What Are Sleep Disorders? How Are They Diagnosed?
Sleep is critically important for both your daily life and your physical and mental health. Various sleep disorders disrupt the normal sleep cycle, and sleep-related conditions including insomnia, sleep apnea, and restless leg syndrome can impair your daily functioning.
What Are Sleep Disorders?
A sleep disorder results in disrupted sleep quality and quantity. There are many sleep disorders that can be directly associated with physical and/or emotional problems.
The six main types of sleep disorders are:
- Insomnia
- Hypersomnias
- Parasomnias
- Circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders
- Sleep-related breathing disorders
- Sleep-related movement disorders
What Is the Most Common Sleep Disorder?
Insomnia, the most common sleep disorder, is a complex condition defined as difficulty falling and staying asleep. Short-term insomnia caused by psychological stress or a traumatic life event is generally resolved, but it can impair quality of life and be quite treatment-resistant.
Chronic insomnia is diagnosed when it occurs at least three nights per week for more than three months. Chronic insomnia can cause damage in your daily life, leading to low energy, daytime fatigue or sleepiness, irritability, difficulty concentrating or remembering, and even anxiety or depression.
What Is Sleep Apnea?
Sleep apnea is a relatively common, potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing slows or stops during sleep. The condition causes repeated awakenings throughout the night as the brain detects oxygen deprivation and triggers breathing.
There are three main types of sleep apnea:
Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS)
The most common type, OSA, occurs when your airway relaxes during sleep, causing brief periods of interrupted breathing or snoring. Being overweight increases the risk of OSA.
Central Sleep Apnea (CSA)
In this less common type of sleep apnea, the brain fails to send signals to the muscles that help you breathe. Snoring is not a typical symptom of CSA.
Mixed Sleep Apnea Syndrome
Also called treatment-emergent central sleep apnea, this condition occurs when a person has both obstructive and central sleep apnea.
How Are Sleep Disorders Diagnosed?
Various approaches can be used to diagnose sleep disorders and understand what is causing an individual patient's sleep problem. You may be asked to keep a sleep diary documenting how much sleep you get each night and how many times you wake up.
An overnight sleep study may need to be conducted in a sleep laboratory. In this study method called polysomnography, an EEG machine monitors and records your sleep patterns, oxygen levels, body movements, heart rate, and breathing patterns.