MRC Healthcare

Studies of night shift workers shows that almost everyone who works through the night suffers from Shift Lag. Some are more able than others to adjust to the differences while others find it very difficult to cope with the extra stress working at night creates. While the stress of night work is hard its the extra problem of lack of quality sleep after the night shift that makes the problem far worse. Anecdotal evidence indicates Shift Lag also makes shift workers more susceptible to colds, flu and stomach upsets.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea is when a person stops breathing repeatedly during sleep. Breathing stops because the airway collapses and prevents air from entering and exiting the lungs. Sleep patterns are disrupted, resulting in excessive sleepiness or fatigue during the day.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (S.A.D.) is a specific type of major depression, one which reoccurs at specific times of the year. The most common pattern is the onset of major depression in the fall (September through November) and abating of the symptoms in late winter to early spring (March through May). There are other people who experience periods of abnormally high or euphoric mood between major depressive episodes. The frequency of SAD seems to vary with geographic location.

When sitting or lying down, do you have unpleasant or creepy-crawly sensations in your legs (and sometimes in other parts of your body), tied to a strong feeling or urge to move?

A night terror, also known as a sleep terror or pavor nocturnus, is a parasomnia disorder characterized by extreme terror and a temporary inability to regain full consciousness. The subject wakes abruptly from slow-wave sleep, with waking usually accompanied by gasping, moaning, or screaming.

Jet lag, or dysrhythmia, occurs when the body clock is not synchronized with an air traveler’s new time zone, causing a disruption of more than 50 physiological and psychological rhythms.

Insomnia is the perception or complaint of inadequate or poor-quality sleep due to difficulty falling asleep, waking up frequently, waking up too early or unrefreshing sleep.

The exact cause of narcolepsy is not clearly understood. Narcolepsy seems to be a biological problem, possibly involving abnormalities of brain chemistry. Narcolepsy or a predisposition to it may run in families. However, the way the predisposition might be inherited remains unknown. There is no evidence for a psychological basis for the disorder.