home Calculators Why can't I sleep at night? Frequent awakenings at night (intermittent sleep)

Why can't I sleep at night? Frequent awakenings at night (intermittent sleep)

Night sleep disturbance may be caused by for various reasons: external factors or diseases, permanent or episodic. In the United States, according to statistics, at least 40 million people suffer from sleep disorders (insomnia). In developed countries, sleeping pills account for 10% of all prescribed medications.

Perfectly healthy young people (students and schoolchildren) who do not have enough time to sleep may complain of insufficient sleep duration.

People over 40 who have health problems are dissatisfied with the duration and depth of sleep. They have difficulty falling asleep, and at night they are very bothered by frequent awakenings due to suffocation or palpitations.

Shallow sleepers have similar symptoms, but they are more worried about prolonged falling asleep.

Women complain of poor sleep more often than men, but they go to the clinic less often. Women sleep worse for personal reasons, and men for social reasons.

People who do physical work sleep better than housewives and pensioners.

Widowers and widows are more susceptible to insomnia than family people.

Among the villagers there are more people who sleep little: they have to get up early, especially in the summer, and going to bed early is not allowed by watching interesting films and programs on TV. There are fewer rough sleepers in the countryside than in the city: they are engaged in manual labor. Also, the villagers do not have the habit of daytime sleep.

On the topic: Self-massage of points for insomnia will help you fall asleep without medications. Their localization is on the head, arms, legs, medicinal effects for good health.

Manifestations of insomnia

Prolonged falling asleep– the most debilitating side of insomnia. To a person who cannot sleep, half an hour seems like an hour, but longer time- eternity.

Frequent awakenings at night exhausts, gives a feeling complete absence sleep. Delta sleep is short, it does not have time to develop; all mental activity is transferred to the stage of drowsiness and sleep spindles.

Consciousness in these stages seems to bifurcate, as in narcolepsy. The sleeper dreams of “half thoughts, half dreams”, he is almost aware of this and perceives such half sleep as wakefulness. However, the EEG shows 7 hours of sleep per night.

But due to its mismatched structure, it does not bring good rest: there are only three cycles of “slow-wave sleep - paradoxical sleep” per night, shallow sleep due to shortened slow-wave sleep.

And yet, statistics show that poor sleepers do not always sleep poorly in reality: complaints of frequent awakenings are confirmed in 86 cases out of 100, insufficient depth of sleep and prolonged falling asleep - in 70 cases, insufficient sleep duration is confirmed only in 43.

This indicates a subjective perception of sleep disturbances. Even someone who claims to not sleep at all, sleeps at least 5 hours a day, can sleep without noticing it at night and doze during the day.

Episodic sleep disorders

The causes of sleep disorders may be temporary and depend more on external factors. For example, when daily rhythm changes and sleep as a result of flying to a different time zone.

Sleep can often be disturbed due to noise, if the windows overlook an expressway or construction site. Such insomnias are called psychophysiological.

Sometimes complaints about external interference turn out to be disorders nervous system.

One patient A.M. Veina complained about noises that had haunted him all his life: in his youth, his neighbors in the dorm were noisy, then the noise of a tram, the noise of a construction site near his house, etc. disturbed him. This man did not invent anything, but he often had personal and professional conflicts.

Mentally unbalanced, he perceived any noise as a worldwide catastrophe.

You can change your place of residence, move from a noisy area to a quiet one, but will you leave yourself?

It happens that episodic disorders dreams can haunt a person throughout his life.

Another patient had been plagued by night terrors since childhood. At such moments, he jumped up and began to scream in horror. At the age of fifty, he is still sometimes overtaken by the same fears, and then he wakes up his family and himself with terrible screams.

How do such nightmares arise?

They are born in the stage of deep delta sleep, perhaps these are not terrible dreams, but vegetative-vascular crises. The reaction to such a dream is manifested strong heartbeat, intermittent and heavy breathing, chills, increased blood pressure and body temperature.

The person is covered uneasy feeling. Such a crisis may happen once a year or may recur up to several times a month.

Sleep disorders caused by diseases

Sleep may be disrupted due to illness internal organs and peripheral. With this disorder, patients experience various inconveniences and pains, such as nightmares and bad dreams.

Cores They fall asleep quite quickly, but in the middle of the night they often wake up and cannot fall asleep for a long time, tossing and turning from side to side.

Hypertensive crises, myocardial infarction, angina attacks occur mainly in paradoxical sleep, and in slow-wave sleep - attacks of bronchial asthma.
During REM sleep, all people's blood pressure and pulse change. For those whose coronary vessels are not in order, such changes are fraught with attacks.

The secretion of gastric juice also changes in everyone's sleep. In an ulcer In this case, pain may occur, and forced wakefulness along with it.

Poisoned by alcohol a person sleeps little and poorly, his paradoxical sleep is suppressed. REM sleep will not return to normal soon, because removing alcohol from the body takes a long time.

Paradoxical sleep does not want to wait for the alcohol to completely disappear and begins to regain its position, invading wakefulness: this is how delirium tremens appears with hallucinations and delusions.

