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Sleep Problems & Treatments

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Insomnia is a sleep disorder characterized by difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or non restorative sleep, for at least 1 month

         Psychological causes: stress
         Physiological causes: schedule changes - drug abuse
         Non-drug treatment for insomnia: behavioral
         Drug treatment: benzodiazepines (ben-zo-die-AS-ah-peens)

Sleep apnea syndrome is characterized by sleep-disordered breathing with daytime sleepiness. It affects about 4 percent of men and 2 percent of women in their middle age. The prevalence of this condition increases with age and become a major cause of reported sleep disturbance and of people feeling excessively tired/sleepy during the day.

Narcolepsy is a disorder of sleep and wakefulness; all patients with narcolepsy are positive for the DR2 antigen which is one of the HLA antigens. Patients affected with narcolepsy have a chronic and excessive need to sleep regardless of the time of the day and this need is not relieved by increased sleep at night.

Night terrors in children

Nightmares

Sleepwalking (happens during stage 4)