Conditions: Sleep Problems
What is a sleep disorder?
It is common to experience sleeping problems from time to time due to various life events or due to natural but unexplained blips in our sleep rhythms.
However, if sleep problems become acute or chronic, they can impede on our daily lives and compound our existing psychological and/or physical difficulties. Sleep disorders (or sleep-wake disorders) involve problems with the quality, timing, and amount of sleep, which result in daytime distress. Sleep-wake disorders often occur along with other difficulties such as depression, anxiety.
#depression #anxiety #sleep #wake #insomnia
When to seek help?
You find it difficult to concentrate during the day because you're tired and irritable
Your problems with sleeping are affecting your life, work and relationships
You have unhealthy beliefs about your ability to sleep
Your sleep issues are compounding or leading to anxiety and depression
Is your sleep problem linked to anything specific?
Insomnia- is a common sleep disorder that refers to a difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.
Hypersomnia - is a condition where people fall asleep repeatedly during the day
Narcolepsy - is a rare long-term brain condition that causes a person to suddenly fall asleep at inappropriate times
Sleep Paralysis – is a temporary inability to move that occurs right after falling asleep or waking up. Individuals remain aware during episodes, which frequently involve troubling hallucinations and a sensation of suffocation
Nightmares- are vivid dreams that may be threatening, upsetting, bizarre, or otherwise bothersome
Restless Leg Syndrome- is characterised by an overwhelming urge to move your legs. It can also cause unpleasant crawling or creeping sensations in the feet, calves and thighs and the sensation is often worse in the evening or at night.
#insomnia #hypersomnia #narcolepsy #sleepparalysis #nightmares #restlesslegsyndrome
Treatment recommendations
Even if your sleep disorder requires the use of prescription medication, experts recommend combining a drug regimen with therapy and healthy lifestyle changes. Psychological therapy such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) can help you improve your sleep by changing your behaviour before bedtime as well as changing the ways of thinking that may invariably maintain the problem. It also focuses on improving relaxation skills and changing lifestyle habits that negatively impact your sleeping patterns. Sleep disorders can be both caused by and trigger emotional difficulties such as anxiety, stress, and depression, therapy is an effective way of understanding and treating the underlying problem rather than just the symptoms, helping you develop healthy sleeping patterns for life. The treatment would be individually tailored to your needs following a comprehensive assessment process in our service.
#CBT