Sleep disorders: the most common and how to treat them

Sleep disorders are the main factor of bad sleep. A bad night of sleep can harm your productivity during the day and affect your memory. If you constantly have bad nights of sleep and are feeling tired during the day, check out this list with the most common sleep disorders and read our advices to get better.

P.S The advices we give are not a substitute of a medical appointment. So, if you have severe symptoms, please see a doctor.

Sleep Apnea

What is sleep apnea?
This sleeping disorder leads to a breathing that repeatedly stops and starts. If you snore loudly and feel tired even after a full night of sleep, you might have sleep apnea.

What causes sleep spnea?
Some factors that increase the risk are: 
– Having a small upper airway (or large tongue, tonsils or uvula);
– Being overweight;
– Having a recessed chin;
– Small jaw or a large overbite
– Smoking and alcohol use;
– Being age 40 or older.

How to treat sleep apnea?
The first advice is to see a doctor. The most effective treatments need the supervise and diagnoses of a doctor, but there are some things you can do by yourself that will help you get better.
1. Lose weight. One of the causes is overweight, so it is very important to have a good and healthy relationship with food.
2. Avoid alcohol. It causes frequent nighttime awakenings, and makes the upper airway breathing muscles relax.
3. Change your sleep position. Sleeping in a bed position can increase your snore and hurt your back and muscles. We recommend sleeping lying on your back.

Insomnias

What is insomnia?
Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder, in which you have trouble falling and staying asleep. The condition can be short-term or can last a long time, depending on the cause.

What causes insomnia?
Insomnia has many possible causes, from food to physiological diseases:
– Nasal allergies;
– Reflux;
– Hyperthyroidis;
– Arthritis;
– Asthma;
– Neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease;
– Chronic pain;
– Low back pain;
– Depression and Anxiety;
– Unhealthy lifestyle;
– Wrong eating patterns;

How to treat insomnia?
The majority of the causes are medical and those, need to be treated by a doctor, such as: reflux, hyperthyroidism, arthritis, asthma, neurological conditions and chronic pain. The other causes also need medical help, but there some things you can do by yourself to control them.

1. Low back pain: Most people have low back pain due to a bad posture during the day and bad posture during the night. It is very important that you make the effort to have a good posture while sitting on your work chair and stand up every hour. You can also practice yoga to help you stretch.
For your posture during the night, you must choose the right pillow and mattress for your body and type of sleep. To help you, we recommend the article “How to choose the right pillow”.

2. Depression and anxiety: We live in a frenetic society where everyone is running through the days and can’t control most of their problems. Depression and anxiety are nowadays the most common problems. It is important be able to control our mind and have a healthy lifestyle to help prevent this disease. These are long-term problems and definitely need a medical help, however you can do many things to help you get better. Read the article “Anxiety: How to decrease it?” to discover all the things you can do to control anxiety. For example, practice physical activities, food that helps your mood or exercises to control your breath and thoughts.

3. Unhealthy lifestyle: Every lifestyle has consequences. If you have an unhealthy lifestyle your sleep will be for sure influenced. We recommend you to establish daily routines: get the same hours of sleep every night, practice physical exercise, have healthy food habits and breathe fresh air every day.

4. Wrong eating patterns: Your eating habits will influence a lot your sleep. You must be careful with what you eat during the day, but especially with what you eat before bed. Read the article “Food before bed: Do’s and Don’ts” and discover which food you can eat before bed, for example, you can eat dark chocolate and bananas but shouldn’t eat citrics.

Sleepwalking

What is sleepwalking?
Sleepwalking or somnambulism is a sleeping behavior disorder that begins during the deep sleep phase and results in walking or performing other complex behavior while asleep. This sleep disorder is more common in children than adults.

What causes sleepwalking?
Some of the most common causes for this sleep disorder are:
– Sleep deprivations;
– Consume Alcohol or other sedative agents;
– Febrile illnesses;
– Use of some medications;
– Sleep apnea;
– Bad sleep schedule;
– Stress;

How to treat sleepwalking?
– Avoid alcohol;
– Sleep the same amount of hours every day;
– Treat apnea;
– Get the same sleep schedule everyday;
– Get a healthy lifestyle;
– Eat food that can be relaxing before bed;
– Get good habits before sleep. Read the article “Six habits for better sleep“.

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If you want to go deeper into the topic of sleep, read our article here.

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