Tips for Helping Sleeping Disorders in Babies

Sleeping disorders in babies are not as common as with adults, but they do exist. Here are some suggestions on how to recognize and deal with your baby's sleep disorder.

First, by about age 3-6 months, your baby should be sleeping about ten hours per night with three to six hours of daytime napping. If your baby's patterns don't conform to this standard, he/she may have a sleep disorder.

To help your baby sleep better, consider reducing nighttime nursing after six months. Before age 6 mos., babies will need to eat at least every six hours, which will probably require nighttime feedings.

Additionally, you may employ the "Ferber method" for getting your baby to go back to sleep on his/her own. You can do this by waiting longer and longer before you go in to comfort your baby after he/she wakes up. Don't try this method until your baby is 12-18 mos.

Recognizing the Signs of Sleeping Disorders

Did you know over 40 million people suffer from chronic sleep disorders in the U.S.? An additional twenty million have sporadic sleep troubles.

Recognizing the signs of sleeping disorders is important because most of them are readily treatable. Here are some symptoms that might be indicative of a sleep disorder.

• On most nights, you can't fall asleep for thirty minutes or more


• Early-morning waking


• You wake up multiple times throughout the night


• You feel extremely drowsy or fatigued while awake


• No matter how long you sleep, you awake feeling tired


• You snore loudly most of the time


• You wake up with headaches or stomach pains


• You fall asleep at inappropriate times

Disturbed Sleep and Sleeping Disorders Can Cause Heart Problems

If you're suffering from disturbed sleep and sleeping disorders like sleep apnea, you should seek treatment immediately. Not only will you get a better night's rest, but you will also have a healthier heart.

A new study out of Ohio State University demonstrated that sleep apnea patients who use a machine called a CPAP, or a continuous positive-airway pressure machine, improve their heart's functioning and structure in just a few month's time. The doctors discovered that patients with severe sleep apnea had a heart with an enlarged right side, but CPAP treatment lessened the swelling.

"If you suspect that you or a loved one has obstructive sleep apnea, get evaluated for it sooner rather than later," says Dennis Auckley, the Center for Sleep Medicine's director. "The treatment cannot only make you feel better, it will improve heart function and potentially reduce the risk for cardiovascular complaints later in life."

About 5% of people in the U.S. suffer from sleep apnea, a disturbance that causes the cessation of breathing during sleep, occasionally for one minute or more and sometimes 100s of times every night.

List of Sleeping Disoders That Are Uncommon

We've all heard of insomnia, and you may have even heard of hypersomnia, or sleeping too much. However, the list of sleeping disorders extends far beyond these two forms into realms that are much more bizarre. Here are four of the oddest sleeping disorders.

1) REM Behavior Disorder - sufferers do not experience the paralysis normally associated with REM sleep, which causes them to act out their dreams. Occasionally, the sleeper will harm himself or his sleeping partner.

2) Restless leg syndrome - this syndrome is usually most severe when the patient sleeps. It induces a powerful urge to move one's legs or arms to alleviate discomfort or strange sensations.

3) Somniloquy - also known as "sleep talking," somniloquy causes the sleeper to speak out loud. The talking can range from basic sounds to full-fledged speech.

4) Sexsomnia - causes sufferers to engage in sexual behaviors while asleep. Sexsomnia is considered to be closely related to somnambulism, or sleepwalking.

Anxiety Sleeping Disorders Cause Explosion in Prescription Sleep Aid Use

Young adults with anxiety sleeping disorders are turning to prescription sleep aids for relief at alarming rates.

A study published recently reported that college-age adults' use of prescription sleep drugs has almost tripled over the last 8 years. In 1998, just 599 of every 100,000 people took sleeping meds. By 2006, that number had skyrocketed to 1,524 of every 100,000 people.

The presence of psychiatric disorders is a possible explanation of why young adults are increasingly relying on sleeping meds. Mental illnesses like depression and anxiety can lead to insomnia.

Regardless of the psychiatric disorder, physicians concur that habitual use of sleeping medication has deleterious effects. The trend worries clinicians because all sleeping meds are habit-forming to some degree, and chronic use may result in dependency.

Weight Loss Can Alleviate Various Types of Sleeping Disorders

The secret to a restful night's slumber might be weight loss, physicians say.

People with different types of sleeping disorders who adhered to a reduced-calorie eating regimen and consistently exercised felt and slept better, according to a recent study. Apparently, the more weight the subjects lost, the more their sleep improved.

"In fact, mild obstructive sleep apnea was objectively cured in 88 per cent of the patients who lost more than 33lbs, a statistic that declined with the amount of weight lost," scientist Dr. Henri Tuomilehto explained.

The advantages of weight loss extended beyond improved sleep quality; the subjects' blood pressure, cholesterol, and insulin levels also improved. In some cases, the auxiliary improvements were so significant that the patients were able to discontinue their medications.