Recognize sleep disorder

You toss and turn, your mind is full of thoughts, you even count sheep – but you can’t fall asleep. Almost everyone knows this. The sleep disturbance belongs to the most frequent health complaints. The AOK Hessen gives a brief insight into the problem and presents 5 signs of a sleep disorder in an infographic.

When someone feels unslept is quite individual. Every person has his own sleep rhythm and his own need for sleep. If some of us only need five to six hours of sleep, others are only fully asleep at nine hours. Regardless, sleep disorders can affect anyone. People usually speak of sleep disorders when they have not gotten enough sleep and are therefore tired and listless during the day.

Forms of sleep disorders

A sleep disorder can be roughly divided into three types:

– Problems falling asleep,
– Through-sleep disturbances,
– Sleep disturbances.

Problems that prevent you from falling asleep are called sleep disorders. The reasons for this vary, for example your partner is snoring or you are thinking about an important appointment the next day and all the preparations you need to make for it. Trouble sleeping through the night wakes you up frequently. This can happen, for example, if you have a cold and can’t breathe easily. With sleep disorders, on the other hand, you wake up very early in the morning and then can’t get back to sleep – you feel limp, tired and worn out and could do with another portion of sleep.

The last point is crucial: you’re not fit enough if you don’t get enough sleep. And it goes even further. Headaches can be promoted by insufficient sleep. In addition, the concentration suffers and heavy, long-lasting sleep disturbances can even favor the risk for cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, you should get to the bottom of the cause of your symptoms as soon as possible.

Sleep disorder – causes

Also with the causes one can distinguish three factors:

– External influences, such as alcohol, nicotine, cold, noise,
– Psychological influences, such as stress, anger, mental illness,
– Organic causes, z.B. pain, physiological diseases.

Acute sleep disorders are usually also only an acute problem. If you can find the cause, you can often eliminate the problem quickly. Sometimes it even disappears by itself.

If the problem does not solve itself and burdens you, you should consult your doctor. With it you can find out the cause of your sleep disorder and start a suitable therapy.