Sleep disorders

Halah Al-Hadhrami

4^th year Medical Student

If you are encircled with a lot of work and responsibilities, the only solution you go for is to cut-off your sleep hours. In this case, you may develop some related sleep disorders or simply you may have “sleep debt”.

What is sleep debt?

Some students tend to skip sleeping hours especially during exams' periods as they keep studying the whole night. Later on they find themselves sleeping for a long time as if they are compensating for their skipped sleeping hours. This is called “sleep debt” which may lead to many serious problems.

What are the common sleep disorders?

You may experience a feeling where you are irritable and unable to concentrate. Sometimes this can lead to a serious sleep disorder such as insomnia, narcolepsy, and sleepwalking. Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder defined as the inability to have enough amount of sleeping due to some life styles as the lack of physical exercise.  In contrary, narcolepsy simply means excessive daytime sleepiness. People with narcolepsy have disturbed times of sleeping which may interfere with their daily activities. Sleepwalkers have the ability to do simple activities which can be done in a full state of consciousness. They are also able to react aggressively while they are sleeping. It has been shown that sleepwalking is related to immaturity of some parts in the brain and it is more commonly seen in children with affected parents.

Steps for better sleep

Here are some steps that help to have better and effective sleeping:

·        Set a regular sleeping schedule.

·        Never oversleep.

·        Make sure that you have a good sleeping environment with a proper temperature.

·        Sleep in a dark room.

·        Avoid taking caffeine before sleeping.

·        Avoid taking heavy meals or even snakes before sleeping.

·        Avoid any source of noise.

·        Don’t sleep next to any electrical device.

·        Keep regular exercise.