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A Good Nights
Sleep
Insomnia is only one of the
many sleep disorders that may be keeping you from a good night's sleep, and is
the inability to fall sleep or stay asleep for an adequate length of time.
The American Academy of
Sleep medicine lists ten primary and 71 secondary sleep disorders. Primary
disorders include insomnia, obstructive sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome and bad sleep habits, among others. Secondary disorders include central sleep apnea, among many others.
Human behavior is organized
into 24-hour cycles that are typically composed of about 16 hours of wakefulness
and about 8 hours of sleep. Sleep is critical for maintaining normal adaptive
waking behavior. Both the sleep and waking states fare maintained by separate
and specific neural signals. An innate drive for sleep increases throughout the
day and an opposing circadian influence promotes wakefulness. The circadian
drive declines as sleep approaches (one component of this system is melatonin).
This is inhibited during the day and increases as time for sleep approaches.
Sleep disorders affect more
than 25 percent of the general population. It can have impact on a patient�s
work performance, interpersonal relationships, mood, general medical condition,
e.g. it can affect virtually everything in your life.
We are a group of health
care providers that evaluate patients to find out the underlying causes of their
sleep disorder and recommend pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments.
These include cognitive behavioral therapy, improvement of sleep habits,
biofeedback, relaxation training, self-hypnosis and acupuncture.
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