In epileptics sleep structure is disrupted. They lack paradoxical sleep in some cases, and in others the stage of drowsiness is excessively increased. They are good sleepers and never complain about sleep. Perhaps the explanation is the resolution of accumulated unconscious conflicts during attacks.

Manic patients They also rarely complain about sleep, which is amazing, because they have the most nap in the world - sometimes an hour, sometimes two, but they do not feel the desire to sleep. A manic patient is excited, jumps out of bed, gets down to business, immediately drops everything, is ready to get involved in a conversation, but his thoughts are racing.

Suddenly falls asleep in a deep but short sleep and wakes up full of strength and energy. Apparently, the quantitative lack of sleep is compensated by its depth. However, there are situations when a short sleep cannot compensate for the full scale active work, then exhaustion sets in and the patient needs to lie down.

After deprivation REM sleep in a manic state there is no compensatory return: in these patients all conflicts are resolved in their vigorous activity. For creative people, this activity can be very fruitful. It is called ecstasy or inspiration.

Sleep disturbance is a serious problem that deprives many people suffering from such disorders of vitality and reduces their performance. The importance of the sleep cycle cannot be underestimated, as it is dangerous to health and even life.

Sleep is a vital cycle that repeats itself day after day. It is characterized by a state of rest, physical inactivity, lasting on average about 8 hours. During this period, the body rests. The body's systems are restored, information received during the day is processed and stored, and the immune system's resistance to infectious agents increases.

Various external and internal factors may affect the sleep cycle. As a result, they develop various kinds sleep disorders. Why do sleep cycle disorders occur? What diseases is this associated with? How to restore sleep patterns? How to deal with sleep disorders? The answers to these important questions will be discussed in the article below.

Types of sleep cycle disorders

There is a special classification of sleep cycle disorders. The main types of pathologies of the sleep cycle are the following conditions:

Insomnia - type pathological condition, which is characterized by problems with the process of falling asleep. At the same time, the sleep cycle itself is short-term, very sensitive. Insomnia develops against the background of mental illnesses of the nervous system, or as a result of prolonged use of alcohol or certain medications.
Hypersomnia is a type of sleep pathology characterized by a state of constant drowsiness. People suffering from this disorder can sleep up to 20 hours a day. Develops as a result of deep depression, chronic lack of sleep. There are such forms of hypersomnia:

– a type of hypersomnia characterized by a sudden attack of drowsiness, causing a person to fall asleep on the spot. The main symptom of this disease is cataplexy - loss of muscle tone while awake (the person freezes in a certain position, without loss of consciousness);
– excessive sleepiness in daytime days;
a type of hypersomnia associated with alcohol dependence.

Parasomnia is a sleep disorder that is characterized by disruptions in the phases of the sleep cycle, as a result of which a person often wakes up at night. Restless sleep develops against the background of enuresis (urinary incontinence during night rest), various forms of sleepwalking, and epilepsy (bursts of electrical activity in the brain). May be associated with night terrors and nightmares.
in a dream - disruption of the pulmonary ventilation process. As a result of such a failure, an adult develops hypoxia - oxygen starvation tissues, which leads to impaired concentration and daytime sleepiness. Apnea is accompanied by snoring, which makes it difficult for close family members and the sufferer to rest.
Ordinary insomnia is the most common sleep cycle disorder, which can be caused by various factors.
Sleep paralysis common occurrence, in which at the stage of falling asleep or waking up a person is aware of everything, but cannot move or speak. enough.
Bruxism - . It appears in both adults and children.

Causes of sleep disturbances. Symptoms

The normal sleep cycle is characterized by the process falling asleep quickly, awakening after which occurs after a certain period of time (depending on how much time a person needs to rest). On average, an adult's nightly rest should be at least 8 hours.

However, due to certain factors, sleep cycles and quality may be disrupted. This is due to the state of health, the presence of chronic diseases and negative impact external environment. So, the main causes of sleep disturbance in adults are:

emotional excitement, shock. Such conditions can develop due to frequent stress, prolonged depression, aggression, strong shocks associated with illness, death of loved ones. Also, sleep disturbance in adults can occur due to upcoming exciting events: student session, wedding, childbirth, divorce, job loss;
daily use of substances that excite the nervous system before bedtime, overeating. These can be drinks containing caffeine (strong tea, coffee), as well as alcohol, energy drinks, and in worst cases, drugs. Some medications can negatively affect the quality of the sleep cycle;
disruption of the endocrine system, thyroid disease. Bad dream observed in women during menstruation, when the level of female sex hormones increases, or during menopause (menopause). Sleep disturbance, insomnia is observed with hyperthyroidism - excessive release of hormones into the blood thyroid gland, which activate metabolism in the body;
diseases of internal organs: asthma, arthritis, ischemic disease hearts, renal failure, Parkinson's disease and similar mental illnesses. As a result of such diseases, a person experiences enormous physical discomfort, debilitating pain, which makes it difficult to sleep.
disturbance of sleep patterns, uncomfortable conditions for rest: presence unpleasant odors, too high, or low temperature indoors, light, extraneous noise, unusual surroundings.

