What people crave toward the end of a tiring day is a good night’s sleep. People often equate snoring loudly to sleeping blissfully and are often unaware of the serious connotations of the same. Snoring that is often loud, disruptive, and regular is a symptom of a sleep disorder known as sleep apnea, which affects about 20 million people in the country. Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder where the individual stops breathing periodically when asleep. Moreover, these cessations in breathing can occur anywhere from a few times to hundreds of time throughout the individual’s sleep. Sleep apnea is often accompanied by a slew of other health ailments as the cessations in breathing implies that the person is partially awake, and this forces the brain to come out of the deeper stages of sleep to make the body start breathing again. As this occurs several times throughout the sleep, it disrupts the person’s sleep and as the quality of sleep deteriorates, various other medical complications arise. There are three types of sleep apnea, each of which affects the individual in different ways. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), central sleep apnea (CSA), and mixed sleep apnea are the three major types of sleep apnea and learning more about them will help people identify the condition and seek treatment accordingly.

Lacking energy and feeling of weariness and tiredness that does not go away even after taking rest is called fatigue. Fatigue can be both physical and psychological. Often times, fatigue can be due to one or more habits or routines. It is a natural response of the body toward poor eating habits, emotional stress, boredom, and lack of sleep. In other cases, it can be a symptom of an underlying medical condition and requires proper treatment and even a doctor’s intervention. Most of the people are unaware of the causes of their fatigue and it is also likely that they have the power to put the vitality back in their life. Here are some helpful tips that can be used to fight both, physical and psychological fatigue and boost energy levels. Lifestyle changes Avoid smoking cigarette as it contains many harmful chemicals and toxins which are responsible to bring down the energy levels. Smokers have lower energy when compared to non-smokers. Smoking cigarettes reduces the amount of oxygen which is required with glucose to provide energy to the body. A sedentary lifestyle is known to cause fatigue while physical activity also boosts energy levels which affect both, body and mind.

Narcolepsy is a long-term, rare brain disorder. This condition causes a person to fall asleep suddenly at inappropriate times. It does not have any long-term or serious health issues; however, it does impact a person’s everyday life and makes it difficult to cope with these problems emotionally. The chemical in the brain that is known to regulate sleep is known as hypocretin. Most cases of narcolepsy are caused due to the lack of the same. This deficiency is mainly caused due to the immune system mistakenly attacking parts of the brain that are responsible for the production of hypocretin. Apart from the lack of hypocretin, there are other causes of narcolepsy as well and these are: Problems in the immune system Antibodies are released by the body o destroy the organisms and toxins that carry disease. When the antibodies mistake healthy tissues and cells as a threat, it is known as the autoimmune response of the body. It was found that people who have been diagnosed with narcolepsy produce antibodies against a protein called trib 2. Trib 2 is produced by the same area of the brain that is responsible for the production of hypocretin. Since hypocretin is responsible for arousal, wakefulness, and appetite, a lack of hypocretin means the brain is not able to regulate sleep cycles like usual.

Most people tend to experience insomnia from time to time. There are various causes and risk factors of insomnia that affect the quantity as well as the quality of sleep. Some of the common types of insomnia include chronic insomnia (which lasts a month or longer), acute insomnia (which lasts a few days or weeks), onset insomnia (difficulty in falling asleep), maintenance insomnia (inability to stay asleep), and comorbid insomnia (insomnia that is associated with some other disorder). In some cases, insomnia goes away by making simple and effective lifestyle changes. Whereas, it some cases, its chronic in nature and may need more serious treatments for the same. Here are a few ways in which insomnia can affect regular life: A decrease in overall life expectancy Insomnia is known to shorten the overall life expectancy of the ones diagnosed with it. Studies have indicated a correlation between mortality and sleep duration. They have discovered that sleeplessness increases the risk of death by 12 percent. Persistent insomnia is known to have a 97 increased risk of death. Increase in the risk of medical conditions Due to insomnia, there is an increased risk of serious medical problems. Some of the common medical conditions include asthma attacks, weak immune system, sensitivity to pain, stroke, seizures, obesity, high blood pressure, inflammation, heart disease, and diabetes mellitus.