Excessive daytime sleepiness can significantly affect the quality of one’s life. The
Center for Sleep Medicine is finding solutions for those individuals
suffering from excessive daytime sleepiness.
Insomnia is a condition where an individual has difficulty
falling or staying asleep. Insomnia
affects daytime functioning causing fatigue, depressed mood, impaired
attention and concentration. It
worsens your ability to cope with stress, lessens enjoyment of social
activities and quality of life.
“Acute” Insomnia is a temporary response to
factors such as stress or jet lag and normal sleep returns on its own. As a result your doctor may offer medication as
an option for immediate relief.
Insomnia which persists for more than four weeks is referred to as
“chronic insomnia”. One in ten
adults experience chronic insomnia which can persist for months, years or even
decades.
Many factors create and sustain insomnia. All too often people are told to follow “good
sleep hygiene” or prescribed medication.
While important they alone are not an effective treatment. Because sleep
is a natural physiological process, long term medication use should be done
with caution, as it may worsen sleep as patients develop tolerance over time.
A consultation with an insomnia specialist certified in
behavioral sleep medicine will assess the psycho physiological, psycho-social,
cognitive and behavioral factors that cause insomnia.
Another potential cause of daytime sleepiness is a Circadian Rhythm Disorder. A person with this disorder may have
difficulty sleeping at a time when they need to sleep, difficulty rising when
they need to rise and difficulty maintaining alertness when they need to be
awake. Such a disorder can have a
profound effect on daily functioning which may include work or school
absenteeism, impaired work performance, impeded social schedules and stress on
relationships and depression.
For example, shift work may have a significant effect on
individuals who frequently change work hours or who work at night. In such cases work schedules are out of sync
with the body’s internal sleep wake schedule.
Human beings were designed to be awake during the day and asleep at
night not vice versa. The good news is
effective treatment for such a disorder is available at The Center for Sleep Medicine.
