How-To's By Problem Area: Back and Hip Pain Neck and Shoulder By Sleep Position: Back Sleepers Side Sleepers Front or Stomach Sleepers Torso Uses Total Sleep System! SALE - $49.95 2+ You get FREE Shipping! More... Order Now! Introduction to Uses Yoga Prop/Pillow FREE Gift w/ Order! Testimonials Compare FAQ's Tracking Sleep Information Test Sleep IQ! Introduction Aging Back Pain Circadian Cycles Debt Disorders Jet Lag Mortality Napping Shift Work Sleep Links Sleep News Sleep Tips! Link to this page: Just copy and paste the code below.

Sleep Disorders

WE ARE CURRENTLY OUT OF STOCK AND WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SHIP ANY ORDERS FOR THE NEXT 5 PLUS WEEKS. SORRY FOR THE INCONVIENCE.

1. Insomnia
2. Hypersomnia
3. Sleep Apnea
4. Narcolepsy
5. Advanced/Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome
6. Restless Legs Syndrome and
   Periodic Limb Movement Disorder

Insomnia

Insomnia is taken from the Latin lexicon word insomnis, meaning "sleepless".

There are three types of insomnia, differentiated by the amount of time one has experienced troubles sleeping. If we find ourselves having troubles sleeping for only a few days it is called transient insomnia. If we experience symptoms for a few weeks, it is called short-term insomnia. Troubles with sleep occurring for any longer period, say a few months, is called chronic insomnia.

If you find yourself having troubles falling asleep for even a few days, you might want to think about making a visit to your healthcare professional. At the same time, with a quick survey of our own staff, which are supported by the sleep statistics done by professional sleep scientists, we realize that most of us have experienced and will experience transient insomnia from time to time. Stressing out about our sleep can only add to a potential factor that might be the cause of our sleeplessness…psychological stress. So, the last thing we should do is get stressed out about it. If you can remember, do not judge it as "bad" or "good", but try to look at it objectively and as something you can and will remedy.

Potential causes of insomnia:

• Body aches or pains
• Inconsistent sleep schedule
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Stress
• Caffeine
• Nicotine
• Drugs, including alcohol
• Other sleep disorders
• Other medical ailments (e.g., high blood pressure, arthritis, etc.)
• Jet Lag

*These are just a few of the main potential causes of insomnia.

Again, don't stress it, as most of us are not getting a proper amount of sleep, have inconsistent sleep schedules, and experience mild body aches and pains. Although, please remember, we have choices that can help our situations greatly. We can take part in a new revolution in health and sleep with the Stasis Sleep™ Pillow.

Also, you will be provided with your FREE Stasis Sleep Book© upon your request when you order your new Stasis Sleep™ Pillows. The book includes all the information on this massive web site plus a whole lot more…your own self-diagnostic sleep tools, your own sleep diary, and a multitude of sleep tips! You will have the tools you need to achieve your goal! Finally a company that thinks about the overall goal of a better night's sleep, by offering both a superior pillow and a greater understanding of sleep itself.

[Back to Top]

Hypersomnia

Not to make things more difficult, but to provide you with the correct information, we will discuss a few different types of hypersomnia.

First, Hypersomnia is as it implies, hyper meaning "over", "above", or "excessive" tacked onto somnis, which means "sleep". So, literally hypersomnia means excessive sleep. If you find yourself sleeping a lot more than 'normal', potentially also eating excessively, you might have hypersomnia. Before you think of this as good or bad, let us look at the different types of this disorder.

Recurrent Hypersomnia:

This seems like a no brainer, doesn't it. Basically, these are intermittent episodes of excessive sleep, which last for several weeks and characteristically occur weeks or months apart. These episodes can also have a concurrence of excessive sexuality and binge eating. Kleine-Levin Syndrome is a type of recurrent hypersomnia.

Idiopathic Hypersomnia:

Idiopathic means of unknown cause(s). Very similar to narcolepsy, which will be described below. Basically, an individual who takes many naps during the day, sleeps longer than 10 hours at night, and is excessively sleepy much of the time. Some professionals say it lacks hallucinogenic aspects, but others say it can include hallucinations. What is hopefully more important to us is to find out how to help the condition vs. getting caught in the definitions. Just make sure you understand the inclusion of certain symptoms your healthcare provider is using so there is clear communication and therefore understanding by both parties. It's good to be on the same page!

Posttraumatic Hypersomnia:

This form of hypersomnia can be caused by a concussion potentially accompanied with headaches, lessened ability to concentrate at will, and memory lapses. It is important to remember there can be a delayed reaction to the head trauma by six to eighteen months. So, the signs do not have to manifest themselves immediately after the head trauma.

Healthy or Normal Hypersomnia:

Highly dependent on one's genetic makeup, this form of hypersomnia is only a problem if it interferes with one's daily routine. These persons simply need more sleep to feel more rested, characteristically more than 10 hours a day. Sleep researchers sometimes call these sleepers "long sleepers" compared to "short sleepers", who need less sleep than the average person. Both long and short sleepers make up a very small percentage the population.

[Back to Top]

(Obstructive) Sleep Apnea

This is one of those scientific terms that means excessive and heavy SNORING! Not all snoring is considered sleep apnea though. Apnea means the absence of breath. So, in order for snoring to be considered a disorder with greater health consequences, there must be a sign of temporary cessation of breath.