These are the main reasons that lead to short-term or long-term disruption of the sleep cycle. The following symptoms may indicate this condition: a long period of falling asleep, permanent shift body position, very frequent awakening at night, restless sleep, getting out of bed early in the morning. After such a dream, a person feels exhausted, tired, concentration and memory processes decrease.

The consequences of sleep disturbance can be very dire. So, for those who regularly lack sleep or sleep poorly, the risk of illness increases by cardiovascular diseases, diabetes. Poor sleep leads to obesity, immunodeficiency, and breast cancer in women.

Causes and treatment of sleep cycle disorders. Diagnostics

The problem of poor sleep cannot be neglected. If a person daily has complaints like:

“I can’t sleep for a long time.”
“I often wake up at night.”
“I wake up very early, I can’t get enough sleep,” this eloquently indicates a disruption in the sleep cycle. In this case, he simply needs to contact a treating specialist and undergo a full medical examination. You cannot hesitate, as accumulating fatigue can lead to irreparable health problems.

Who to contact?

To diagnose sleep cycle disorders, people consult a somnologist who specializes in dreams, problems, and diseases associated with the sleep cycle. If such a specialist medical institution is not available, then you can consult a therapist, psychotherapist, or neurologist. They will tell you how to restore sleep. If there is a serious problem, you will have to contact a somnologist.

Remember, a person who sees a doctor on time avoids many health problems!

Sleep disorders are diagnosed in special laboratory. The following methods are used for this:

Polysomnography

It is carried out in a special laboratory where there is necessary equipment. During this procedure, the patient must be under the supervision of doctors during the night's rest.

A person is connected to various sensors that measure respiratory rate, heartbeat, pulse, electrical activity cerebral cortex. Based on these indicators, a somnologist can determine the real problem of poor sleep, tell you what to do, and prescribe appropriate therapy.

SLS method - study of average sleep latency

This technique is carried out in cases where the doctor suspects that the patient has hypersomnia ( increased sleepiness), especially narcolepsy.

During this procedure, the suffering person is given 5 attempts to fall asleep, each of which lasts about 20 minutes, the interval between them is 2 hours. If the patient falls asleep in more than 10 minutes, then he has no disturbances, within 5-10 minutes - borderline range, in less than 5 minutes - a clear sleep disorder.

How to restore sleep patterns?

This is a vital question. The listed diagnostic methods will help the doctor get a complete picture of what is happening with human body during a night's rest. After diagnosing the disease, the doctor will prescribe treatment. Sleep disturbances and severe insomnia are treated by taking medications such as:

sleeping pills different strength of action;
antidepressants (if the cause of sleep cycle disturbance is a severe form of depression);
antipsychotics with a calming effect, psychotonics are prescribed to patients with severe sleep disorders;
sedative (calming) drugs can be taken by anyone who is nervous before a night's rest or is in an excited state;
drugs with a vasodilating effect in combination with mild types of sleeping pills are intended for elderly patients whose poor sleep cycle is caused by arrhythmia or angina pectoris.

It is important to remember that self-prescribing treatment with sleeping pills is very dangerous, since in most cases, long-term use Such medications cause various kinds of addiction, leading to a malfunction of the central nervous system and its organs, aggravating the problem of sleep disorders. Only a qualified doctor should prescribe a course of treatment.

If poor sleep at night is associated with experiences before important event, old age, troubles at work, etc., then you can drink a soothing tea, decoction, or herbal infusion half an hour before rest. For these purposes, chamomile tea made from its flowers, or mint, lemon balm, and their leaves is well suited. After this tea, you will fall asleep better, you will sleep soundly.

You can saturate your bedroom with the pleasant smell of lavender from an aroma lamp. Its pleasant aroma calms and relaxes. The smell of lavender will make a woman wake up joyful and full of strength. You can also place a bag of dry herbs of jasmine and lavender near the pillow.

You can buy it at the pharmacy alcohol tincture motherwort, which is an excellent remedy for insomnia and its other manifestations. At home, you can prepare a decoction from this plant and drink throughout the day.

For older people whose sleep cycle is disrupted, a decoction of lily of the valley herb is well suited, which normalizes heart function and eliminates arrhythmia. Regular use of this decoction will restore the sleep cycle.

Sleep problems. What to do?

However, sleep problems in adults and insomnia are often associated with seemingly insignificant factors, such as: overeating, severe exercise stress, a cup of strong coffee or black tea. Therefore, in order to normalize the sleep cycle, we first need to prevent sleep disorders, which includes following these simple rules:

create all conditions for comfortable rest: make the bed with a clean sheet, ventilate the room, if necessary, install an aroma lamp;
take a contrast shower before bed;
let a loved one give you a light restorative massage;
do not eat 2 hours before bedtime;
do not engage in activities that can overstimulate the nervous system;
drink a glass before going to bed warm milk with honey, or soothing tea;
If you wake up at night, it is better not to get up, not to start doing active things. You need to lie down for a while, after a while you will fall asleep again.
always remember if you often wake up at night, especially in early age, then you need to see a doctor. The sooner you get rid of the problem of poor sleep, the more you can avoid many diseases.

