Sleep disorder - 'Insomnia'.
Sleep Disorder
Athakarn Chongsathien
University College Sedaya International
Abstract
In this assignment I would like to introduce a type of sleep disorder called 'Insomnia'. It defines, as the chronic inability to sleep, Insomnia is a very common condition, with many types of sleep disorders, and disturbed sleep patterns, such as difficulty in falling asleep, and will awaken soon after falling asleep. I also include the three major factors that cause insomnia. They are biological factor, sociocultural factor and cognitive factor. The example of my friend, Annie is elaborated in the following pages in order to show as the example. As well as the treatment that would help Annie recovers from insomnia.
Sleep Disorder
In order to know what sleep disorder is we should first have some knowledge about sleep. What is sleep? Many of us would think that sleep is only when we rest our bodies and minds by being in the stage of unconscious. But it is not only that, actually sleep is not an unconscious experience, but a complex combination of conscious and unconscious awareness. During sleep, we usually pass through five phases of sleep: stages 1, 2, 3, 4, and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. These stages progress in a cycle from stage 1 to REM sleep, then the cycle starts over again with stage 1. Each person needs different amount of sleep, it depends on various factors, including age. Different ages require different amount of sleep. For example, infants generally require about 16 hours a day, while teenagers need about 9 hours on average. For most adults, 7 to 8 hours a night appears to be the best amount of sleep, although some people may need as few as 5 hours or as many as 10 hours of sleep each day.
However, sleep too much or sleep too less may lead to sleep disorder.
What is sleeping disorder? A sleep disorder is a disruptive pattern of sleep that may include difficulty falling or staying asleep, falling asleep at inappropriate times, excessive total sleep time, or abnormal behaviors associated with sleep. There are many types of sleeping disorder but it can be put into two categories. One is Dysomnias which are related to the amount, time and quality of sleep. Insomnia, Sleep apnea, Narcolepsy and Hypersomnia are classified in this category. Other one is Parasomnias, the examples are nightmare, sleep terror, sleepwalking disorder. This case refers to sleep disturbances that related to behavioral or physiological events related to sleep.
In this assignment, I would like to talk about Insomnia or Inability to sleep because people over the world would have experienced it. It is a very interesting topic to talk about since one of my friends is suffering from insomnia for quite a long period of time. So it makes me curious that what are the factors that lead her to this sleep disorder and I also would like to know what therapy would suit her best.
Insomnia or inability to sleep is not a disease that happened by itself, but it is an occasional ...
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In this assignment, I would like to talk about Insomnia or Inability to sleep because people over the world would have experienced it. It is a very interesting topic to talk about since one of my friends is suffering from insomnia for quite a long period of time. So it makes me curious that what are the factors that lead her to this sleep disorder and I also would like to know what therapy would suit her best.
Insomnia or inability to sleep is not a disease that happened by itself, but it is an occasional problem for people over the world. Everyone would have experienced an occasional sleepless night, but for most people, this is not problematic. However, many people have suffered from sleeping problems or insomnia is a chronic problem or for a long period of time. In these cases, people will be unable to carry out their daily responsibilities either because they are too tired or because they have trouble concentrating due to lack of restful sleep. Basically, there are three types of insomnia transient, acute (temporary) and chronic
Transient insomnia:
Transient insomnia is a disturbance in sleeping patterns which lasts for a few nights only. This case is due to jet lag, excitement, stress, illness, or a change in sleep schedule. However, it will soon return back to normal.
2 Acute insomnia:
Acute insomnia is slightly more serious because it continues for about 2-3 weeks. Contributing factors include a job change, divorce, serious illness, financial problems, or the death of a close friend/relative.
3 Chronic insomnia:
Chronic insomnia is the rarest and most serious type, it continues and lasting longer than a few weeks. To overcome chronic insomnia one must first try to find out the possibility that it is a symptom of some problems that relating to health problem. Check with the doctor to ensure that such conditions as heart disease, diabetes, epilepsy, pregnancy, menopause, or arthritis are not responsible for the sleep loss.
As I mention earlier that I am interesting in this topic because one of my friend is suffering from insomnia. I am now will reveal her case to you.
Her name is Annie, she was classmates since we were in high school. Annie always took sleeping pills since she had a difficulty getting sleep at night. Most nights, she said, she was lucky if she had slept around four hours of uninterrupted sleep. Some nights she didn't even bother to go to bed. This is due to her habit of sleeping in the day time since she was exhausted in the day time, sometimes she even had car accidents while driving to school and driving back home, as she felt sleepy when she was driving. The habit of sleeping in the day time began last year when she started to work as a night shift receptionist in a hotel during summer vocation. The manager of the hotel was so strict that made her so worry about her performance at work. Sometimes she was scolded by the manager and she would call me for consolation. She worked there around four months. During those four months she had a tough time and always slept in the morning, for about three to four hours a day. When our class resumed Annie still could not change herself back to the normal activities, she fell as sleep in the class and could not sleep at night. She was so worried about not sleeping at night, so she began to do other activities like played computer, exercised, watched TV and getting herself a big meal during the night in her bedroom. It was because of this she started to take sleeping pill. Since she slept in the class, her studies became poorer so she became stressful all the time.
