par Rino Gallo
Insomnia, hypersomnia, parasomnia, sleep apnea… It is important to recognize the disorders that disturb our sleep and to treat them with appropriate professional monitoring. We tell you more.
Are you having trouble getting to sleep? You don’t feel like you’re sufficiently rested when your alarm goes off? Perhaps you should consult your GP. According to the Belgian Association of Sleep research and Sleep medicine, 1 in 4 people is affected by a sleep disorder in Belgium. “We all dream of sleeping peacefully without waking up at night”explains Alex Parisel, Managing Director of Partenamut. “However, sleep disturbances are common. Obstructive apnea, which mainly affects people who are overweight and over 40, is one of them. It is important for us to encourage people to get tested when they show symptoms. »
Lack of sleep can have a more than negative impact on your health. This can in particular accelerate the aging process, tend towards the development of permanent hypertension, a risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart rate problems… It is therefore advisable to detect disorders in time. to be able to deal with them properly.
“A person prone to sleep apnea is five times more likely to have a heart attack and ten times more likely to have a stroke”confides Doctor Lachman, Head of the Sleep and Awakening Medicine Department at the Cliniques de l’Europe in Brussels. “The hormonal system can also be affected and this can lead to diabetes problems. »
Here’s how to react in case of sleep disturbances
If you suspect sleep disorders, you can use free online applications such as « Test My Sleep » who propose to answer a questionnaire, to determine the severity of the symptoms and if additional examinations are necessary. Other paid medical apps, such as Sunrise, are also reliable at detecting potential disorders. To do the test, it is a question of placing a small sensor on the chin before falling asleep and the results are displayed when you wake up.
polysomnography or “sleep test” which consists of spending a night in the hospital with sensors placed all over the body, will remain the preferred option for the most severely affected patients. Your attending physician will be able to guide you as best as possible.
