Sleep Disorders

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Sleep is an important part of life; one cannot live or function properly without it. The healthy amount of sleep for an adult is 7 to 9 hours a night. Getting less than 7 hours of sleep can cause one to wake up feeling tired and irritated making every day activities hard to accomplish. The main reason for a sleepless night is sleep disturbances. They affect at least 40 million Americans a year and are becoming an epidemic. There are many disorders that can cause a troubled sleep; but, nightmares, night terrors, insomnia and hypersomnia are three of the most common.
One third of one’s life is spent sleeping. In the average lifetime, one would spend a total of around 6 years just dreaming! Everybody dreams even though one may not remember it. Although most common in children; nightmares affect adults as well. Probably the most common of sleep disorders, nightmares are something that almost everyone has experienced. Nightmares are vivid dreams that cause terror, anxiety and fear. Nightmares occur in the fourth stage of sleep, which is deep sleep. Nightmares are caused by rapid eye movement (REM). REM causes irregular EEG patterns that are like the patterns in stage one which is light sleep. Most people experience REM sleep three to five times a night. Nightmares can also be caused by stress, illness, a loss of a family member or a scary movie. After having a nightmare, it can be extremely difficult to fall back asleep. There are other feelings associated with dreams besides fear, feelings such as guilt, sadness, and confusion also occurs in nightmares. Most people who have nightmares do not remember what they have dreamed. There is no exact treatment for nightmares, but before bed time one should try to avoid late night sna...

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...put on the relaxing music and to count the sheep; 10...9...8...7...6... After all, who does not love a good night’s rest?

Works Cited

http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/parasomnias http://www.nightmaresanddreams.com/facts.html http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/parasomnias http://www.healthcentral.com/sleep-disorders/cf/slideshows/6-facts-about-nightmares?ic=8833#slide=2 http://www.livescience.com/36454-strange-insomnia-facts-treatments.html http://www.womenshealth.gov/publications/our-publications/fact-sheet/insomnia.html http://www.brainfacts.org/diseases-disorders/diseases-a-to-z-from-ninds/hypersomnia/ http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200311/how-cure-nightmares http://www.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/night-terror/overview.html https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/inso/treatment.html Psychology a journey 5th edition

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