The above tips will relieve, as if by hand, fatigue after have a hard day, will help you relax and calm down. In such an environment it will be easy to fall into a deep, sweet sleep.

Sleep is a time of peace and quiet. By at least, That is how it should be. Most of us go from a waking state to a cycle of deep, slow-wave sleep and then dream during the rapid eye movement (REM) phase. But when the boundaries of these phases are unclear, sleep can turn into something scary. In fact, some sleep disorders belong in horror movies, not in your bedroom.

Sleeping beauty syndrome

This sleep disorder does not have fairytale ending. Kleine-Levin syndrome is a rare neurological disease associated with excessive sleep, strange behavior and confusion. About 70 percent of people who suffer from this syndrome are teenage boys. The syndrome appears in waves when a person sleeps most day and night, but between such episodes he seems completely healthy. An exacerbation of the disease can last for several days, weeks or even months, during which the person feels drowsy. When the patient wakes up, he experiences confusion, disorientation and apathy. In some cases, uninhibited sexual desire occurs.

Although the cause of the disorder is unknown, some scientists believe it occurs due to dysfunction of the hypothalamus, which helps regulate sleep and body temperature. To date, there is no treatment.

Night terrors

The horrors you see in your dreams can be very different. For some people, this is a killer who is chasing them with an ax, others in night horrors can see themselves naked in public place. The common thing is that at some point a person suddenly wakes up. However, when night terrors go beyond occasional irritation, you may develop a sleep disorder. People who suffer from night terrors often wake up in a cold sweat and with vivid memories of the nightmare. In such cases, they may even be afraid to go to bed.

Stress and sleep deprivation are common problems with this disorder. IN severe cases consultations may be needed or sedatives to calm the underlying anxiety bad dreams. However, to banish night terrors, most people will only need to relax and go to bed on time.

Sleepwalking

About 15 percent of adults sometimes get up and start walking around the house in their sleep. This disorder is more common in children. No one knows what causes some people to wander at night, but stress and sleep disturbances are often key factors. Genetics also plays a role: close relatives of sleepwalkers are 10 times more likely to develop the disorder than the general population.

You are unlikely to see a sleepwalker walking around the house with his arms outstretched in front of him. Most of them are able to move around, open doors and even move furniture with ease. But although such actions do not harm a person, sleepwalking itself can be very dangerous. One study, published in 2003 in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, found that 19 percent of adult sleepwalkers were injured during their nighttime excursions. The biggest danger is falling, so if you have a sleepwalker in your home, experts recommend hiding electrical wires and keeping the patient away from the stairs.

Exploding heads syndrome

This disorder occurs during the phase deep sleep when a person suddenly wakes up, struck by a sharp, loud noise. Its range ranges from crashing plates to explosions. To the person who hears them, it seems that they occur either very close to the head, or inside the skull itself. In this case, the person does not feel pain. Doctors don't know what causes exploding head syndrome, and it hasn't been shown to cause any serious illness.

Sleepy hallucinations

We're used to seeing strange things in our dreams, but what if we're awake at the time? So called hypnagogic hallucinations occur during the transition from wakefulness to sleep, or vice versa. People report hearing voices, experiencing phantom sensations, and seeing a person or strange object in their room. People often see insects or animals crawling on walls.

Nightmares

Nightmares can affect not only the person who sees them, but also the people who are close to him. Unlike night terrors, which occur during REM sleep, nightmares occur during slow sleep, usually at the beginning of the night. They are most common in children. During a nightmare, a person may experience a fever, he may suddenly sit upright, with with open eyes, although in reality he does not perceive what is happening around him. The person often screams or cries, and it is impossible to wake him up and console him. In some cases, nightmares are mixed with sleepwalking. After 10 or 15 minutes, the person usually falls asleep again. Most remember nothing about these episodes the next morning.

The cause of nightmares is a mystery, but irregular sleep, fever and stress can trigger them. Fortunately, nightmares usually disappear as the child grows up.

Sleep paralysis

During the rapid eye movement phase, the muscles of the body become motionless. This temporary paralysis keeps us from acting during sleep so that we cannot harm ourselves. Sometimes, however, paralysis persists even after the person wakes up. You know you're awake and want to start moving, but you can't. To make matters worse, sleep paralysis often coincides with hallucinations: people usually report feeling someone's presence as well as suffocation. Even today, some researchers suspect that stories of alien abduction may be explained by sleep paralysis.

Conduct disorder during REM phase

If sleep paralysis is an example of immobility, then the so-called REM behavior disorder is too much activity during sleep. Sometimes the brain sends the wrong signals to the body and people act out during sleep. They may scream, fight, or even get out of bed and run. After waking up, they usually remember their dreams, but forget what they did. Given the severity of these impulses, many of them end in injury. This disorder occurs most often in older people and can also be a symptom of Parkinson's disease, a degenerative neurological disorder.

