If you are suffering from an undiagnosed sleep disorder, ask yourself what is the problem with your sleep. Do you suffer with any of these problems:

• Difficulty falling asleep
• Difficulty in staying awake
• Problem waking up in the morning
• Strange behavioral actions in your sleep

The diagnosis of a sleep disorder often lies in the answer to any of the above symptoms. Saying that you cannot fall asleep can mean several things. There could be a problem when first going to bed, or after waking up in the middle of the night, or in the early morning hours.

Not being able to go to sleep when you do go to bed, is a common problem and some find help from an end tiredness program. Not being able to fall asleep is a condition known as sleep latency. Sleep latency can be a very serious symptom of certain sleep disorders, including sleep onset insomnia, delayed sleep phase disorder, shift work, restless leg syndrome, or paradoxical insomnia.

Many times the problem is not being able to stay asleep, which is sleep fragmentation.  Sufferers do not find it difficult to fall asleep, but wake up constantly throughout the night. Shift workers find it particularly hard to develop a sleep pattern and their disorder is called maintenance insomnia. If a person wakes up very early in the morning and cannot get back to sleep, it could be a sign of advanced sleep phase disorder, or sleep maintenance insomnia.

If your problem is that you cannot stay awake, you may have narcolepsy, obstructive or central sleep apnea, limb movement, restless leg syndrome, shift work, or advanced sleep phase disorder.

Those that say ‘I can’t get up in the morning’ and take an hour or more to fully wake from their sleep, may suffer from excessive sleep inertia. It is also referred to as excessive daytime sleepiness. They also have difficulty making the transition from sleep to being awake. Sleep disorders that could be responsible for excessive sleep inertia, are sleep apnea and delayed sleep phase disorder.

If you do strange things in your sleep, it may include some of these actions.

• Sleepwalking
• Night terrors
• Confusional arousals
• REM, ‘Rapid Eye Movement’ sleep behavior disorder
• Frequent nightmares
• Sleep-related eating disorder
• Bruxism – the grinding of teeth

These are all types of sleep disorders known as parasomnias. An end tiredness program review can help you determine if you have a sleep problem. As always if you are concerned with your health you should visit your medical practitioner for a full diagnosis.