ANCSLEEP BLOG

What is Narcolepsy?

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder characterized by a frequent and sometimes uncontrollable desire for sleep. This can result in sudden lapses of sleep at any time, in any place. This results in abnormal sleep patterns and rhythms. For example, someone suffering from narcolepsy may end up sleeping several times during the day and then having trouble sleeping at night. Irregular sleeping patterns are not only inconvenient, they can have medical, emotional, and psychological consequences. Continue reading to learn more about narcolepsy to assess if you may be experiencing any of these symptoms.

Are you lying awake at night, stressed out, mind racing in circles? For many Americans, this is a nightly routine that prevents sleep and leads to poor sleep habits. Rumination and stress can, together, severely inhibit the ability to get a good night's sleep.

Beyond the stress that actively keeps you up at night, the demands of modern life – parenting, work, school, health, finances, chores – can also make sleep feel like a secondary necessity. The day gets so busy and at the end, you feel like you haven't done anything for yourself.  This can lead to you staying up an extra hour to relax and do something enjoyable like watching television, cruising the web, or watching a movie, which further inhibits sleep.

Also, all of us are different and can deal with varying amounts of stress, be they short-term or long-term stressors. Understanding stress is about understanding stress for you – how you react, how it impacts your life, and how it impacts your sleep.

What is Narcolepsy?

Narcolepsy is a sleep disorder characterized by a frequent and sometimes uncontrollable desire for sleep. It is incredibly disruptive for maintaining a normal sleep schedule and requires many accommodations for everyday activities.

About 75% of people with Narcolepsy will also suffer from what is called Cataplexy. Cataplexy is an episode in which strong emotion causes a sudden loss of muscle tone. Cataplexy is important because it determines if one has Type 1 or Type 2 narcolepsy. Type 1 narcolepsy presents with cataplexy whereas Type 2 does not.

Currently there is no cure for Narcolepsy.

When you wake up in the mornings, you should feel rested and full of energy. However, if there are times that you wake up feeling tired, even after 8 hours of sleep, then you may not be getting restful sleep. Closing your eyes and lying in bed is not enough. There are other aspects of sleep that determine the amount of rest that you feel upon waking.    

If you wake up feeling like you hardly slept, even if you slept all night, it’s going to impact your life because you'll  be tired all the time. When you are tired all the time, you may find that you experience more mood swings, have trouble performing well at work or school, lose motivation to do fun things for yourself, and struggle in your interpersonal relationships. Life is simply more challenging when you have chronic fatigue.

It can be especially frustrating when you feel like you're trying to get enough sleep, and therefore, should be rested and happy. If you struggle with chronic fatigue, even after getting adequate sleep, some factors that may influence that are:

• Bad habits and/or cognitive conditions
• Sleep disorders
• Bad sleeping environment
• Medical problem

Let’s look at these in more detail.

What is a Sleep Diary?

A sleep diary is a record of your sleeping that includes all of the aspects of your sleep such as patterns and habits in order to identify potential problems that should incur a sleep study. Sleep diaries are generally kept over a period of at least two weeks, however, longer durations are often better for more information.  

Sleep diaries might be requested of you by your doctor or a sleep center in order to get more accurate data about your sleeping throughout the process of working up your sleep concerns.

What is Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)?

Obstructive sleep apnea is a sleep disorder and potentially serious medical condition. OSA causes you to stop breathing for 20+ seconds many times throughout the night. Each time you stop breathing you rouse yourself out of sleep to begin breathing again, thus preventing you from entering the deep, restorative stages of sleep. However, in the morning you will not remember rousing, but will just feel extremely fatigued!

Purpose of Sleep Studies

Sleep studies are important diagnostic tools for common sleep disorders like sleep apnea, insomnia, circadian and rhythm disorders. Sleep studies have proven to be particularly important in Alaska where the extreme darkness and lightness tend to either cause or worsen sleep disorders.

Sleep studies are non-invasive and painless. They monitor:

• Brainwave activity
• Eye movement
• Muscle movement
• Heart activity
• Breathing
• Blood oxygen level

In a sleep study, you will conduct your sleep study over night at our facility. The results from the sleep study will help either provide a diagnosis or clarify what may be causing concern.

Chronic Fatigue – Life Doesn’t Have to be Miserable

Being tired all of the time can have severely negative effects on your life. You may feel moody around friends and family, unable to perform well at school or work, have dissatisfaction in your physical or intimate life, and struggle to deal with minor inconveniences. 

If you know that you are not sleeping 8 hours a day, then you may be able to identify the cause of these issues. However, if you are getting the appropriate amount of sleep are and still having these symptoms, then you may be even more frustrated.  

If you find yourself in the latter category, you are not alone. There are conditions that will interfere with your rest regardless of how much sleep or rest you think you are giving. Overall categories include: 

• Sleep conditions
• Medical conditions
• Lifestyle conditions

In this blog post, we will discuss these three categories in more detail.

Overview of Insomnia

Insomnia is a sleeping disorder that can cause sleep deprivation and subsequent frustration. Insomnia arises when you either can’t fall asleep, can’t stay asleep, or always wake up far earlier than necessary. The result of insomnia is mild to severe sleep deprivation, which can have catastrophic emotional, cognitive, physical, or social effects. In short, every area of your health can be greatly reduced from sleep deprivation related to insomnia.

What Happens to Sleep As We Age?

As an adult, you should be averaging between 7-9 hours of sleep every day. This is extensively researched and claims of success with less than 7 hours of sleep should be taken with a grain of salt.

Although 7-9 hours a day is recommended, these hours don't necessarily have to happen at night or all at once. People who sleep 4-5 hours at night will need to supplement their sleep with naps in order to get their necessary hours of sleep. When you are younger, you likely had little to no trouble getting at least 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night. But your sleep pattern changes as you age, and after 65 years of age, getting 7 straight hours of sleep may seem impossible.

Generally speaking, as one gets older, their sleep pattern changes in the following ways:

• They will likely sleep less than 7 hours at night
• Their sleep may feel less restful during the night
• They may be more inclined to nap
• The times that they go to bed and wake up will also likely change

While sleep patterns might change, the need to get a certain amount of sleep won’t change. These changes happen for life reasons (stress, children, jobs), hormonal changes, and natural physiological changes that makes one more susceptible to certain sleep disorders.