Nocturnal eating disorder

Sure, you can have the willpower to deny yourself sweets throughout the day, but how do you control it when you're sleeping? People who have nighttime disorder eating behavior, they empty the refrigerator while they sleep, and the next morning they have practically no memory of this event. Some people may injure themselves while cutting food or cooking it on a hot stove. Others eat raw ingredients, such as frozen foods or regular butter.

The disorder is poorly understood, but, like sleepwalking, it manifests itself during the slow-wave sleep phase. Drugs that increase dopamine levels may help stop unconscious nighttime snacking, doctors say.

Sexual insomnia

This disorder was first described in 1996 during a case study. Sexual insomnia syndromes can range from annoying (loud sexual moaning) to dangerous (aggressive masturbation) or even criminal (sexual assault or rape). Scientists suggest that sleep deprivation, stress, alcohol, drugs and physical contact with a partner in bed may play a role in the occurrence of this disorder. But no one knows why some people respond to these triggers with sexual behavior.

Insomnia

If previous disorders have caused you to reconsider your once positive attitude towards sleep, think again. Insomnia, the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep, can cause irritability and lack of concentration during the day, and long-term sleep deprivation can be downright dangerous. Lack of sleep is associated with obesity, high blood pressure and heart attacks, among other unpleasant symptoms. In addition, driving a car in a sleep-deprived state leads to accidents.

The good news is that most of the disorders on this list can be cured, and even if you have one of them, you should not rush to classify yourself as crazy. Often people believe that there must be a psychological reason for these events. They think there must be some kind of Freudian answer to solve these problems. But modern science does not support this opinion and believes that sleep disorders arise for physiological reasons.

A very common problem in modern world. Similar complaints come from approximately 10-15 percent of the adult population, about 10% of people on the planet use various sleeping pills. Among older people, this figure is higher, but violations occur regardless of age, and certain age categories are characterized by their own types of violations. For example, night terrors and urinary incontinence occur in children, insomnia or pathological sleepiness in older people. There are disorders that, having appeared in childhood, accompany a person throughout his life. For example, narcolepsy.

Primary and secondary disorders

Sleep disorders are classified into primary and secondary. The former are not associated with the pathology of any organs, but the latter arise as a consequence of various diseases.

Sleep disorders can also often occur with problems with the central nervous system or mental disorders. With many somatic diseases a person suffers from pain, shortness of breath, cough, and does not sleep at night.

Drowsiness often occurs in cancer patients due to intoxication. Pathological sleepiness may be a symptom hormonal disorders for tumors, encephalitis.

Classification of sleep disorders

Doctors identify several main types of such disorders. Let's look at the most common ones.

Insomnia is a disorder that occurs during the process of falling asleep, causing prolonged insomnia. They are often associated with therefore can occur temporarily as well as permanently.

Insomnia is often caused by sleep disturbances such as taking medications or alcohol. Insomnia is provoked by: chronic alcoholism, long-term use of drugs that depress the central nervous system, abrupt withdrawal sedatives or sleeping pills.

Another type is called hypersomnia. This is increased sleepiness. Psychophysiological may be associated with a psychological state, may be caused by alcohol intake or medications, mental illness, narcolepsy, and other pathological conditions.

Sleep disturbances are caused by disruptions in wakefulness and sleep patterns. Parasomnia is also widespread, that is, a malfunction in the functioning of human systems and organs associated with awakening or sleep. Causes of sleep disturbances: somnambulism, night terrors, urinary incontinence, epileptic seizures happening at night.

Symptoms

Symptoms vary and depend on the type of sleep disorder in adults or children. It is worth noting that any problems with sleep can soon lead to changes in emotional state, decreased attentiveness and performance. Schoolchildren may have problems with studying and mastering the material. Often, a patient turns to a doctor for help, not suspecting that the reasons lie precisely in insomnia.

Let us now analyze the symptoms in more detail, considering what consequences they lead to. or insomnia can be considered non-chronic if it lasts less than three weeks. People who suffer from sleep disorders - insomnia, first cannot fall asleep, and then constantly wake up in the middle of the night. They often wake up early in the morning in a broken state, without enough sleep, and this leads to emotional instability, irritability, and chronic fatigue.

The situation is aggravated by the fact that patients with these problems wait with increasing anxiety every night, imagining what it will lead to. Time passes much slower at night, especially when a person suddenly wakes up and then cannot fall asleep. His emotional condition suppressed under the influence of various psychological factors.

Often after stress subsides, sleep also normalizes. Often, problems with falling asleep become a habit, the situation only gets worse, and constant insomnia develops.

Insomnia, which is caused by alcohol or medications, often leads to the fact that the REM sleep phase is shortened, which is why the patient begins to wake up regularly at night. If long-term use stop drinking alcohol, the body will return to normal rhythm in about two weeks.

When sleep disturbance in adults becomes a consequence of taking potent drugs that affect the nervous system, the effect of such a drug decreases over time, and increasing the dose can only lead to a temporary improvement in the situation. Sleep problems may worsen even as your dosage increases. In such a state, a person often wakes up, and a clear boundary between sleep phases disappears.

At mental illness insomnia is accompanied by a feeling of severe restlessness at night, as well as a superficial and very light sleeper. A person often wakes up and feels tired and apathetic during the day.

