Sleep can seem like a passive activity but it’s far from it. Sleep is actually a very active process that both your body and mind are involved in. While you sleep, your body breathing slows, your brain sorts through memories and your body heals all the little problems that it has throughout the day. Sleep, for all intents and purposes, is actually an actively therapeutic and healing process that occurs over the span of several hours. But, like all bodily functions, it can go sometimes go wrong. When this happens, the results can be anything from slightly annoying to functionally severe. If you fall on the latter end of that spectrum, you’re going to want to seek out care to protect yourself. Anything from sleep apnea treatment to mouth guards to therapy can help. It just matters that you take that first step. What follows is a short list of sleep problems you can have and what you might want to do about them.
- The basics of sleep apnea
One of the most common sleep problems is sleep apnea where the airway gets slightly obstructed while sleeping. In a lot of cases, this is irritating but not inherently dangerous. It often arises from weight or illness related issues but it can come from other sources as well. Take this hypothetical sleeper who is a little overweight and recovering from a head cold. They have been snoring loudly for a few days and it’s really starting to affect the quality of sleep that their spouse is receiving. This is more common than you think and it can become a point of contention in any household. So what to do? It can seem daunting but it really isn’t. There are plenty of snoring remedies and snoring solutions available that can act as basic sleep apnea treatment. Alternatively, this hypothetical sleeper, or anyone else, can visit their local doctor to ask about potential reasons for the airway obstruction and what they should do about it. Often times, your doctor will do a small assessment to figure out the problem and prescribe a solution. No worry, no fuss. It just takes a little bit of being proactive on the part of the sleeper.
Jaw problems
Another common problem is teeth grinding which, while harmless in most circumstances like sleep apnea, can be painful for the victim. The reasons for teeth grinding isn’t very well understood but researchers seem to believe it’s related to the amount of stress that the sleeper undergoes the day or days before. If the sleeper has had a rough couple days then the stress will manifest within their sleep as a tightly locked jaw that can slightly obstruct their breathing and wear down the tops of their teeth. If audible, it can also keep any significant others awake as well. It can be difficult to tell if you suffer from teeth grinding but there are a few telltale signs. Jaw pain, for one, or sensitivity in any specific dental areas. As with sleep apnea treatment, there are plenty of chronic jaw pain treatments that can help with this. You might also suffer from small headaches from the exertion. If so, you get a chronic headache treatment to help alleviate this as well.
Sleep walking
This is a little bit of a rare disorder than the other two and one with a lot more unfortunate, negative stigma surrounding it. Contrary to popular belief, you can absolutely wake a sleepwalker with no ill effects. They aren’t going to go into shock or anything. Sleepwalking is also believed to be caused by stress although the connection between the two is currently pretty tenuous, scientifically speaking. No one is sure what causes it but if you or someone you know sleep walks it’s important to keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t hurt themselves. Sleepwalkers tend to act out their dreams while on the move or at least parts of their dreams and there’s no need to say how dangerous this can be. There’s no basic sleep apnea treatment or medication for something like this. Just make sure they are safe.