No Rest For the Weary: Some Common Sleep Disorders

Transcription

1 No Rest For the Weary: Some Common Sleep Disorders Student Activity 3G Activity Introduction: It seems Mom does know best ; sleep has been proven to be essential to our health and well-being. In order to stay at the top of your game, you need sleep; even a few nights of poor or little sleep can affect your memory, attention span and creativity. If you get drowsy during the day, you may be experiencing poor sleep. If you continue to have poor sleep for a long period of time, you are at risk for health problems. Sleeplessness is an under-diagnosed condition and most people don t realize how much sleeplessness can affect their health and quality of life. So, in this activity, you will learn about some of the common sleep disorders and what can be done about them. Activity Background: As you have learned, the amount of sleep we need depends upon many things, including age. Infants generally need 16 hours of sleep each day; teens need about 9 hours of sleep per day and adults need about 7 to 8 hours of sleep per day. These amounts change if a person has been deprived of sleep. Getting too little sleep creates a condition called sleep debt, which is similar to being overdrawn at a bank. At some time, your body will require that the lost sleep be made up. Contrary to what many people believe, our bodies do not adapt to getting less sleep than we need. Constantly depriving your body of sleep will affect judgment, reaction time and other functions as well. It is alarming that as many as 20% 40% (reported in a UCLA study) of all Americans suffer some form of sleep deprivation or disorder. Scientists who study sleep report that if you feel drowsy during the day (even during boring activities) you have not had enough sleep. In other words, if you get enough sleep, you will not fall asleep in class! Sleep experts also tell us that if you are falling asleep within five minutes of lying down, you most likely suffer from sleep deprivation and maybe even have an ongoing sleep disorder. Another sign that you are sleep-deprived may be experiencing very short episodes of sleep during an awake time. Based upon much evidence, researchers tell us how dangerous sleep deprivation really is. After testing sleep-deprived people in a driving simulator, it was shown that these people performed worse than people who are under the influence of alcohol. In fact, alcohol impairs sleep deprived people more than well-rested people. Most of us think that caffeine can overcome the effects of sleep deprivation when we feel drowsy; research tells us that this is not the case. Z Materials: (per group) 1 Sleep Disorder Card Library materials, Internet access for research Note cards Blank Newsletter Form included in this activity Z LESSON 3 ACTIVITY 3G ZZZZZ World 6

2 Activity Instructions: You and your partner(s) will draw a Sleep Disorder Card and research the following information about the condition you have drawn. When you have found all of the required items, you will assemble this information into a newsletter to be shared with your class. Read each item to be included in the newsletter and check it off when complete: Be sure to divide the task into specific jobs for each member of the group! p 1. p 2. p 3. p 4. p 5. p 6. p 7. Name of the disorder; both common and medical names included Complete description of the disorder Symptoms of the disorder (what happens to you if you have this disorder) Diagram or picture related to the cause of this disorder Treatment for the disorder Problems that arise when a person has this condition Creative title for your newsletter Z The common disorders you will be researching as a class include the following conditions: Insomnia: Insomnia is a sleep problem that is associated with the inability to fall asleep, remaining asleep, and/or waking up very early in the morning. Its cause can be short term problems due to stress, pain, medical or psychiatric conditions. Nightmares: Nightmares are dreams that frighten and wake people up; they occur during REM sleep. These can arise from stress, a change in routine or a frightening incident. Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) [Nocturnal Myoclonus]: Restless Legs Syndrome is a sensory-motor (movement) disorder that can include unpleasant sensations to the legs. Movement of the limb relieves some of the discomfort. RLS usually interferes with sleep onset and therefore causes interrupted sleep. Snoring: Snoring occurs due to the partial blockage of the airways. This might arise due to nasal congestion or larger than average adenoids or tonsils. Sleep Apnea: Sleep Apnea occurs when there are pauses in breathing during sleep. There is a relaxation of the muscles of the tongue and soft palate which allows the breathing passages to collapse in some people with narrow airways. The overall result is that a person has to wake up to take a breath. This in turn causes repeated sleep disturbances during the night. It is believed to be a risk factor for heart attacks and strokes. LESSON 3 ACTIVITY 3G 7ZZZZZ World

3 Narcolepsy: Narcolepsy affects both the REM and NREM. People with this disorder suffer sudden loss of muscle tone. In its mildest form this sleep disorder is primarily characterized by intermittent, uncontrollable episodes of falling asleep during the daytime. The following are classified as parasomnias. They are sleep disorders that involve behaviors that occur during sleep. These disorders occur during NREM and early into the night. Sleep Walking (Somnolence): Somnolence includes getting out of bed to perform specific tasks and this usually occurs during NREM sleep. The sleep walker appears to be in a trance and does not response when spoken to. This can occur an hour or two after sleep onset and may last five to twenty minutes. (Source: www. sleepfoundation.org) Like sleep talking the sleep walker has no recollection of the event. Sleep Talking (Somniloquy); Somniloquy is described as any sound made during sleep from a single word to an entire sentence. This usually occurs during NREM sleep. It can occur due to stress or can be associated with some illness either physical or mental. Usually the sleeper is unaware they are talking, moaning, singing, or shouting. Upon waking the sleep talker has no recall of the event. Sleep Terror Disorder: Sleep Terror Disorder occurs when a person wakes from a dream crying or screaming. The person has visible signs of fear and is difficult to awaken. The event may last several minutes but usually only once per night. This disorder can be associated with periods of stress, emotional tension or conflict. These events usually occur during Stage 3 and 4 (deep sleep). The only similarity to nightmares is that the person does not recall the cause of being awakened. Jet Lag: Jet Lag is usually a temporary disorder characterized by fatigue, insomnia, and sometimes anxiety, confusion and memory loss, among other symptoms. These symptoms are caused by traveling across time zones so that a disruption of normal patterns occurs. Factors that affect sleep are the quality of the sleep, the duration of sleep and the onset of sleep. All of the above disorders can lead to sleep deprivation. This can cause motor vehicle accidents, work related accidents as well as overall decline in work productivity. In a more chronic form this can cause irritability, changes in behavior, and lead to further medical problems. LESSON 3 ACTIVITY 3G 8ZZZZZ World

4 Common Sleep Disorders Insomnia Nightmares Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Snoring Sleep Apnea Narcolepsy Sleep Walking Sleep Talking Sleep Terror Disorder Z Z Z Jet Lag Z Z Z 9

5 NEWSLETTER TITLE Name of Disorder COMMON NAME: Description of Disorder MEDICAL NAME: Symptoms 10

6 Diagram or picture related to this disorder PROBLEMS TREATMENT 11