Sleep Disorder Screening Tool: an Invaluable Aid
Sleep disorders of all types, including sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, insomnia and narcolepsy, are extremely common but often difficult to diagnose. Therefore the recent development of a sleep disorder screening tool is extremely good news for both patients and doctors. We are going to look at the situation and problems suffered by doctors before the introduction of this tool, including the actual number of sufferers involved, and then at how the screening tool works and how it will help physicians. We will attempt to analyze just how useful the sleep disorder screening tool will be and in what ways.
Before the advent of this sleep disorder screening tool, doctors and patients alike had to go through an enormous amount of time, effort and frustration to make sure sleep disorders were diagnosed correctly. Until now the screening process used was too long for a doctor to use in one single visit, which meant that a lot of sufferers were simply not diagnosed and therefore not treated for their sleep disorders. Now, however, with the new, simplified screening tool doctors will be able to assess their patients for sleeping disorders in a matter of minutes by asking them a few pertinent questions.
40 Million Sufferers
The National Sleep Foundation has estimated that at least 40 million Americans suffer from some kind of sleep disorder, and at least 60 per cent of adults have never been asked about the quality of their sleep by a doctor. Sleep disorders are also associated with a broad range of medical complications such as heart disease, depression, and highway and work related accidents.? It is very important that a sleep disorder screening tool has been developed as adequate sleep is critical to good health. The questions on the sleep disorder screening tool include general queries that relate to falling asleep, staying asleep and feeling rested.
More specifically, they ask if there have been any crawling feelings in the legs at night that went away if you moved a leg. How often do you have nightmares, do you scream, walk, punch or kick in your sleep? Specific questions are developed for certain disorders. One disorder, parasomnia, is a disorder that is characterized by sleepwalking, bedwetting, screaming and other abnormal sleep behaviors and can be screened with one single question. This sleep disorder screening tool has proven to be very effective and will only help with further diagnostic evaluation and treatment.
Sleep disorders are patterns of sleep that include difficulty falling and staying asleep, falling asleep at inappropriate times and abnormal behaviors associated with sleep, or in the case of one particular disorder, without sleep. These problems can be caused by medical or psychiatric problems, stress or poor sleeping environments. Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder. At least 51 per cent of adults experience insomnia at least a few nights per week and 81 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea. Restless leg syndrome is found in 25 per cent of Americans. The new sleep disorder screening tool can hopefully help to reduce these numbers.