Sleeping Problems.

Sleeping problems and sleeping disorders are most commonly categorized into three main subjects, Insomnia, narcolepsy and sleep apnea.

We are going to look into each of these sleeping problems on this site and you will find more information about each of them in the left-hand menu.

But first of all lets take a brief look at each of them and how they differ from each other and how we can know them appart.

Insomnia breaks down into two main phases.

Primary Insomnia.

Primary insomnia is a condition in which the sleeplessness or inability to sleep is not a symptom of something else. It is not brought on by other things, it exists as a condition itself.

Secondary Insomnia

Secondary insomnia is brought on by some other cause and is a symptom of the other thing.

Some Secondary Insomnia Causes

Pain, stress, depression.
Alcohol, tobacco, caffeine.
Some other type of illness

Secondary insomnia can be overcome through treating the cause behind the secondary symptoms.

There can be an increasing effect of secondary insomnia. The sleepless nights add to tiredness during the day and this can lead to more stress and so the cycle continues.

Chronic Insomnia

Insomnia can be said to be chronic if it continues for more than 3 days per week for more than a month. Less then this would be called acute insomnia or short-term insomnia.

Narcolepsy.

Narcolepsy is almost the opposite of insomnia. It is a sleep disorder which disrupts your normal sleeping pattern. It can cause you to fall asleep suddenly, without warning (known as "sleep attacks") and also tends to make you feel excessively drowsy during the day time.

Narcolepsy can also include sudden loss of muscle control (cataplexy), hallucinations, and disturbed sleep patterns.

How common is narcolepsy?

Narcolepsy is a relatively rare condition. Some research suggests that it affects approximately 3-5 people in every 10,000, with men and women being equally affected.

Sleep Apnea.

Sleep apnea is a different sort of sleep disorder to both insomnia and narcolepsy. Sleep apnea

Sleep apnea is a common disorder in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep.

Sleep apnea is characterized by pauses in breathing while sleeping. These pauses often occur 5 to 30 times or more an hour. Normal breathing then starts again, sometimes with a loud snort or choking sound.

Sleep apnea is usually a chronic condition that can disrupt your sleep 3 or more nights each week. You often move out of deep sleep and into light sleep when your breathing pauses or becomes shallow.

And then because of the poor quality of the sleep you get you can often feel tired and fatigued the next day.