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Sleep Disorders
Lack of a good night's sleep can affect your health and safety. If you find yourself yawning during the day and have a lack of energy you may be suffering from a sleep disorder. Sleep disorders are responsible for numerous health problems and are the culprits causing many automobile and industrial accidents every year.
There are several different sleep disorders that can affect seniors. The good news is that they are treatable.
- Insomnia
Insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders reported to physicians. Insomnia is basically poor quality sleep caused by difficulty falling asleep, frequent waking and waking early not feeling refreshed.
Insomnia may be caused by stress, certain medications, overactive bladder disorders, jet lag, excess intake of alcohol or caffeine, new or unfamiliar surroundings or disruptive wake/sleep schedules (shift work). Insomnia can be occasional or chronic. If you are over 60, female or have history of depression you are at higher risk of insomnia.
Your physician during an examination looking at your health and sleep history can make evaluation of insomnia. Treatment will depend on the cause of insomnia and may necessitate some lifestyle or medication changes or additions.
- Sleep Apnea
Sleep apnea is another sleep disorder that causes breathing to stop for periods of up to 2 minutes, many times each night. It is usually accompanied by loud snoring. These periods of breathing stoppage disrupt sleep cycles and deprive the body of needed oxygen. Sleep apnea can increase the risk of high blood pressure, irregular heart beat, stroke and heart attack.
Sleep apnea can be associated with a history of loud snoring, obesity or physical deformities of the nasal or oral passages that obstruct the airway.
Diagnosis is made by a physician with an examination, sleep history and perhaps a sleep study done in a sleep lab. A sleep study will measure periods of apnea and record blood oxygen levels during sleep.
Treatment of sleep apnea may range from weight loss to the use of CPAP (a device that forces air into the nasal passages through a mask that is worn at night). If the cause is a physical obstruction, surgery may be indicated.
- Restless Legs Syndrome
RLS (Restless legs syndrome) is a disorder causing unpleasant crawling, prickling, or tingling sensations in the legs and feet and an urge to move them for relief, is emerging as one of the most common sleep disorders, especially among older people. While it is most common in people over the age of 60, it can develop at any age and may be related to conditions such as anemia, pregnancy or diabetes.
Many RLS patients also have a disorder known as periodic limb movement disorder or PLMD, which causes repetitive jerking movements of the limbs, especially the legs. These movements occur every 20 to 40 seconds and cause repeated awakening and severely fragmented sleep. In one study, RLS and PLMD accounted for a third of the insomnia seen in patients older than age 60.
RLS and PLMD often can be relieved by drugs that affect the neurotransmitter dopamine, many of the same drugs that are used to treat Parkinson's disease though RLS is not related to Parkinson's.
- Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy affects an estimated 250,000 Americans. People with narcolepsy have frequent "sleep attacks" at various times of the day, even if they have had a normal amount of nighttime sleep. These attacks last from several seconds to more than 30 minutes. These symptoms seem to be features of REM sleep that appear during waking, which suggests that narcolepsy is a disorder of sleep regulation.
When narcolepsy is diagnosed, stimulants, antidepressants, or other drugs can help control the symptoms and prevent the embarrassing and dangerous effects of falling asleep at improper times. Naps at certain times of the day also may reduce the excessive daytime sleepiness.
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