Everyone was so worried about her and kept telling her that if she continued taking sleeping pills it would give her side effect. As all of us started to complain about her behavior, it gave her more tension and anxiety. This made her more worried and could not get sleep at night since she kept thinking about all those words. So the causes or factors that make Annie suffers from insomnia can be classified in to three major factors. They are Biological, Cognitive and Social cultural factor.
Biological factor
Most biological factors are according to a natural cycle referred to as circadian rhythms. Even without the usual external time prompts, the human body will follow a recurring fluctuation which determines, to a large extent, when we feel sleepy and when we are alert. One of the causes in this case is, since Annie had work as a night shift receptionist. This kind work often creates the problems similar to jet lag. Jet lag is the most common type of circadian rhythm disruption and results Annie's body would require time, sometimes as much as a week, to reset its internal clock to the new time of sleep. Other cause is the changes of hormones in women are also another biological cause that can be considered in this case. The changes in sleep patterns of Annie that diminish the quality of sleep are often associated with the changing phases of the menstrual cycle, resulting in increased tension and irritability which make her unable to sleep. And the last one is since she eats a big meal a night her body would not feel like to sleep because there is no digestion.
Sociocultural factor
Annie also loves to have coffee at anytime of the day. In this case excessive caffeine consumption and poor sleeping habits, shift work change and misuse of certain medications. As Annie also used to take sleeping pills, it also can be one of the causes. And also, many of us started to criticize on her taking sleeping pills as well as her studies. She become more stressful and even avoids joining the group. These factors put more pressure on her which could lead to the cause of making her unable to sleep. Since, she could not get sleep then she started to do other activities in the bedroom. Doing other activities in the bedroom will make the environment of sleeping area change, since these activities may inhabit sleep.
Cognitive factor
The cognitive perspective on abnormal behavior focuses on how thoughts and information processing can become distorted and leads to maladaptive emotions and behavior (Carson et al., 2000). Since Annie grade decreased which made her became so stressful. She also used to think about her future, about what is she going to do when her studies became poorer and poorer. Moreover, she was being watched and scolded many times by the manager when she was working as the receptionist of the hotel. She was so serious about the manager words. Since, she always put her best performance in order to produce the best work. These problems may disturb her thought while she is about to sleep. As a result, it creates a difficulty for her to get a good sleep. Incase, if she always thinks about the problems, bad memories and other troublesome incidents before sleep, it would keep her awake and does not feel like to sleep.
Treatment
In this case Annie should develop a regular sleeping schedule. She should avoid daytime naps and stimulating activities just before bedtime such as exercising, eating, and so on. The most important thing that she should avoid is stimulating drugs, such as caffeine and sleeping pills, particularly before going to bed. Annie should tries to do some exercise during the day because exercise will help her relax and relief the stress from her mind. She should drink a cup of warm milk before sleep which will help her get a good sleep. Additionally, there are some behavioral techniques that would suit Annie's case such as relaxation therapy, sleep restriction and reconditioning. Relaxation therapy consists of techniques that help reduce or eliminate anxiety and body tension. Sleep restriction is a technique that starts with a person only allowed to get a few hours sleep a night; over time the hours of sleep are increased until a more normal night's sleep is achieved. Another treatment that may help some people with insomnia is to recondition them (reconditioning) to associate the bed and bedtime with sleep. For most people this means not using their beds for any activities other than sleep and sex. There is also a treatment with medication but I would not recommend for anyone to take up.
Summary
As from now I already explained the important information about sleep disorder and also the factors which I have classified into three major factors. They are biological, cognitive and sociocultural. It is because of my friend Annie that inspires me to do this assignment about insomnia. Since she is suffered from it and I want to find out what are the factors that affect her and also the treatment that would be able to recover her position. There are quite numbers of treatments that suit Annie such as relaxation therapy, sleep restriction and reconditioning.
References
Carson, R.C., Butcher, J.N., & Mineka, S. Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life. (11th ed). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Alon Avidan .(1999), Case study/insomnia. Retrieved July 14, 2004 from http://www.aasmnet.org/MEDSleep/Products/(Avidan)insomnia.pdf
What is insomnia (2000) Retrieved July 16, 2004 from http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/minis/mini/insomniaMINI/insomniaMINI1. html
Sleep disorders information.(2002) Retrieved July 23, 2004 from http://www.sleepnet.com/disorder.htm
Sleep disorders (2002). Retrieved July 23, 2004 from http://health.yahoo.com/health/centers/sleep_disorders/107.html
Factors that contribute to sleep problems.(2003) Retrieved July 23, 2004 from http://www.vancsleep.com/3facts.htm
Insomnia (2004). Retrieved July 23, 2004 from http://www.cbsatlanta.com/global/story.asp?s=1230569&ClientType= Printable
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