With the help of a sleep expert, we try to find the path to calm, restful sleep. Dr. Zsuzsanna Vida, chief neurologist and somnologist, reveals the most common causes of sleep disorders, the most common sleep disorders, and diagnostic methods.
What are the consequences of not sleeping well or enough?
Restful sleep is extremely important, because just think about it, we are irritable after just one sleepless night, and 3-4 days of poor sleep also affects our immune system.
Insufficient quantity and quality of sleep has countless negative effects on our lives, such as attention deficit disorder, fatigue, daytime sleepiness, headaches, high blood pressure in the morning, memory loss, mood disorders, and even weight gain. A sleep-deprived person eats more, mostly high-calorie, carbohydrate-rich foods. We would not even think that sleep deprivation is often behind weight gain.
When do we talk about sleep disorders?
If sleep does not fulfill its role, that is, the body cannot regenerate sufficiently, we cannot rest ourselves, which is why our daytime performance decreases, we cannot perform our tasks at work and in our private life. When all this also damages our quality of life, it is clearly a sleep disorder. Everyone sometimes does not sleep well or sleeps less than average, however, if this condition persists in the long term, it can lead to the development of various somatic diseases in addition to fatigue and exhaustion.
What are the most common sleep disorders?
Symptoms of sleep disorders can occur at night, such as poor quality sleep, difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, but they can also occur during the day in the form of drowsiness, fatigue, and excessive sleepiness. Often, it is not the patient, but the bed partner who perceives the symptoms, such as snoring. Sleep disorders are independent diseases that are not influenced by the sleeping environment.
One of the most well-known sleep disorders is sleep apnea. This disease is one of the sleep-related breathing disorders, the most common symptom of which is snoring, which is usually noticed by the bed partner, as well as apnea. Sleep-related movement disorders include restless leg syndrome, but also insomnia, difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, early awakening, and even sleepwalking, which is one of the parasomnias.
After that, it's not so good news that some sleep disorders are inherited, genetically determined. Restless legs syndrome is one example, but sleep-related breathing disorders (snoring) also often run in families.
How is sleeping sickness diagnosed?
The simplest and most effective way to do this is to conduct a sleep lab test, where the patient has to stay inside overnight for observation. During the test, the sleep technician uses sensors to record data (EEG, eye movement, muscle tone, pulse oximeter) that can help us determine the structure of sleep and the abnormal functioning of our body during sleep. In addition, we use videometry to record the patient's body position and movement during sleep.
In the sleep lab, we can not only monitor breathing, heartbeat, eye movement, body movements, and brain waves, but also shed light on sleep disorders such as snoring, sleep apnea, or cessation of breathing, and restless leg syndrome.
After evaluating the results, we make a diagnosis and then come up with a treatment plan, which can include medication and non-medication (e.g. herbal sedatives, aromatherapy, relaxation, yoga, lifestyle changes) therapy.
I would like to emphasize that smart devices cannot replace a medical examination. Among the applications of smartphones or smartwatches, there are some that can be used to track sleep habits: for example, it is possible to track the frequency of awakenings or measure sleep time. Smart devices can draw attention to the problem, are suitable for monitoring, and therefore can be of assistance to the sleep specialist, but an accurate diagnosis can only be made with medical devices.
