Sleep and Eating Disorders

Sleep is one the most essential activities of the human body. Any disturbance in sleep will affect almost all other areas of an individual’s life, and vice versa. Patients usually visit doctors when their sleep problem becomes moderate to severe and has an impact on their health, relationships or work.

Insomnia is among the most prevalent sleep disorders and is defined by persistent and significant difficulty in falling asleep or staying asleep. Insomnia can be caused, at least in part, by psychiatric illnesses such as depression or anxiety. Primary insomnia can also contribute to, or exacerbate, psychiatric illnesses, including depression and anxiety. 

Treatments for sleep disorders can vary widely depending on the type of sleep disorder and its underlying cause. Treating insomnia can often be an important component of a comprehensive plan for people suffering from other mental illnesses. There is a wide range of medicines available that can be effective, particularly if coupled with environmental and behavioural changes.
In my practice, I often design treatment plans for insomnia to help patients dealing with depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder.

Eating nutritious food is an equally essential activity need for human survival. However, for some people with eating disorders, there are significant changes to their eating behaviors - sometimes extreme changes. They can significantly reduce or increase their food intake. They often suffer from very strong feelings of distress, dislike or concern for their body weight or shape. Eating disorders frequently begin in teen or early adult years, but may begin later.

People with eating disorders can have either extreme restriction of food (anorexia) due to a distorted self-image of being overweight, can alternate between eating way too much food and them have compensatory behaviour such as self-induced vomiting due to the guilt of over-consumption (bulimia) or have episodes of binge-eating that they are unable to control. All of these can lead to serious health problems. 

Eating disorders are serious but treatable medical illnesses. Early recognition and treatment (medicines plus usually long term therapy to address underlying body image issues) can be very effective.