Sleep Disorder Treatment
Is lack of sleep or poor sleep impacting your life?
Everyone has a sleepless night on occasion, whether you’re waiting up for your teen to come home from a party or a pressing matter is making sleep elusive. However, when sleep evades you on a regular basis, it could be an indicator of a more serious problem and you may need sleep disorder treatment.
It is normal to wake up and feel great in the morning, if you are slow to wake or always feel you need more sleep or constantly hitting the snooze button on your alarm you probably are not having quality sleep.
When you find it difficult to sleep or your sleep is disrupted night after night, we recommend you take steps to determine if you have a sleep disorder and seek an effective remedy.
Signs a sleep disorder is in gear
While an occasional restless night or bout of sleeplessness is normal, chronic sleep deprivation can have serious consequences to your health, mood, and safety.
How do you know if your sleeplessness is an indication of something more serious? Here are a few signs to watch for:
- Agitation during the day
- Lack of concentration or short term memory loss
- Feeling sleepy all the time
- Feeling like you never get enough sleep, even when you go bed early and wake up late
- Unexplained weight gain
- Mood swings and irritably
- A rise in blood pressure
- Gasping for breath in the night
- Periods when you snore
- Seeping in fits and spurts, waking suddenly
- Marital discord due to poor communication
If you find yourself struggling with any of these issues, getting to the root of your problem will help you find effective treatment.
The consequences of poor sleep or sleeplessness
Inadequate sleep over a prolonged period of time can have a negative impact on your health. People who are deprived of sleep on a long term basis are at a higher risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, and depression. Obesity is another consequence of unhealthy sleep as disruptions in sleep patterns slow the body’s metabolism and cause weight gain that is hard to reverse.
Your body requires sleep to recharge, rejuvenate, and keep all systems functioning at optimal levels. Good Sleep is at the core of an anti-aging medical protocol.
Could sleep apnea be hijacking your sleep?
Over 40 million Americans are fighting with some type of sleep-related problem. While there is a broad range of conditions that can affect the quality of your sleep, sleep apnea has been getting a lot of attention in recent years.
Sleep apnea involves the obstruction of your airway during sleep. In the most severe cases, people have been known to experience bouts when they do not breathe as often as 400 times a night. Each time your breath stops, your brain jerks you awake to restart your breathing. The resulting sleep and oxygen deprivation is what causes the serious health risks associated with obstructive sleep apnea.
Snoring can be an indicator of sleep apnea, it may also be a sign of a milder airway restriction although it is never a harmless problem. Sometimes snoring is more disturbing to significant others than the one who snores. The spouse of snorers can lose as much as 15% of their sleep. Snoring can cause serious medical problems over time in some people including carotid atherosclerosis or blockage of blood flow to the brain
Get back to sleep with sleep disorder treatment
When you are dealing with an issue that is getting in the way of your sleep, it’s important to diagnose the specific problem and find a cure or treatment.
The good news about sleep apnea is it’s treatable. Many times making simple changes to your habits could bring about a good night’s rest.
- Try establishing a regular pattern at night, going to bed at the same time on a daily basis and doing relaxing activities before bed
- Stop eating and don’t drink drink alcohol several hours before bed. This will settle your digestive system and stop your throat muscles from over relaxing
- Lose weight
- Practice relaxation techniques and exercise during the day to relieve stress
If home remedies do not help, plan a visit to Dr. Shapira to investigate if a custom or commercial sleep airway orthotic, TMJ treatment or epigenetic orthodontics could get you back to healthy sleep. Epigenetic orthodontics can cure sleep apnea by growing a larger airway, a process called pneumopedics.
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