Sleepless in Rapid City: The first signs of a sleeping disorder

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Sleep disorders are more common than you think- but because it presents themselves as just a restless night, they often go unnoticed.

Taking a deeper look at what could be causing that lack of sleep, it may be a medical disorder.

The root of not getting enough sleep may be more serious than you think. If you begin to notice a pattern of sleepless nights, it could be because there is a different underlying cause- a sleeping disorder.

“A sleep disorder is a disorder that has to do with sleep in some fashion and there’s quite a spectrum of different entities that involve sleeping whether it’s too much sleep or too little sleep or disrupted sleep and so there’s a huge spectrum of over 80 different types of sleep disorders that are there and so it is- not only the disorder itself but also how the ramifications that it can have on your day to day functioning and other disease processes,” says Doctor Robert Finley.

Not getting enough sleep can lead to other health dysfunctions. While there are different kinds of sleeping disorders- there are a few that are the most common- and most treatable.

“The most common sleep disorder is insufficient sleep, which many of us have. I think that there’s probably 70% of Americans have it at least once a month and 11% have it every day. That’s by far the most common, followed by insomnia, which is very prevalent these days and can be caused by a variety of different entities. And then other disorders are things that people hear about more commonly such as sleep apnea and then following that is an unusual condition that actually may not necessarily involve sleep, called restless leg syndrome which is actually in the evening before you go to sleep and then there’s a daytime problem with sleep called narcolepsy where you fall asleep during the middle of the day,” Finley continues.

Some sleep disorders are caused by lifestyle, while others can be genetic. If you notice yourself slipping into a pattern of sleep dysfunction, there are ways to notice it and seek help.

“If you’re at the point where you need to see a sleep specialist it’s typically becoming a more prominent problem for you and things like insomnia I think a lot of times are dealt with by the primary care provider and we don’t see a lot of that. In this community, we have the ability to put people right into the sleep clinic because it is an overwhelming problem and they can come in and we can see them. But it typically is- either they’re just not functioning well during the day or they’re just tired. They wake up tired, they go to bed tired, they’re tired all day, it affects their ability to think and function day to day,” Finley concludes.

Finley says that an adult should be getting 7-8 hours of sleep per night. If you are consistently getting less than 6 hours, there could be a deeper cause.