The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) have published ‘Your Guide to Healthy Sleep’. This paper starts out by explaining the importance of adequate sleep and the dangers of drowsy driving. It also includes an excellent checklist to know if you could have a sleep disorder.
An estimated 40 million Americans suffer from sleep disorders, the most common ones being insomnia, sleep apnea (sleep-disordered breathing), restless legs syndrome, and narcolepsy. These disorders can significantly affect your health, safety, and well-being, but they can be treated. Talk to your doctor if you have any of these signs of a sleep disorder:
- You consistently take more than 30 minutes each night to fall asleep.
- You consistently awaken several times each night and then have trouble falling back to sleep, or you awaken too early in the morning.
- You often feel sleepy during the day, you take frequent naps, or you fall asleep at inappropriate times during the day.
- Your bed partner says that when you sleep, you snore loudly, snort, gasp, make choking sounds, or stop breathing for short periods.
- You have creeping, tingling, or crawling feelings in your legs or arms that are relieved by moving or massaging them, especially in the evening and when trying to fall asleep.
- Your bed partner notices that your legs or arms jerk often during sleep.
- You have vivid, dreamlike experiences while falling asleep or dozing.
- You have episodes of sudden muscle weakness when you are angry or fearful, or when you laugh.
- You feel as though you cannot move when you first wake up.
Leave a comment