Sleep disorders

Sleep disorders are a common problem that affects everyone to a greater or lesser extent at some point in their lives. Sleep disorders are very often the result of physical or mental (psychiatric) illnesses.

Sleep disorders are a common problem that affects everyone to a greater or lesser extent at some point in their lives. Physical or mental illnesses can be the cause. Nevertheless, sleep disorders can also be regarded as an illness in their own right. If it is a matter of occasional difficulty falling asleep or waking up from time to time during the night, it is not serious. A regular sleep disorder requires treatment if it is accompanied by daytime sleepiness.

The causes of a sleep disorder must be analysed individually for each patient, as they can be very varied.

Sleep disorders include not only difficulties falling asleep and staying asleep, but also phenomena such as restless legs syndrome, sleepwalking or night-time teeth grinding (bruxism). Sleep disorders are categorised as follows according to the International Classification of Sleep Disorders (ICSD):

  • Insomnia (sleeplessness): Difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, insufficient sleep duration or non-restorative sleep
  • Sleep-related breathing disorders (sleep apnoea syndrome)
  • Hypersomnia: increased need for sleep (more than ten hours per day) and/or daytime sleepiness
  • Circadian sleep-wake rhythm disorder: inability to sleep according to the day-night rhythm, for example due to jet lag or shift worker syndrome
  • Parasomnia: disturbed sleep due to psychological or physical events such as bruxism, nocturnal enuresis (bedwetting)

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