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Of course, almost everyone has experienced sleep problems at some time in life, but for some people these problems become chronic and extremely debilitating. Insomnia a well known sleep disorder can actually be caused by many things such as intake of alcohol, drugs or caffeine. Smoking, Pain, diabetes, lack of exercise and psychological problems can also be causes of insomnia.
One way of classifying sleep disorders is according to whether they are primary - that is, the principal or only symptom of disturbance - or whether they are secondary to a larger problem.
Among the primary disorders are narcolepsy, in which the individual almost uncontrollably falls asleep at any moment, and apnea, in which the sleeper actually stops breathing for short periods of time during sleep. Instances of death in sleeping infants, known as Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS may also involve apnea when the air passage is blocked by the tongue.
By far the most common form of secondary sleep disorders is insomnia, characterized by extremely slow sleep onset or repeated awakenings during the night. In addition, in the condition called pseudoinsomnia, the individual claims to be unable to sleep; independent observations, however, show that the subject has indeed slept through the night. Insomnia may also occur secondary to a large number of medical, psychiatric, or sleep-inducing drugs may find their sleep becomes disturbed.
Sleep disorders also are fairly common among depressed or psychotic patients and among chronic alcoholics. Insomnia may be a problem for people who are tense, anxious, or worried; in these situations, a vicious cycle may develop in which the harder a person tries to fall asleep, the less that person is able to relax and actually sleep. Focusing on the primary problem as well as the sleep disturbance generally effects a cure for many of these secondary sleep disorders.
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