Sleep Disorder Center of Louisiana - What We Treat - KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana

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  • Sleep disorders lead to sleep deprivation, which can negatively impact your brain, heart and entire system. Clinical studies have shown a link between certain sleep disorders and heart attacks, congestive heart failure, stroke, high blood pressure and type II diabetes.

  • Sleep apnea occurs when a person doesn't breathe normally during sleep. Warning signs are loud snoring and long pauses between breaths. The person may be sleepy enough during the day to fall asleep at work or at a stoplight.

  • Insomnia - trouble falling asleep or staying asleep - can be caused by stress, changing work schedule, lack of activity, or caffeine. Noise, light and illness can also disrupt sleep. Treatment of insomnia requires an informed doctor.

  • Narcolepsy is defined as "undesirable sleepiness at inappropriate times." The four most common symptoms of narcolepsy are excessive daytime sleepiness, sudden loss of strength in the muscles (cataplexy), a brief loss of muscle control that occurs when a person is falling asleep or waking up (sleep paralysis), and hallucinations that occur just before falling asleep, during naps and/or upon waking up.

  • People with Restless Leg Syndrome cannot fall asleep because of an irresistible urge to move their legs. Periodic Limb Movement Disorder is involuntary movement of the limbs during sleep. Both of these disorders prevent a person from sleeping soundly, making them sleepy and less productive during waking hours.

  • Shift workers often face problems with getting enough sleep during the day and staying alert at night. This can affect social and family relationships, as well as lead to more illness and accidents.

  • The most common are "disorders of arousal" which include confusion arousals, sleepwalking (somnambulism) and night terrors. These occur when a person is in a mixed state, both asleep and awake, and often emerging from the deepest stage of non-dreaming sleep. The sleeper is awake enough to act out complex behaviors but is still asleep and not aware of or able to remember these activities.