The Beauty Of Sleeping

Getting beauty sleep carries different importance with different people. Certainly different people require different amounts of sleep, while others sleep according to preference rather than according to needs. When sleep deprivation occurs for a reason other than preference, a disorder may be present. When a person is unable to sleep as much as he would like to, he will become unhappy, less able to function and possibly even ill. Since sleep is so important, it is no wonder that people who do not sleep well seek help. There are a few common causes for sleep disorders.

Substance-Induced Sleep Disorder
Unnatural chemicals in the body can cause severe sleep disturbance. There are some substances that are meant to increase feelings of energy and decrease sleepiness. Caffeine and other (legal and illegal) stimulant drugs can prevent an individual from attaining a good night of sleep. A person that is under the influence of stimulants may feel exhausted but remain in a constant state of wakefulness because his or her body is unable to relax due to the effects of the drugs. Sedatives can also cause problems in the natural sleep cycles. If a person becomes reliant on drugs to relax, he or she may form a mild addiction to those drugs. Alcohol or sleep aids may be needed continually in order to achieve relaxation. In the absence of those drugs, sleep may become impossible. Sleep problems can also occur as a side effect from an unrelated drug. Substance-Induced Sleep Disorder is possibly the easiest to detect and correct, making a person able to return to normal sleeping and living.

General Medical Conditions and Sleep Disorder
Feeling ill makes it difficult for people to sleep. When a person feels sick, they don’t sleep as well as when he or she is healthy. Coughing, frequent urination and even itching can be very annoying. If an illness becomes extended, the sleep disorder can become severe. Sleep apnea is a more severe health problem that causes incredible sleep disruption. A person suffering from sleep apnea is continually awakened because of breathing problems during the night. They will not fully awaken every time they stop breathing (every few minutes) but they will never feel rested during the day.

Mental Disorders and Sleep Disorder
A third common cause for sleep disorders is that another mental disorder is present. On the bright side, sleep problems may cause a person to seek help when he would not normally have done so for his other symptoms. Depression and manic depression are both disorders that will lead to severe disruption of a normal sleep cycle. Occasionally a person will be sleep-deprived, but more frequently, they will sleep too much without ever feeling rested. Again, daily functioning and productivity will be greatly affected. Schizophrenia and Posttraumatic Stress Syndrome are also conditions that frequently affect sleep quality and length.

All of the above-mentioned sleep disorders have causes and therefore are frequently treatable. By working with the cause for sleep loss, rather than the symptom of sleep loss, chances of success are high. Seeking help will be a road to returning to full and beautiful sleep.

Frances, Allen MD and First, Michael B. MD. Your Mental Health: A Layman’s Guide to
the Psychiatrist’s Bible. New York: Scribner, 1998.

• A Psychiatrist And Mental Illness
• A Step Toward Substance Abuse Can Lead To A Deep Hole Of Addiction
• A World Full Of Phobias
• All Children Are Different, But What Differences Are Normal? (information About Mental Retardation)
• Antisocial Personality Disorder
• Avoidant Personality Disorder
• Being Anxious Over Everything And Nothing
• Being Well Adjusted To Life May Involve Some Struggles
• Bipolar Disorders Are Difficult To Diagnose
• Borderline Personality Disorder
• Cognitive Loss
• Common Illnesses That Psychiatrist Treat
• Coping With Physical Illness
• Defining The Science Of Psychiatry
• Dependent Personality Disorder
• Depressed Spirits And Major Depressive Disorder
• Fear And The Physical
• Fearing Fear Itself
• First Psychiatric Medications And Treatments
• Food And Thoughts: Does One Control The Other?
• Forensic Psychiatry
• Gratifying Impulses
• Has Psychiatry Gone Too Far? Has It Gone Far Enough?
• Histrionic Personality Disorder
• How Psychiatry Methods Evolved Over Time From Force To Healing
• Important Facts Regarding Psychiatry And Mental Illness
• Money Matters In Psychiatry
• Narcissistic Personality Disorder
• Obsessive-compulsive Personality Disorder
• Paranoid Personality Disorder
• Playing The School Game When It’s Hard
• Preparing A Life For Autism
• Psychiatric Malpractice And Standard Of Care
• Psychiatric Organizations And Their Contributions
• The Onset Of Dementia
• The Psychological Interacting With The Physical
• The Top Schools In Psychiatry
• The Truth About Obsessions And Compulsions
• Top Ten Misconceptions About Psychiatric Disorders
• Treatable Depression
• Treating Bipolar Disorder
• What Is Cognition?
• What Is Psychiatry?
• When Acting Out Is Serious
• When Personality Isn’t Personal
• When Reality Isn’t Real
• When Sleep Goes Wrong
• Who Is “i”?
• Who Was Freud?
• Psychiatric Treatments And Support
• Psychoanalysis And The Need For More Scientific Psychiatry
• Reason Behind The Madness
• Schizoid And Schizotypal Personality Disorders
• Self-diagnosis And Treatment Of Psychiatric Conditions
• The Aftermath Of Trauma
• The Beauty Of Sleeping
• The Beginnings Of Psychiatry
• The Controversy In The Classroom: Adhd Diagnosis
• The Importance Of Recognizing Psychiatric Issues
• The Majors And ‘minors’ Of Depression
• The Need For Psychiatrists In The Military