What Are The Most Common Sleeping Problems?
The 2 largest groups of patients seen are those with insomnia and excessive daytime sleepiness. The most common causes of insomnia are related to high arousal states at night, so one is unable to fall asleep even when feeling tired at night. This can happen because of poorly managed stress, mentally stimulating activities late into the night (eg. working, arguments, exercise), stimulants such as caffeine or smoking, or disease states like depression and anxiety. Excessive daytime sleepiness is most often due to not getting enough sleep at night, which if not voluntary, is commonly due to obstructive sleep apnoea, which causes sleep fragmentation due to recurrent awakenings and prevents the patient from entering deep sleep which is most restorative. [top] When Should You Do With Patients With A Sleep Problem? Many sleep problems can be diagnosed with a comprehensive sleep history. Lifestyle factors contributing to poor sleep such as excessive caffeine use, late-night exercise or eating
