Transient Insomnia – typically will last from days to weeks. The main causes of transient insomnia are some other diagnosed disorder, sleep timing, environmental considerations, stress or persistent depression. The end result of this state of being is abnormal sleepiness or general impairment of human performance. Typical a condition of sleep deprivation.
Acute Insomnia – is a prolonged period of time of disrupted, unstable sleep patterns of not less than three weeks to six months.
Chronic Insomnia – this is a type of insomnia that can last for literally years at a time. It is quite commonly due to the effects of another detrimental health condition or it can be a stand-alone condition in itself. Typical effects can include muscular fatigue, onset of hallucinations, sleepiness, and/or mental fatigue. Chronic insomnia is known to cause excessive alertness, double vision or a sense of slow motion in some cases.
Sleep Apnea by definition is where a person has abnormal lengths of time between each breathe whilst sleeping. The pauses can be long enough to exclude one or more breaths of someone who does not suffer the condition. Sleep apnea is considered to exist in people who have breathing intervals of 10 seconds or more in the normal course of their sleep. Further diagnosis can include neurological arousal and/or blood oxygen saturation of 3-4 %. A sleep test called a polysomnogram is used to diagnose the condition. Most sufferers are completely unaware they have the condition.
Narcolepsy – is a chronic sleep disorder defined by excessive and prolonged excessive daytime sleepiness. The person can fall asleep at inappropriate times during the day. Disturbed nocturnal sleep patterns are normal for sufferers as are abnormal daytime sleep patterns. Narcoleptics will normally experience deep REM sleep within 10 minutes of falling asleep – where as a non-sufferer will take 30 minutes or more before this occurs. Narcolepsy and Cataplexy (sudden and unexplained bouts of muscle weakness) are commonly associated.
Sleep Disorder – this is defined as a medical condition or disorder of a persons normal sleep patterns. It has the effect of causing mental, emotional and physical dysfunction.