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Sleep problems

Getting a good night’s sleep is vital for your health and wellbeing. If you don’t sleep well, you might have trouble remembering or concentrating on things, be in a bad mood, be more likely to make mistakes or bad decisions or have accidents.

Some common sleep problems are:

  • sleep apnoea – when you wake up hundreds of times in the night, usually without noticing, because you stop breathing
  • insomnia – trouble getting to or staying asleep
  • restless leg syndrome – a cramp or creeping feeling in the legs in the evening or at night
  • circadian rhythm disorders (such as jet lag and shift work sleep disorder) – where your body clock is out of sync with your environment.

Sleepwalking and snoring are also common sleep disorders. They don’t usually cause problems for the sleeper.

To find out more about sleep problems and how to sleep well at night, check out the websites on the right.

Related websites

Better Health Channel
The Victoria (Australia) state government provides online consumer-focused health and medical information.

Health Navigator
The Health Navigator NZ website helps you find reliable and trustworthy health information and self-help resources.

NHS Choices
Quality consumer health information from the UK health system. Search their site for information on a variety of sleep problems.

Best Health
The Ministry has funded free access to this British Medical Journal website for people browsing the web from New Zealand.

Health Talk Online
A website featuring video interviews with people on various health topics.

Related areas

Page last updated: 20 February 2013