Learning About Insomnia and Sleeping Disorders

Understanding Insomnia and Sleep Disorders

Page written by: Maria Torres

While one might hear the term “sleep disorder” and quickly jump to the conclusion that they solely result in tiredness, it’s important to acknowledge that sleep disorders are tied to medical and psychological disorders that result in more than just excessive daytime sleepiness

Sleeping Disorders could be affected by social determinants of health in someone’s life that affects the amount of sleep they are getting. Some examples of that SDoH are stress, school, work, money, relationships, and more.

The more you stress and think about something, the more your brain is awake and not focusing on sleep.

(MedlinePlus 2021)

Sleeping Disorders can manifest through poor habits, health issues, mental illnesses, medicine, and genetics. Getting less than 7 hours of sleep could affect someone’s immune system, cardiovascular, and nervous systems.

This disorder can last short-term, which is usually caused by stress or a traumatic event, and could last up to a few days or weeks. It could also be long term and be caused by another medical condition or insomnia could be the main mental problem. When this long term disorder is present in the body it could last up to months or longer.

(Ambardekar 2020)

Solutions

A solution to this problem is being consistent with better sleeping habits like relaxing and trying to get in the “bedtime mindset” an hour before you go to sleep. Another treatment is a sleep machine that helps assess your sleep so the doctor can better give you the options you need specific to your type of insomnia disorder.

(Mayo Clinic 2016)

Works Cited

Clinic, M. (2016, October 15). Insomnia. Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. Retrieved March 5, 2022 from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/insomnia/care-at-mayo-clinic/mac-20355177.

MedlinePlus. (2021, December 15), Sleeping Disorders. Retrieved March 5, 2022, from https://medlineplus.gov/sleepdisorders.html

Ambardekar, N. (2020, August 10). Visual guide to sleep disorders. WebMD. Retrieved March 5, 2022, from https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/ss/slideshow-sleep-disorders-overview