Do you find yourself counting sheep a lot? It’s only natural to have trouble sleeping once in a while, but if you have difficulty staying awake during the day or if you feel tired even after a full night of sleep, you may be one of the 50 million Americans with a sleep disorder.
Common symptoms of sleep disorders include:
Some examples of sleep disorders that the experts at the Ayer Neuroscience Institute Sleep Care Center can diagnose and treat include:
- Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA): OSA is a common sleep disorder in which the airway collapses part or all of the way when you are sleeping causing you to temporarily stop breathing.
- Central sleep apnea: Your breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. It is different than OSA because it occurs when your brain sends the wrong signals to the muscles that control your breathing, rather than being caused by an obstruction.
- Periodic limb movement disorder: This is the involuntary movement of the legs during sleep. People may not be aware of the disturbance but many brief awakenings disturb sleep and cause excessive daytime sleepiness.
- Restless leg syndrome: This condition causes very unpleasant sensations in the legs – most often the calves – while sitting or lying still, especially at bedtime. It affects a person's ability to sleep at night and function normally during the day.
- Circadian rhythm disorders: These are sleep disorders involving a problem with your body’s 24-hour internal clock, or circadian rhythm. Examples include Shift Worker Sleep Disorder and Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome.
- Narcolepsy: Although the exact cause is not known, narcolepsy appears to be a disorder of the part of the brain that controls sleep. It's defined by constant sleepiness and a tendency to sleep at inappropriate times.
- Parasomnias: A term describing a wide range of disruptive, sleep-related events. The most common include sleepwalking and sleep tremors, in which the sleeper is awake enough to act out complex behaviors but still asleep and unaware of his or her activity.
- Nocturnal seizures: A form of epilepsy that causes abnormal movement or behavior during sleep.