Sleep Disorders
Sleep is important. If you didn't already know this, just watch a few television commercials for various kinds of mattresses. These commercials tell you that you spend about one-third of your life in bed, so it's important for your health to be sure your sleep is restorative. These ads are right on the mark when it comes to underscoring the importance of a good night's sleep.
Symptoms
If you have a sleep disorder, you may struggle through the day, fatigued and longing for a nap. You may find it difficult to concentrate and you may feel irritable. Others may call you a grouch and, if you're honest, you'll have to agree with them. When you're tired, every little thing suddenly becomes a big thing.
It's like having fingernails scratching across the blackboard of your mind, all day long. The symptoms of a sleep disorder are very similar to the symptoms of depression. Add in headaches, decreased sex drive or impotence, and a serious lack of energy, and you've got a miserable combination.
Essential
”Sleep hygiene” is the new phrase used by doctors to describe all those healthy practices and pre-bedtime routines that can help you achieve a good night's rest: A hot, relaxing bath, quiet reading, a regular time for turning in, and a light snack can help you wind down and enter the embrace of Morpheus. On the other hand, exercising, consuming caffeine and alcohol, and smoking too close to bedtime — within four hours of sack time — can interfere with sleep.
Insomnia
Having difficulty falling asleep? Perhaps you drift off to dreamland quickly but then wake up frequently during the night. Your mattress becomes increasingly uncomfortable, and there's just no way to get settled and relax. You check your bedside clock at frequent intervals, the minutes drag along, hours pass like snails, morning finally dawns, and you're more tired than when you went to bed. This is obviously not going to give you the energy you need to deal with depression. What to do?
First of all, take an inventory of your pre-bedtime habits. Are you following the recommendations for good sleep hygiene, or are you just trusting luck to get you to sleep? If nothing on the hygiene list seems to apply, it's time to check with your doctor to see if any of your medications might be causing the problem.
A possible side effect of antidepressant medication is drowsiness. Sometimes changing the time of day when you take your medications can help. If you switch from morning to nighttime, you can capitalize on any drowsiness your medications cause and then start practicing some of those sleep hygiene tips to give yourself the best shot at a good night's sleep.
Don't read in bed, watch television in bed, or use that computer in bed. Keep all work and everything else out of your bedchamber. Use your bed exclusively for sleep and sex.
Fact
A Stanford University study found that people with depression are five times more likely to have a breathing-related sleep disorder than non-depressed people. This makes sense, since sleep problems are a symptom of depression.
Sleep Apnea
This condition literally means “without breath.” It's a good descriptor. You may snore — many people do — but the snoring associated with sleep apnea is very different from the garden variety kind of snoring. Normal sleep breathing patterns are slow and regular.
The breathing pattern of someone with apnea, however, is alarming — a snort and gasp for breath, followed by 10 seconds or so without a breath and then a gasp for air again. These events can occur up to 30 or more times an hour while you're sleeping.
There are several forms of the condition, but obstructive sleep apnea is the most common and occurs when the muscles and tissues in the throat and airway relax. Sleep apnea can be treated with a CPAP machine that blows a fixed amount of air through your airway throughout the night, keeping that airway open so that the snoring and gasping don't happen and you get a good night's sleep. Since untreated sleep apnea can be life-threatening, it's important to get a handle on it.
What's CPAP?
CPAP stands for continuous positive airway pressure. If your doctor prescribes a CPAP device for you, you'll wear it across your face, securing it in place with straps around your head. The machine is not silent, and while it usually solves the sleep apnea problem, your bed partner may still seek refuge on the couch or in another bedroom.
The classic profile for someone with sleep apnea is a middle-aged, overweight male. Anyone, however, can have sleep apnea — this includes children. If snoring stops briefly and then resumes, that is a significant indicator of sleep apnea. You may not even know you have it. It's usually diagnosed in a sleep lab, often after a partner has noticed these alarming symptoms.
Danger Behind the Wheel
Feeling drowsy while you're behind the wheel can be a frightening experience, but it may turn out to be a fairly reliable indicator that you've got a sleep disorder, especially if it happens more than once. This is not the time to drift off to dreamland. The consequences of falling asleep at the wheel can be disastrous to yourself as well as to others. This is not a good way to find out that you have a sleep disorder.
Other Medical Conditions
If you've got other medical issues, they may be involved in stealing your sleep. According to the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, these conditions can affect your sleep:
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Sometimes it's easy to overlook one condition while you're intently focused on another. It's entirely possible, however, to have more than one disorder at a time. You may have asthma and cancer. You may have irritable bowel syndrome and diabetes. What's important here is to be aware that any and all of these conditions may interact with each other to interfere with your sleep.
Essential
Be your own record keeper! A health journal is an essential companion and should accompany you to each doctor visit. Write down symptoms, concerns, and questions so you'll be prepared to ask intelligent questions. Don't forget to write down the answers as you get them.
Over-the-Counter Drugs That Can Hurt
Seemingly benign drugs such as caffeine and pseudoephedrine (commonly found in cold medicines) could be depriving you of much-needed sleep and exacerbating your depression symptoms.
Caffeine
What do coffee, tea, many soft drinks, and chocolate have in common? Caffeine! Caffeine is a stimulant. If you ingest any of these items before bedtime, you may not sleep for quite some time. Caffeine is not an essential nutrient, and you can get along just fine without it.
Essential
If you're confused by the labels on drugs you find in stores, talk to your pharmacist. You can get a mini-course in understanding how these drugs interact and also learn how to use them properly to get the most benefit from them. Sometimes just taking your prescribed drugs earlier or later in the day can be all that it takes to solve the sleep problem. Check with your doctor or pharmacist to see if this is an option.
Some prescription medications and over-the-counter drugs also contain caffeine. Fiorinal, Fioricet, Esgic, Medigesic, and Phrenilin, prescribed for pain relief during migraine attacks, are examples of prescription drugs containing caffeine. Excedrin, Midol, and Cafergot are examples of over-the-counter drugs that contain caffeine. If you want to sleep, stimulants aren't the way to go.
Pseudoephedrine
Pseudoephedrine, a decongestant, can also disturb sleep. You can find this in cold medications, nasal sprays, allergy medications, and prescription diet pills. If you are taking heart medication, beta blockers can interfere with your sleep. Thyroid hormones and some drugs used to treat Parkinson's disease also can affect sleep.
