long soft palate

If you or a loved one is experiencing problems with snoring, it can often be solved with over the counter snoring aids such as nose strips or mouthpieces. In more severe cases it can only be solved with the help of your doctor and possibly even surgery.