Definition - What does Dyssomnia mean?
Dyssomnia is a sleep disorder that affects a person's sleeping and waking patterns.
When a person suffers from dyssomnia they may have difficulty falling asleep or maintaining a normal sleep schedule. He or she may also experience difficulty remaining asleep through a full sleep cycle or period. Narcolepsy, a disorder in which a person may involuntarily fall asleep during daytime activities, is a type of dyssomnia. Other types of dyssomnia include insomnia and hypersomnolence. Delayed sleep and non-restful sleep caused by dyssomnia may lead to daytime sleepiness and other symptoms of sleep deprivation.
SureHire explains Dyssomnia
The term dyssomnia identifies a type of sleep disorder, based on the symptoms of that disorder. A person may be diagnosed with dyssomnia if they cannot easily fall asleep, experience excessive sleep, or are restless during sleep. However, there is no one cause of dyssomnia. The condition may be further categorized as an extrinsic sleep disorder, an intrinsic sleep disorder, or a circadian rhythm sleep disorder.
For some individuals, the disorder may be caused by external factors such as lighting or noise in the environment. For others, dyssomnia is caused by an underlying physical or psychological condition. Still others may experience temporary dyssomnia due to shift work or other changes to their regular schedules.
Understandably, the treatment of dyssomnia will vary depending on its cause. Therefore, an important first step in the treatment of dyssomnia is to identify each of the potential causes of the individual's sleep disorder.