This is a phenomenon that occurs more often as we age, and we can be totally unaware this snoring is taking place. Of course, our partner or spouse (anyone on the same street block...just kidding) surely knows it. If you find yourself or your partner holding his or her breath, gasping for air, or choking during sleep, you will want to read on. Of the adult population, about 40% snore, and one study shows that 95% of the folks who snore did not even know it!

What's the big deal with sleep apnea anyway?

Sleep apnea is due to a temporary obstruction in the upper airway during sleep, which prevents us from breathing. As we go to sleep, the muscles in the throat fail to hold the throat open and clear, allowing the suction of our own breaths to cause a collapse of the throat's walls. This can impair our breathing anywhere from a few seconds to over a minute! Typically, this happens over and over again hundreds of times as we sleep. Given that the person must wake up for a brief moment in order to continue breathing normally, snoring can increase his or her sleep debt greatly, which can have a devastating affect on the body and mind.

It is important to note, that a person who has sleep apnea should avoid the use of sleeping pills or alcohol for several hours before bedtime. The consequences can be deadly. Luckily, sleep apnea IS treatable.

[Back to Top]

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy has many characteristics that make it a unique and potentially devastating sleep disorder. Of these characteristics are recurring episodes of napping, unwarranted daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, hypnagogic hallucinations, and sleep paralysis. Some of these terms will more than likely need additional explanation for some of us sleep dummies. And, we promise…we are not making these words up!

We can all pretty much understand the meaning of 'uncontrollable and inappropriate fits of sleep'. It's not a good thing if we fall asleep while eating meal, driving a car, or in the middle of conversation or important meeting with someone. Not having the ability to stay awake when walking down the street can even have fatal consequences. It doesn't take long to figure out how devastating the particular disorder can be.

But, what about things like cataplexy and hypnagogic hallucinations? What are those?

Let us take cataplexy first. Cataplexy is sudden attack of temporary total or 'almost total' muscle paralysis. Cataplexy can take place over a few moments to a few minutes at a time. A person falls down or collapses while being totally conscious of his or her surroundings and what is happening to them. The person's eyes and hearing are still functional! After the episode is over, the person regains normal control over his or her muscles. As you might imagine, this can be a very disturbing experience for anyone. Many of us have experienced this inability to move or paralysis when between the state of being asleep and awake. It can be a very scary experience.

Next, hypnagogic hallucinations are very vivid 'dreams' that take place at the onset of sleep for the narcoleptic, who unlike most of us, can skip directly into REM sleep, which is 'dreaming' sleep, from the awakened state. The norm for most persons, excluding small babies, is to go through phases of sleep and NOT jump from non-REM wakefulness directly into REM sleep.

Just take a few moments to think about the implications of this. The line between reality and dreams can be seriously distorted when experiencing hypnagogic hallucinations. In a single moment, the mind might take an existing reality and continue into a totally skewed or nonexistent 'reality' of a vivid dream state. All the time, he or she can be totally unaware of being asleep. It can almost be hard to imagine how this can damage one's sense of self and the reality around him or her.

Narcolepsy is not caused by psychological factors, but is a physical disorder. It is not associated with epilepsy. Narcolepsy is a relatively rare sleep disorder.

[Back to Top]

Advanced/Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome

Advanced and delayed sleep phase syndrome is when one's biological clock is different than his or her desired sleep/wake schedule. In advanced sleep phase syndrome, a person falls asleep earlier than the desired sleep time and with delayed sleep phase syndrome we see the opposite, the person falls asleep later than the desired sleep time. Once asleep, the person does not have any more difficulty staying asleep as anyone else, which would potentially fall into a different categorical sleep disorder.

On the whole, this type of sleep 'disorder' can be easily resolved with the proper treatment. Look at the bottom of the Circadian Cycles: Sleep Rhythms page for a few tips on resetting the biological clock.

[Back to Top]

Restless Legs Syndrome and
Periodic Limb Movements Disorder

Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) is found in persons who have intermittent limb movements, in this case the legs. It is also the case that most people who have RLS also have periodic limb movements, where the arms and legs move when the person is asleep, although in more severe cases it can happen while the person is awake as well. Jerking and twitching of the legs or arms can last for a few short seconds with cycles from 10 minutes to 60 seconds apart. This can continue from a few minutes to several hours.

RLS can cause difficulties falling asleep, and depending on the amount of restlessness of the legs and arms and resultant lack of sufficient quantity or quality of sleep, the person can experience daytime sleepiness. These movements might wake the person several times during the resting period, which can also increase her or his sleep debt. The causes of RLS are currently unknown, although there are several hypotheses out there.

Unfortunately, many of the above disorders go unnoticed by persons and go untreated. The disorders can affect the quality of one's life in major ways, and never be handled appropriately. Through proper education of our culture and healthcare practitioners, who on the whole need to know more about these disorders, we have a better chance of improving millions of lives.

If untreated, some of these disorders can lead to depression, mood disorders, or other psychological ailments, which not only is suffering of the individual him or herself, but can affect the healthiness of one's interpersonal and social relationships greatly. In time, we hope our culture starts to wake up to the truths that face us today, and come to appreciate the importance of sleep.

We hope you enjoy the rest of this web site, which has been created for you. Please do not forget that all of the information on this site and more is included right now upon request for FREE with your revolutionary Stasis Sleep™ Pillow(s), which is a key ingredient to achieving a better night's sleep. Finally, a smart pillow for smart persons.

Sleep well…

[Back to Top]