With advancement of technology and increased options for making a living, the lifestyle for everyone has changed tremendously. This has affected one’s health in all kinds of ways. Sleep is one such area which has become a huge cause of worry for people living especially in metropolitan cities. Be it the noise level outside or the stress level due to changing lifestyle. A research has recorded close to 50 million people in the United States alone, suffering from at least one sleep disorder.

There are several sleep disorders, but they fall into one of the categories of disturbed sleep or inadequate sleep, no sleep also termed as Insomnia or excessive sleep, called Narcolepsy. Due to changing lifestyle, the most prevalent sleep disorder that is found among people is Insomnia. Sleep disorder can be attributed to various reasons such as illness, food habits, smoking, odd working hours, psychiatric problems and in some cases old age and genetic factors as well. Narcolepsy which is characterized by a compulsive desire to sleep during daytime is one such sleep disorder which can be attributed to the person’s genetics. People working odd hours find themselves undergoing disturbed sleep most of the time. This is because their metabolism gets adversely affected.

The duration for which one should sleep is relative. This is because it depends on the age of the person, his or her occupation and the kind of physical or mental effort that is required to put in the job. It is also relevant to check whether a person is already suffering from an illness or not. If one is in physical pain then, one may require more sleep than normal. A child aged between 1-2 years may sleep most of the time. An old person too may sleep for more number of hours, although it does not generally happen that way.

There are methods employed for detection of sleep disorders. Polysomnogram is an instrument which studies the activity of the human brain, heart, eye movements during sleep, muscle movement and various sleep-wake patterns. This enables to know the deviation from normal activity. Oximetry is one more test which measures the amount of oxygen reaching the bloodstream. In case of a person suffering from Obstructive sleep apnea (sleep disorder in which the air passage inside the throat is blocked and breathing stops frequently while asleep), Oximetry plays an important role to gauge the severity of the case and preventive or curative actions to be taken then on.

Certain corrective actions taken in the course of one’s daily routine will help curb these sleep disorders to a large extent. For any severe cases, surgery may become necessary. In cases where the sleep disorder is caused due to an underlying medical condition, appropriate treatment and medication would be needed to treat the disorder.

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