The diagnosis of sleep disturbance is made with the so-called sleep apnea syndrome. At this time, the flow of air in the upper respiratory tract temporarily stops; such a pause may be accompanied by motor restlessness or snoring. Doctors distinguish obstructive apnea, which occurs due to the closure of the lumen of the upper respiratory tract, and central apnea, which are usually associated with disorders in the respiratory center.

Syndrome restless legs can also often lead to insomnia. It arises in the depths calf muscles, constantly requiring the body to move its legs. This uncontrollable desire often occurs before bedtime.

Another reason for sleep disturbance lies in involuntary flexion movements in the leg that occur at night, and sometimes in thumb or foot. This bending can last about two seconds and be repeated after half a minute.

Narcolepsy

In narcolepsy, disorders are characterized sudden attacks falling asleep during the daytime. Such disturbances are usually short-lived and may occur during a trip to public transport, after eating, due to monotonous work, and sometimes due to prolonged physical activity.

In this case, narcolepsy is often accompanied by attacks of cataplexy. That's what they call it sudden loss muscle tone, which may even cause the patient to fall. The attack is usually associated with a strong emotional reaction, such as laughter, anger, surprise, or fear.

Insomnia is often caused by disturbances in wakefulness and sleep patterns. This happens when changing time zones or constant schedule intense shift work. Such problems disappear after two to three days.

IN medical practice Delayed sleep syndrome also occurs, which is characterized by the physical inability to fall asleep at certain hours. Because of this, it is not possible to establish normal mode rest and work on weekdays. Patients with this disorder manage to fall asleep no earlier than two o’clock in the morning or even by the morning. Only on weekends or on vacation do they not have problems sleeping.

They rarely turn to a specialist when premature sleep syndrome is detected. Although outwardly he may not bother them at all. The patient falls asleep quickly, has a good night, but wakes up too early and then goes to bed early. Such disorders usually occur in older people and do not cause them much discomfort.

Rarely, but still, non-24-hour sleep syndrome occurs, due to which a person cannot live in a normal day. The biological day of such patients increases to 25-27 hours. Such disorders are popular among people with personality disorders and the blind.

Sleep disturbances during menopause are common. It is during menopause that restless legs syndrome manifests itself. During this period, the level of the main female sex hormone, estrogen, sharply decreases. This is what causes insomnia and other sleep problems. Doctors advise going to bed early during menopause, eliminating all unnecessary sources of light, and starting to prepare the body for sleep as early as 7 pm. If you still need to work in the evening, then try to use directional light by turning off the central lighting in the room.

Children's problems

Sleep disorders in children are most often caused by several diagnoses. One of them is somnambulism, which, manifested in childhood, can accompany the patient throughout his life.

The essence of the disease lies in the unconscious repetition of certain actions during sleep. Such people can get up at night, walk around the room, perform some actions, without realizing it at all. At the same time, they do not wake up, and attempts to wake them up can lead to actions that are dangerous to their life and health. Most often, this condition lasts no more than a quarter of an hour. After this, the person returns to bed and continues to sleep or wakes up.

Often they occur in the first hours of the patient's sleep. He may wake up in a panic in the middle of the night. Such conditions are accompanied by rapid breathing, tachycardia (strong heartbeat), sweating, and the pupils are dilated. Only after calming down and coming to his senses can the patient fall asleep. In the morning, there may be no memories of the nightmare at all.

Nocturnal urinary incontinence occurs during the first third of sleep. Such sleep disturbance in children is classified as physiological if they are very young, and pathological if the child has learned to go to the toilet on his own.

Diagnosis of insomnia

In order to find out what to do about sleep disorders, it is important to make a correct diagnosis. Polysomnography remains one of the most common research methods. It is carried out in a special laboratory in which the patient remains overnight.

A somnologist conducts the examination. Now it’s clear which doctor treats sleep disorders. If you have such problems, you need to contact a specific specialist.

During the diagnostic process, the patient sleeps in a special laboratory, and his sleep is monitored by a large number of sensors that record cardiac activity, bioelectrical activity of the brain, breathing movements chest, the air flow inhaled and exhaled during sleep, the process of saturating the blood with oxygen.

Everything that happens in the ward is recorded on a video camera, and the doctor on duty is always nearby. Such a detailed and detailed examination makes it possible to thoroughly study the state of the brain, how all body systems function at each of the five stages of sleep, determine what deviations from the norm exist, and, accordingly, find the causes of your problems.

Another diagnostic method is called average sleep latency testing. It is usually used for excessive sleepiness and is extremely important in determining narcolepsy.

The essence of the study is five attempts to fall asleep, which must be carried out during the person’s normal waking hours. Each attempt is given 20 minutes, with a break between them of two hours.

Particular attention with this method is paid to average sleep latency - this is the time it takes the patient to fall asleep. The norm is 10 minutes. If it is in the range from 5 to 10 minutes, then this is a borderline value, and less than 5 minutes is already pathological drowsiness.

