Sleep Deprivation, Disorders, and Drugs

Sleep Deprivation, Disorders, and Drugs
When it comes to a situation in which I did not get enough sleep, with going to school and working full time and having children there are many situations where I did not get enough sleep. The situation I chose out of all of them was not that long ago. I wake up at 6:00 am, drive to Glendora, CA from Pomona, CA to wake up my children and have them get ready for school, then I go back to Pomona, CA to clean the house or I go back to the Glendora, CA to work in my dads office and whatever errands he needs done. After all that is done it is then time for me to go pick up my children from school and start doing their homework, make dinner, clean up the stuff from dinner and then get them showered and into bed. After all that is done it is time for me to do homework which depending on the assignment takes a few hours and so by the time I go to bed it is anywhere between 4 and 5 in the morning.
When it comes to the way the lack of sleep affected my mood, I can say that I had a shorter temper. Things that normally would not have bothered me seem to set me up to loose my temper. I also could not seem to function in the sense of being able to organize all the things that needed to be done in my day which in turn made me angry as well. When it came to my motor skills they seemed to be off a little and it seemed to take longer for me to actually put a thought into actual play because of everything seeming a little slower. My behavior seemed less thought out and more like whatever I decided to do for whatever reason I was going to do it no matter what it made others feel like at the time.
When it comes to my experience conceded with the effect of sleep deprivation, I have to say that it does. According to the reading for this week I was completely what they would consider a text book case and still have moments where I have to deal with the lack of sleep when it comes to not only what I have to do on a day to day. From the lack of being able to process a thought or having control of my motor skills I was the walking example of sleep deprivation and still am.
According to the text the effects of long term sleep reduction is lower stress threshold, impaired memory, trouble concentration, decreased optimism and sociability, impaired creativity and innovation, increased resting blood pressure, increased appetite, and increased cardiac morbidity. Although they do not seem like a big problem at first, they do play a big role in your day to day life. For instance I have found that when I go days or weeks with less and less sleep, I am the text book when it comes to trouble concentrating on whatever task I am working on. I also seem to have impaired memory. This is just having the basic problem of not remembering little things when it comes to conversations that you may have had with someone. Each one of these things on their own makes going through someone’s day hard but to have more than on makes going through the day even more difficult.
There are so many different types of sleep disorders. Over 40 million Americans suffer from some form of a sleeping problem. Some of the many sleeping disorders are insomnia and sleep apnea. Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep, and sleep apnea is abnormal pausing in ones breathing. People can have different reasons to why they have sleep disorders, it can be anything from a busy schedule, to increased amounts of caffeine or alcohol, medication, as well as illnesses. The illnesses that could cause sleep disorders is arthritis, bladder infections and depression. The different things that can sleep disorders is melatonin, chamomile, Lunesta, ramelteon, triazolam, zaleplon, and zolpidem.
Everyone at one time or another in their adult life goes through a period of time where they suffer from a sleeping disorder due to a busy schedule, illness, stress, or some other reason that pops up in their life. Although these are problems that are easily fixed by either a medication by your doctor or herbal supplement that you can get over the counter.

References:
John P.J., P. (2011). Biopsychology (8th ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson.

References: John P.J., P. (2011). Biopsychology (8th ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson.