Sleep disorder is one of the fast spreading psychological abnormalities. Drastic change in the life style of the society and the increasing anxiety are some of the reasons amongst various other reasons that contribute to sleep disorder. It demands immediate attention and care as it not only affects our sleep life but also affects the other aspects of life including work, relationships, health and eating habits. Most often than not people either ignore this condition or misguided ending up in greater problems. Sleep disorder not only means as often mistaken, poor sleep; poor sleep is one of the conditions of sleep disorder. There are many forms of sleep disorder. If not given proper attention what is considered to be mild form of irritation can eventually become a major psychiatric problem. Some of the the most common forms of sleep disorders include snoring, sleep apnea, insomnia, somnambulism, narcolepsy, parasomnias, restless legs and periodic limb movement disorder etc.
Sleep disorders such as snoring, sleep apnea, insomnia are very common forms of sleep disorders and has no serious effects. These common sleep disorders are not inherited but these are acquired behavioral aspects. Environment and stress factors too play a major role in these forms of sleep disorder. People with other medical complications too will exhibit these forms of sleep disorders. Sometimes the cause may be the food habits of the individual. For example consumption of caffeine may lead to insomnia. Caffeine intoxication can happen through habitual activities such as consumption of high quantities of coffee or coke. This can be compared to mild form of addiction, whereby body craves for the excess dose of caffeine leading to other complications such as insomnia.
More often than not people might suffer more than one sleep disorder; for instance someone who is suffering from insomnia may also be a victim of sleep apnea. Contrary to the common understanding insomnia need not be only due to badly handled stress and anxiety - it can also be due to forced sleep deprivation. For example people working in nocturnal hours and who regularly spend their nights in bars, discos, watching TV and reading books. These forced conditions can be easily altered by self disciplining except for those whose financial condition will force them to accept jobs in the night shifts. Besides this, insomnia can be due to the medicines taken for certain health conditions. Ageing too can be one of the major players of sleep disorders such as insomnia. With ageing secretion of melatonin, a chemical substance which is responsible for inducing sleep decreases. This lack of sleeping gives rise to other sleep disorders such as snoring and sleep apnea.
Though sleep disorder is one of the most common and more prevalent psychological condition not many are aware of the causes of sleep deprivation or insomnia. Not many of us know how many hours of sleep is required for a normal human being. Some say it is 5 hours and others 8 hours; you would be surprised to learn that there are no standard number of hours that human beings should sleep. It primarily depends on a variety of other factors such as individual constituency, nature of body chemistry, geographical location, nature of occupation, age, food habits etc. A 3 month old baby might sleep for more than 18 hours per day where as a 25 year old might sleep only for 5 hours per night. These are normal conditions, a disorder can be induced when there is some secondary factor that disturbs the routine. For example, change of place, change of sleeping condition etc.
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