Treatment of insomnia and its consequences

Another doctor who deals with sleep problems is a neurologist. The treatment he prescribes for the sleep disorder will depend on the identified causes. If a somatic pathology is identified, therapy will be aimed at combating the underlying disease.

If the depth of sleep and its duration decrease due to the patient’s age, then this process is considered natural and usually requires only an explanatory conversation with the patient.

If you can't sleep

It is important to monitor patient compliance general rules sleep well before starting treatment with sleeping pills. A person should not try to sleep in an overexcited state or when he is angry, do not eat a lot before going to bed and do not drink alcohol at night, do not drink strong tea and coffee several hours before going to bed, and do not sleep during the day. Maintain good physical fitness, exercise, but do not do any exercise at night. Keep your bedroom clean and tidy.

If you have problems sleeping, then it is recommended to go to bed and get up at approximately the same time, and if you still cannot fall asleep within half an hour, then you should get up and do distracted activities. The desire to sleep should appear on its own. Nightly calming treatments, such as a warm bath or a walk, are recommended. Relaxation methods and psychotherapy help to cope with insomnia.

Drugs against insomnia

Tablets for sleep disorders are often benzodiazepine drugs. When the process of falling asleep is disrupted, medications are prescribed with short time actions. These include "Midazolam" and "Triazol". Taking them increases the likelihood of side effects - amnesia, confusion, excessive agitation.

To medications long acting include "Flurazepam", "Diazepam", "Chlordiazepoxide". They are taken when waking up frequently and can cause drowsiness during the day. Zolpidem and Zopiclone, which are believed to have an average duration of action, will help cope with this. The risk of becoming dependent on them is much lower.

For insomnia, antidepressants are often taken. They are not addictive and are good for older people suffering from chronic pain syndrome or depression. These are Mianserin, Amitriptyline, Doxepin. They also have plenty of side effects.

In severe cases of sleep disorders, antipsychotics with a sedative effect are used. These are "Promethazine", "Levomepromazine", "Chlorprothixene". Older people are often prescribed vasodilators. "Papaverine" can help you sleep a nicotinic acid, "Vinpocetine". Remember that any sleeping pills can only be taken as prescribed by a doctor, and after completing the course, the dose should be gradually reduced to get rid of addiction.

There are also over-the-counter sleeping pills that can help with insomnia. But it also needs to be taken with caution. Donormil, which will prolong the period of sleep, and Melaxen, which will compensate for the lack of the hormone melatonin in the body, can help. "Sonylux" is produced in the form of drops, which has sedative effect. This is also a sleeping pill without a prescription. Helps overcome anxiety and feelings of aggression.

One of the most popular and widespread means is Valocordin. Although it is sold over the counter, it contains a barbiturate. Helps cope with painful sensations in the heart, psychomotor overexcitation.

Prevention of insomnia

It is not easy to cure insomnia, so it is effective to prevent sleep disorders.

To do this, you need to scrupulously follow a routine, go to bed on time and get up in the morning, give the body moderate physical and mental stress. Carefully use drugs that affect the central nervous system, and also monitor the intake of alcohol, sleeping pills and sedatives.

Prevention of hypersomnia will include the prevention of traumatic brain injuries, as well as neuroinfections, which can cause excessive drowsiness.

Throughout life, exposed a large number stress and anxiety. In such conditions, the need to relax becomes especially acute for a person, and the simplest way to relax, known since ancient times, is a strong and healthy sleep. But, unfortunately, recently a huge number of people are experiencing difficulty sleeping. When about 15% of the population of developed countries experience systematic difficulties associated with nightmares or insomnia, another 11% already resort to the help of various sleeping pills. More and more people are typing “bad sleep, what to do” into Google, trying to somehow normalize their nightlife. And before talking about what to do if you can’t sleep or have insomnia, you should understand the reasons. What can cause this condition?

Sleep disturbance. Causes in adults. Symptoms

What should you do if your sleep suddenly becomes too light, nightmares begin to torment you, and falling asleep becomes more and more difficult every day? First of all, it is necessary to eliminate the causes, which can be very different. Modern scientists identify more than 70 possible life situations, causing problems related to sleep.

Among the most common reasons are psychological anxiety, hormonal imbalance, excessive physical or emotional stress, or even overeating.

Symptoms of sleep disorders depend on the type of deviation and are also very diverse. The main ones are insomnia (insomnia) and hypersomnia (excessive sleepiness), which will be discussed below.

Insomnia

With this disorder, you have difficulty falling asleep, often wake up and cannot fall asleep again. There are usually two reasons that cause insomnia.

If this deviation is caused by a psychological state (the first case), then such insomnia is called psychosomatic. It can be permanent, caused by any psychological disorders or breathing disorders, as well as temporary (situational).

Temporary insomnia lasts no more than three weeks. Constantly feeling sleep-deprived, people become irritable and emotionally unstable, so excessive, unusual aggression is often considered one of the first symptoms of insomnia. Over time, some people begin to anxiously wait for the night to fall, as they are very worried about sleep disturbances, which only makes them worse psychological condition.

