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Questions posted in the
Neurology and Neurosurgery Forum have been answered by doctors from The Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
Question Title: alpha interpherence in sleepForum: Neurology Forum
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Hi. I am 21 years old and for the past seven months or so I have bening experiencing severe exhaustion upon waking. It's not really fatigue. It is more like a pain around my eyes and in various areas of my head and low energy. I still go about my life with a smile although most of the time i'm not enjoying life at all. All of the normal tests have been done: blood, thyroid, nutritional deficiencies and I am definitely not depressed. I recently had an EEG all night sleep study and everything was normal except for their were alpha waves occuring at the same time as sleep waves and this is supposed to be, or is maybe, the cause of my problems. I am now on terzadone for this problem. There are a few things you should know. I went tree planting for 2 months this summer during which time I worked physically for 10 hours a day and after a single day of this I felt great for the rest of the time. Also, the way in which I make the pain go away each day is to have a special nap in which I don't fall asleep but instead just roll my eyes into the back of my head and think of nothing while waiting for an image to appear. When it does I open my eyes and feel okay. I worry that these naps may contribute to the alpha interference, or even have caused it since I used to nap this way during exams when I was so tired from not sleeping enough. Also I had insomnia for around a year prior to this horrible exhaustion and pain no matter how much I sleep. If you know anything at all about this since no one seems to know I would really appreciate your help. Thank you, Kate! Alpha waves in the EEG are a characteristic of the aroused or awake state, so the appearance of these waves in slow wave or deep sleep suggest that you are interrupting your sleep with mini-arousals, thereby reducing the quality of your sleep time, this will obviously make you feel tired and exhausted the next day. I cannot see how the trick with rolling your eyes back could possibly have anything whatsoever to do with this problem so you should not worry about it. taking naps does not cause this problem, rather taking naps is a consequence of it. In general taking naps during the day may reduce the effectiveness of your sleep because your are partially rested when you get to bed. It is interesting that physical exercise helped so much, you might consider taking some exercise early in the evening to see if it helps your sleeping pattern, it it is good for you in any case !
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