the.com/sleep disorders
your brain filing a formal complaint about how you're spending the night.
means a group of conditions that disrupt normal sleep quantity, quality, or timing, wrecking your day as collateral damage.
from sleep medicine only became a real field in the 1970s once researchers realized snoring, insomnia, and daytime zombie-ness were symptoms of specific disorders, not just personality flaws.
countover 80 distinct sleep disorders are formally classified
apnea gapmost sleep apnea cases remain undiagnosed for years
narcolepsy causeoften traced to loss of orexin-producing brain cells
insomnia ironytrying harder to sleep reliably makes it worse
for instance
obstructive sleep apnea — affects roughly 1 billion adults worldwide, per 2019 estimates
narcolepsy type 1 — causes sudden muscle collapse triggered by laughter or emotion
restless legs syndrome — ekbom first clinically described it in sweden, 1945
rem sleep behavior disorder — people physically act out dreams, sometimes violently