Often, after the stress factor disappears, insomnia stops. However, sometimes difficulties falling asleep and waking up at night become habitual for a person, and the fear of insomnia aggravates the situation, which leads to the development of chronic insomnia.

Insomnia can also be caused by alcohol consumption (the second case), which primarily concerns people suffering from chronic alcoholism. Sleep disturbance can also occur under the influence of various medications (for example, drugs that activate or depress the central nervous system). In this case, the REM sleep phase is shortened, as a result of which the patient often wakes up at night. Once you stop taking alcohol or medications, this insomnia usually goes away within two weeks.

Insomnia can also be a consequence of abrupt cessation of taking sleeping pills, sedatives and other drugs.

How to deal with insomnia?

What to do if you have sleep disturbances (insomnia)? If you are sure that insomnia is caused by psychological reasons, then first of all you need to learn to relax. Take relaxing baths with aromatic oils And sea salt before bed. Make an appointment with a massage therapist. Prepare for bed in advance by turning off bright lights and the TV two hours before. You can also drink a few drops of valerian before going to bed. If insomnia is caused by any other reasons, you should consult your doctor.

What to do if you can't sleep? Sometimes it happens that there are no particular problems with sleep, but it is difficult to fall asleep. In this case, first of all, you should ventilate the room, straighten the sheet and turn on relaxing music. The daily routine is also important. It’s not easy to train your body to fall asleep and wake up at the same time, but the results will be worth it. We should not forget about standard, well-known methods, such as, for example, counting sheep.

Hypersomnia (excessive sleepiness)

The primary cause of increased sleepiness is chronic fatigue caused, for example, by decreased immunity after illness and fatigue. Other causes include psychological and respiratory disorders, the use of certain medications, alcohol and drugs.

What to do? First of all, go to the hospital and check your body for hidden inflammations and infections. If nothing like this is found, take a course of vitamins and sign up for fitness, visit often fresh air, that is, to tone your body.

Nightmares

There is another problem that often occurs that cannot be attributed to the first two sleep disorders. A person has bad dreams. What to do? There is a sleep disorder called parosomnia. These include sleepwalking (sleepwalking), bedwetting, and nightmares. The latter usually indicate severe exhaustion of the nervous system caused by fatigue or severe emotional stress. Other reasons could be eating right before bed (this leads to increased activity brain), excessive addiction to alcohol, a side effect of some medicines, sleep apnea syndrome, and fever.

So what should you do if you have a bad dream? Currently, there are certain techniques that help get rid of nightmares, which will be outlined below.

Ways to deal with nightmares

Remember your dream and come up with another, happier ending.
Don't keep a bad dream to yourself, discuss it with your friends and family.
If you don’t want to tell anyone about your nightmares, write down your dreams in a special notebook or just draw them.
Get enough sleep. Sleep at least 6-8 hours a day, and also learn to fully relax.

It should be noted that in most cases, all these procedures are not necessary, and nightmares go away on their own after about two weeks.

The benefits of nightmares

When you have a very bad dream, what to do is the first question that arises in your head after waking up. After all, the residual negative emotions, such as fear, anger, emptiness and sadness can be very strong. However, as surprising as it may sound, nightmares can also have their own benefits.

According to scientists, nightmares, being a product of the activity of the human subconscious, personify our unpleasant emotions, impressions, as well as internal conflicts. So everything negative situations from our present are processed by the brain and neutralized at night. If nightmares with the same plot are repeated, you should take note that there is some kind of problem that requires an immediate solution.

When are nightmares useful?

Of course, nightmares are not always useful, but only at certain stages of life. There are two certain periods life, when the influence of nightmares is especially effective.

Firstly, during turning points in a person’s life. At this time, nightmares usually end happily, that is, you manage to escape from bandits, defeat monsters, or find a way out of a tunnel. Such nightmares indicate a person's personal growth.

Secondly, after any tragic incident in a person’s life: loss of loved ones, natural disaster, war. Such nightmares help a person to throw out his grief in a dream and subsequently find peace of mind.

If you had a bad dream, what should you do? Regardless of whether you recognized yourself in the first or second situation, just move on with your life. Such nightmares will definitely pass on their own.

However, you should not forget that nightmares can also indicate a specific psychological problem that you may not be aware of or acknowledge in the present.

I had a bad dream. What to do? Mystical aspect

Superstitious people believe that nightmares do not just happen, but carry a warning about certain events in life. Such possible events are listed below.

First of all, nightmares promise failure in business and a quarrel with loved ones. If you are a young woman, then disappointment and undeserved neglect await you in the near future. After a bad sleep, a girl should take care of her health and, perhaps, go on a diet.

Nightmares can also mean that you are a puppet in the hands of stupid people and you should take a closer look at your surroundings.

In conclusion, I would like to note: it is not without reason that they say that all problems are within us. The main cause of any sleep-related illnesses is a psychological state: emotional and physical overload, internal worries and dissatisfaction with something. The inability to cope with daily stress results in insomnia and nightmares. Therefore, you should take care of yourself, avoid unnecessary stress and overexertion, systematically relax and exercise. After all, money can’t buy health - it’s one thing!