Effective Treatment for Sleep Disorders

Sleeping difficulties or disorders are changes that affect sleep patterns and depth thus affecting the quality. Some of the signs of sleeping disorders are difficulty in falling asleep excess sleepiness during the day, increase movement and irregular breathing during sleep.

If the inability to sleep or disturbances while sleeping is to frequent and persist for long, the best way of ridding the problem is to get medical help. A primary care physician can diagnose the problem or make a referral to a sleep specialist.Sleep specialists are doctors who go for additional training in sleep medicine. It is a subspecialty in medical specialties including psychiatry, neurology, pulmonology or internal medicine.

Here are the most common types of treatments that doctors apply to treat various sleep disorders.

Adjusting sleep routines and hygiene

Everyone who has a sleep disorder can derive many benefits from developing routines and practicing good sleep hygiene to support getting an adequate amount of sleep. There are some sleep disorders such as insomnia which cause anxiety about sleep who solution lies putting a good routine in place. Sleepwalkers also show much improvement in their sleep difficulties. Sleep disorders such as narcolepsy might require supportive sleep routine that includes creating time for scheduled naps.

Cognitive behavioral therapy

Many sleep disorders have a connection to a behavioral pattern which is the reason why many physicians prefer to use it as a treatment and management method for different sleeping disorders. Usually, therapy is the first line of treatment by sleep specialists when treating people with narcolepsy and insomnia. It is also applicable to people with other sleeping difficulties to help them develop coping strategies for dealing with social and emotional consequences of sleeping disorders.

Exercise, meditation, and exercise

Relaxation techniques and imagery exercises can help to treat sleep disorders especially Restless Leg Syndrome(RLS). Practicing yoga and meditating also helps the body to relax and be ready sleeping time as well as improve the quality of sleep. These methods are successful in improving the quality of sleep even for people who do not have sleeping disorders. People with insomnia can benefit by getting more sleep and reducing stress levels by exercising early in the day so that the evening time does not find the person too energized to sleep.

Medication

Many people know about the existence of sleep disorders when the condition is severe. The need to address the problem at this stage makes medication a conventional treatment for all the primary sleep disorders except for apnea. It is common for sleep specialists to administer certain medicine alone or with the other types of treatment.

The major sleep disorders that require use of medication as the primary treatment option.

Narcolepsy – People suffering from narcolepsy get prescriptions to help inducing sleep that improves the overall quality of sleep. Physicians prescribe stimulant medications the help in decreasing the effects of sleepiness during the daytime. They also use antidepressants to combat other symptoms of narcolepsy like sleep paralysis, cataplexy, and hypnagogic hallucinations.

Insomnia- Patients who suffer from lack of sleep get drugs called hypnotics to help in inducing sleep and remaining asleep in the night.

Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS)- medications that doctors use to treat RLS work well with other medications. A doctor must consider case by case to determine the best combination. Collaborating two or more types of medicine has proven to be effective in alleviating symptoms.

Periodic Limb Movement- Doctors use this medication to treat this sleep disorder when they diagnose the existence of another order. Combined medicines for treating the two diseases simultaneously is sufficient for most of the cases.

REM behavior disorder- Medicine such as Clonazepam is almost always successful in eliminating the disorder, but there are also other medications that can control the behavior.

Sleepwalking- The common medications for treating sleepwalking are sedative and anti-depressants.

Treating sleep disorders does not have one solution. Like with other medical conditions, doctors prescribe a treatment plan fitting a patient after diagnosing the type of sleep disorder and possible causes including other medical conditions.