ANCSLEEP BLOG

What is Insomnia?

Insomnia is a sleeping disorder that prevents you from getting enough sleep because you have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep throughout the night, or waking up much earlier than intended, and can't go back to sleep. 

If you have insomnia, you never feel like you are getting enough rest – probably because you aren’t. It’s frustrating to not be able to sleep when you want to, and accompanying this frustration are the physical and mental consequences of being sleep-deprived. Continue reading to learn more about the different types of insomnia. 

What’s the Difference Between “Normal” Snoring and Problematic Snoring?

Nearly everyone snores occasionally, and in many cases, mild snoring is not harmful. However, frequent or disruptive snoring can sometimes point to a more serious underlying issue. When snoring begins to interfere with sleep or daily life, it may be considered problematic.

Signs of problematic snoring can include:

• Your snoring keeps your bed partner or roommate awake

• Your bed partner needs earplugs to sleep

• Your snoring has become a frequent source of family jokes or concern

• You snore most or all nights

So what makes snoring “socially unacceptable”? In simple terms, it means the snoring is disruptive enough to affect the people around you. More importantly, loud or chronic snoring can also be a warning sign of an underlying medical condition—most notably obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), for which snoring is a common symptom.

If your snoring is causing problems, it’s worth taking a closer look to find out whether there may be an underlying cause.

What is a Sleep Study?

A sleep study, also called a polysomnogram (PSG), is a non-invasive study conducted at a sleep center. Sleep specialists monitor your sleep via PSG equipment to assess your sleep quality and, where applicable, any sleep disorders with which you may be dealing. 

During a sleep study, many aspects of your sleep will be evaluated and monitored, such as:

• Brain wave activity
• Eye movements
• Breathing
• Muscle contractions
• Heart Activity
• Blood oxygenation

Results from your sleep study are analyzed by sleep physicians and sent to your healthcare practitioner to review with you.

Childhood insomnia is not often talked about, but it is a very real issue. The signs may not be obvious unless you have a child overtly acting out and sleep deprivation is identified as the main issue.

Childhood insomnia, like adult insomnia, is defined as difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, or sleeping until the next morning.  

Unfortunately, identifying childhood insomnia is difficult because symptoms largely overlap with seemingly normal child and teen behavioral changes:

• Moodiness
• Acting out
• Being tired all the time (we might ask ourselves, "Is it just a growth spurt?")
• Difficulty concentrating

Continue reading to learn more about childhood insomnia. 

What are the Types of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a medical sleep disorder where you stop breathing for short periods (10 seconds or longer) throughout the night. When you stop breathing, your brain eventually rouses your body, and you wake up. This results in you getting a poor night's rest because you wake up so many times during the night.

There are three types of sleep apnea:

1. (most common) Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA): there is a physical obstruction that blocks the airway
2. (uncommon) Central sleep apnea: electrical malfunction in the brain causes you to stop breathing
3. (rare) Complex sleep apnea: a mix of both central and obstructive sleep apnea

These sleep apneas have many negative side effects, most notably:

• General loss of performance in all life activities
• Lower life expectancy
• Correlations with diabetes and obesity
• Chronic irritation, depression, anxiety, and low stress management threshold

Let's look at obstructive sleep apnea vs. central sleep apnea in more detail.

When Snoring is a Personal Problem, Not Just a Nuisance

Is your or your partner’s snoring the primer for family jokes? Does your loud snoring come with an “earplugs required” caveat for your partner? Is your snoring the rule, not the exception?

Chronic, loud snoring may be a bigger personal problem than just a nuisance for other people who have to listen to your nightly nasal noises. In other words, while their sleep might be disrupted, your snoring might be caused by a medical condition called sleep apnea, which can have significant health consequences. Or, maybe you are just a loud, chronic snorer.

Knowing the difference and telltale signs between loud snoring and sleep apnea is important, as identifying the potential problem underlying your chronic snoring is the first step to getting healthy again.

Do you ever feel like you are still exhausted throughout the day, despite getting the recommended amount of sleep? This is known as excessive daytime sleepiness, and it is the result of some sort of nighttime disruption that reduces your sleep quality and quantity. Just because you are lying down with your eyes closed does not mean that you are getting the amount of deep sleep required to feel well-rested. If you continuously wake up feeling exhausted and can't seem to garner any type of energy throughout the day, you may have an underlying sleep disorder of which you are unaware. Continue reading for common causes of sleep deprivation to determine if you need to speak with a doctor and get help. 

What is CPAP Therapy?

CPAP therapy is a treatment path that is used to treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Obstructive sleep apnea is a medical condition and sleep disorder that causes your throat muscles to relax, your airway to become obstructed by your tongue or tonsils, and you to stop breathing. This leads to many subsequent arousals throughout the night, referred to as an apnea event. 

Obstructive sleep apnea can be mild or severe:

• Mild OSA: 5-14 apneas per hour of sleep
• Moderate OSA: 15-30 apneas per hour of sleep
• Severe OSA: 30+ apneas per hour of sleep

When you stop breathing and rouse this much throughout the night (anywhere from 40 to hundreds of times throughout the night), the natural result is severe sleep deprivation. As a result, your life may be shorter, unhappier, and less performant than if you treated your sleep apnea.

This is why CPAP therapy is so important. In CPAP therapy, you use a CPAP machine to gently push air into your airway to keep it from collapsing, allowing you to continuously breathe while sleeping. 

When Snoring Becomes a Problem

Does your partner wear earplugs to block out your nightly snoring? Is your snoring the rule, not the exception? Does your family often make jokes about you and your snoring? 

These are all signs that you have a snoring problem. It’s disruptive – maybe not for you, but certainly for anyone who has to sleep in the same room or house as you. Secondly, snoring may also be the primary sign of an underlying condition that can impact your quality of life.

The difference between occasional snoring and a snoring problem is fairly easy to identify:

• Others around you (e.g., spouse, partner) change their habits to mitigate your noises
• Your partner’s sleep is impacted
• It’s well known that you are a snorer
• You snore most nights

When it is a problem, it’s definitely worth looking into what might be causing it, and how you might prevent it.

How Much Sleep Do Children Need?

The amount of sleep babies and children need fluctuates from 17 hours for newborns to 9 hours for school-aged children [Baby Center]. A lack of sleep for children can significantly impact children's performance, both in school and in behavior.

For children with existing conditions that affect their learning, sleep problems further compound their inability to properly learn. 

How much sleep your child should be getting depends on how old they are. While every child is different, here is a rough estimate of how much sleep children should be getting based on age:

• Newborn: 16-17 hours per day
• 1-12 months: 12-16 hours per day
• 1-2 years: 11-14 hours per day
• 3-5 years: 10-13 hours per day
• 6-12 years: 9-12 hours per day
• 13-18 years: 8 to 10 hours per day

The above numbers are total sleep hours, including naps.