Find out how sleep disorders and poor sleep affect your sexual health.
One of the many keys to maintaining physical and mental well-being is to get enough sleep. Yet, about 1 in 3 adults have trouble sleeping on a regular basis, according to the American Sleep Apnea Association.
Getting a good night's sleep is essential for just about every process in our body. It affects how we function the next day, our ability to build immunity and fight disease, and it reduces stress.
Learn how to recognize a sleep disorder and what you should do next.
A sleep disorder is a condition that affects the way an individual sleeps. Insomnia, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome (RLS) and sleep apnea are the primary sleep disorders in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Untreated sleep disorders can have a negative impact on mental and physical health, quality of life and general safety when it comes to routine tasks such as driving, working and remembering important information.
Inadequate sleep resulting from a sleep disorder can exacerbate other existing health problems.
Sleep is one of the three pillars of health—with nutrition and movement being the other two.
About 84 million people in the U.S. don't manage to get the expert-recommended amount of uninterrupted sleep they need to protect and promote good health.
The recommended amount of sleep each person needs per day depends on their age, according to the CDC:
Additional factors—how many times sleep is interrupted in the night, what your sleep habits are, whether you suffer from a sleep disorder—can impact your health and well-being.
Sleep medicine has only recently been recognized as a medical subspecialty by medical experts. Since 2003, training programs and additional clinical training in sleep medicine have become accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
However, experts have been studying sleep for more than a century. Rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, an important part of the sleep cycle, was first discovered in 1953 by Nathaniel Kleitman and Eugene Aserinsky. They were the first to suggest rapid eye movements were associated with dreaming.
Since then, researchers have made great strides in the medical understanding of sleep and how it impacts health. Their work has laid the foundation for a better understanding of sleep disorders and learning how to treat them.
Genetics are believed to play a role in each individual's circadian system. Also referred to as the internal clock, circadian rhythms affect most living things and are behavioral, mental and physical changes that occur during a 24-hour cycle, responding primarily to dark and light.
How fast that internal clock runs can impact whether a person is more of a morning person or a night owl.
Certain genetic mutations can make a person much more vulnerable to the adverse effects of not getting enough sleep. About 10 percent to 20 percent of the population has this genetic variation, according to the Harvard Division of Sleep Medicine, giving them a stronger drive for sleep. This population may also have greater difficulty coping with sleep loss.
Though genetics are believed to play one role of many in predisposing individuals to different sleep patterns and sleep disorders, further research is needed to better understand the connection.
There are many factors that contribute to sleep disorders. Some of the leading causes and risk factors include the following:
Inadequate sleep can lead to a range of symptoms, both mental and physical. Though some symptoms may vary depending on the type of sleep disorder an individual has, all sleep disorders result in a lack of quality sleep. As a result, many sleep disorders cause overlapping symptoms.
Signs and symptoms of sleep disorders include the following:
If you persistently experience one or more of the sleep disorder symptoms above or are concerned about your sleep patterns, contact your doctor. There are effective treatments available.
When left untreated, sleep disorders can negatively impact overall health and quality of life.
Before diagnosing a sleep disorder, your doctor will perform a physical exam and talk to you about your symptoms. In some cases, your doctor may ask you to start keeping a sleep journal to get a clear picture of the frequency and severity of sleep problems.
If your physician suspects a sleep disorder, they will likely refer you to a sleep disorder clinic to undergo a sleep study. During the study, physical activities that occur while you sleep are electronically transmitted and recorded.
These results are analyzed by a healthcare professional at the sleep clinic. Taking into account the results of previous physical exams and consultations provided by your primary doctor, a determination will be made as to whether or not you have a sleep disorder.
Talk to your doctor about whether a home sleep test is right for you. Some sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea, can be tested at home rather than in a sleep clinic.
There are a variety of treatments available for sleep disorders.
Depending on the type of sleep disorder you have and the underlying causes of it, your doctor may recommend one or a combination of the following treatment options:
Also, different sleep disorder appliances are available that can mitigate symptoms and help you get a better night's sleep.
There's no surefire way to prevent a sleep disorder, though you can take a number of steps to lower your risk for one and improve your sleeping schedule overall.
During your day, sleep disorder prevention methods include:
At night, as you're preparing for sleep, first focus on practicing good sleep hygiene:
Clinical trials are an important tool used in medical research to further the understanding of various components of health. This includes sleep as well as conditions such as sleep disorders.
If you are interested in participating in a clinical trial aimed at investigating and discovering potential treatments for sleep disorders and furthering the understanding of sleep and sleep disorders generally, you can explore this government database of privately and publicly funded active clinical trials.
Before participating in any clinical trial, make sure you research as much as you can about the tests being carried out, be sure to consult your doctor and loved ones, and move forward with your own best interest at heart.
Educating yourself is always an important step toward finding a cure for what ails you, and a lot of good data exists. Here are some online resources recommended by our experts:
The most common sleep disorders all fall somewhere under the umbrella of the seven different categories of sleep disorders. These include insomnias, sleep-related breathing disorders, central disorders of hypersomnolence, circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders, parasomnias, sleep-related movement disorders and uncategorized sleep disorders.
The Sleep Health Foundation reports that the top 10 most common sleep disorders are:
If you experience symptoms of a sleep disorder, talk to your doctor. Effective treatments are available. Untreated sleep disorders can impede overall health and quality of life.
