What Are the 5 Major Sleep Disorders?

While sleep disorders are somewhat common in childhood, they are much more prevalent in adulthood. Adults can experience a wide range of sleep disorders, including these most common ones:


– Sleep Apnea — It is estimated that more than 18 million adults have sleep apnea in the United States, although some put this figure as high as 22 million. This sleep disorder, which is among the most common in the world, involves frequent events where you stop breathing during sleep, resulting in brief awakenings every couple of minutes. Sleep apnea prevents you from going into deep, continuous sleep, which can have countless deleterious effects on both physical and mental health. The main treatment for sleep apnea is continuous positive airway pressure therapy, which uses a CPAP machine to maintain a constant airway pressure, keeping the airways open during sleep and preventing lapses in breathing and oxygenation.

– Insomnia — In the United States, roughly one in four adults develop insomnia; fortunately, at least 75 percent of people with insomnia recover. Insomnia is a complex condition that has a wide range of causes, risk factors and symptoms. Each person experiences insomnia differently, but it is characterized by an inability to fall asleep, stay asleep or return to sleep.

– Narcolepsy — Much less common than sleep apnea and insomnia, narcolepsy affects roughly one in 2,000 people. It is typically diagnosed between the ages of 10 and 20 and causes you to feel overwhelmingly sleepy; in some instances, it can even cause uncontrollable sleep. Narcolepsy can present with or without cataplexy, or sudden loss of muscle tone while you are awake; this can result in a person collapsing to the ground mid-conversation, and falling over while doing household chores.

– Shift Work Disorders — Shift work disorders are disturbances in sleep cycles typically caused by working an atypical schedule, such as a night shift, or rotating shifts. The underlying theme in treating shift work disorders is helping people adjust their lifestyle so that they are maintaining the same circadian rhythm. It is important for people who work night shifts to keep their schedules consistent, even on days off.

– Sleep-Related Movement Disorders — There are many sleep disorders related to abnormal movement during sleep. These have their own classification and are known as parasomnias. Some common sleep-related movement disorders include periodic limb movements, sleepwalking, and REM disorders like REM behavior disorder.

The five major sleep disorders include:

– Insomnia
– Sleep Apnea
– Narcolepsy
– Restless Legs Syndrome
– Bruxism

Among the many sleep disorders, there are a few serious ones that pose a threat to one’s health and wellbeing. These include:

– Circadian Rhythm Sleep-Wake Disorders
– Idiopathic Hypersomnia
– Insomnia
– Kleine-Levin Syndrome (KLS)
– Narcolepsy
– Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)
– Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) or Willis-Ekbom disease (WES)

The number one sleep disorder in the world, based on the total number of people affected by it, is insomnia. Insomnia affects hundreds of millions of people across the world, and can be caused by a range of things, from excess stress to poor sleep hygiene.
 
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