Sleep Disorders
Circadian Rhythm Disorders
Circadian rhythm disorders are becoming increasingly common and involve a disruption in your sleep-wake cycle. The Sound Sleep Health team of sleep specialists are dedicated to finding the cause of the problem and coming up with an effective treatment plan to regulate your circadian rhythm cycle and improve your sleep pattern. Do you think your circadian rhythm is causing sleep problems? Visit one of the two offices in Kirkland and Seattle, Washington. Call or book online.
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What is a circadian rhythm disorder?
A circadian rhythm disorder is a disruption in your circadian rhythm, your internal body clock, which regulates the biological processes. Your circadian rhythm is timed to keep you on consistent a 24-hour cycle, alert and energetic during the day, relaxed and asleep at night.
Many of your bodily processes go through patterns, including your brain wave activity, your cell regeneration, hormone production, and more. The circadian rhythm plays a vital role in all of these functions as well as maintaining your sleeping patterns.
Typically, the normal circadian clock cycles in 24 hours. However, circadian rhythm disorders cause many people to be awake until late at night and become sleepy early in the evening.
Circadian problems can often emerge during childhood or adolescence. Also, any disorder or lesion that affects your brain can disrupt your sleep-wake cycle, for example, brain tumors, head trauma, and strokes.
What causes circadian rhythm disorders?
Several factors can cause circadian rhythm disorders.
Age
Age brings many changes, and your circadian rhythm changes with age too. That can result in the development of numerous sleep disorders.
Lifestyle
Many people who have changing or unusual work and travel schedules can experience disruptions in their circadian rhythm.
Travel
People who travel across different time zones often experience circadian rhythm disruptions, which result in irregular sleep patterns and poor sleep quality.
Sleep deficit
If you stay awake and miss out on valuable hours of sleep, it can disrupt your circadian rhythm, causing difficulty sleeping when you want to.
What are the treatments for circadian rhythm disorders?
A combination of medication and behavior modification is the best way to manage these disorders.
The Sound Sleep Health team are especially skilled at designing individualized treatment plans to help patients improve disrupted sleep patterns with a variety of effective methods.
The main treatment approaches are:
- Medications, either to enhance wakefulness or sleepiness
- Light therapy, or phototherapy, a specific schedule of exposure to bright light to reset your rhythm
- Chronotherapy, an in-depth process to create an appropriate custom sleep schedule best suited to your needs
- Sleep environment and behavior therapies to create an ideal environment for restful sleep and relaxation of the mind and body
In some cases, another medical condition is the cause, and the best treatment plan is one that focuses on treating that underlying condition.
Call the Sound Sleep Health team or book online to restore your circadian rhythm balance and get your custom, ideal sleep schedule.