Sleeping Problems due to Diseases
This article hits the nail on the head when talking about sleeping problems with patients in a hospital. I see it all the time. Let the truth speak out. Read on.
Sleep and sleep-related problems affect almost every field of medicine. Stroke and asthma attacks tend to occur more often during the night and early mornings. This may be due to changes in hormones, heart rate, and other characteristics associated with sleep. Sleep also affects some kinds of epilepsy in complex ways. REM sleep seems to help prevent seizures that begin in one part of the brain from spreading to other brain regions, while deep sleep may promote the spread of these seizures. Sleep deprivation also triggers seizures in people with some types of epilepsy.
Neurons that control sleep interact with the immune system. Cytokines, chemicals our immune systems produce while fighting an infection, are sleep-inducing chemicals. That’s why we sleep alot when we are ill. Sleep may help the body conserve energy and other resources that the immune system needs to fight an infection.
Sleeping problems occur in almost all people with mental disorders, including those with depression and schizophrenia. People with depression often awaken in the early hours of the morning and find themselves unable to get back to sleep. Sleep deprivation is an effective therapy for people with certain types of depression, while it can actually cause depression in other people. Extreme sleep deprivation can lead to paranoia and hallucinations in healthy people, and disrupted sleep can cause agitation and hyperactivity in people with manic depression.
Sleeping problems are common in many other disorders as well, including Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, cancer, and head injury. These sleeping problems may come from changes in the brain neurotransmitters that control sleep, or from the drugs used to control symptoms of other disorders. In patients who are hospitalized, treatment schedules or hospital routines also disrupt sleep. Once sleeping problems develops, it can cause confusion, frustration, or depression. Patients who are unable to sleep also notice pain more and the need for more pain medication. Better management of sleeping problems could improve these patients’ health and quality of life.
If you are having a sleeping problem, go to your physician and be evaluated. You may have an underlining medical problem that is causing your sleeplessness.
Good Night to All,
Cheryl
Tags: having trouble sleeping, i can't sleep, sleep problems