Tackling Some Myths About Sleep Disorders… (Part 1)
The definition of a sleep disorder from a clinical point of view is, “a disruptive pattern of sleep that may include difficulty falling or staying asleep, falling asleep at inappropriate times, excessive total sleep time, or abnormal behaviors associated with sleep.” Doctors and specialists who study sleep have identified approximately one hundred different types of sleep disorders. Sleep disorders are broken down into four categories as delineated by the International Classification of Sleep Disorders. These categories are dyssomnias, parasomnias, medical/psychiatric disorders and proposed sleep disorders. Examples of dyssomnias include a variety of subcategories of insomnia, narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnea and restless legs syndrome. Examples of parasomnias include sleepwalking, bruxism (teeth grinding), bedwetting, and primary snoring. Medical/ psychiatric sleep disorders include asthma, peptic ulcers, dementia and degenerative brain disorders. Proposed sleep disorders are disorders that don’t fit in any of the other three categories such as short sleepers, long sleepers, subwakefulness syndrome and sleep choking syndrome.
Many myths revolve around sleep and sleep disorders that need to be dispelled. Let’s take a closer look at some of the most common myths and bust them!
It is a myth that health problems such as diabetes, depression, hypertension, obesity, etc. have no connection whatsoever to how much sleep a person gets on a regular basis and the quality of sleep the person in question receives. Research has proven time and time again that there is a very real connection between a bad quality of sleep and/or inadequate sleep due to any number of diseases. To use an example, a lack of sleep can inhibit the ability of the body to properly manufacture insulin, thereby bringing on diabetes.
