Insomnia – An Overview

What is Insomnia?

Insomnia is a symptom of an underlying cause.  For anyone who has trouble going to sleep, remaining asleep and basically getting the amount of restful sleep required to re-energize the body.

It is a very frustrating condition; for the sufferer failing to fall asleep starts a viscous circle.  You’re tired, probably irritable, stressed, anxious and quite possibly depressed.  Oh, for a good night’s sleep.  You know you’ll feel better in the morning, refreshed and ready to face the day.  You fall into bed totally exhausted, half an hour later you’re still tossing and turning, an hour later you’re still wide awake and getting more frustrated as the clock ticks on.  Finally, after two or three hours you fall asleep, only to wake again an hour later.  This pattern continues throughout the night and when eventually you climb out of bed you don’t even feel as if you’ve been to bed at all.

And so starts the cycle – overtired but can’t sleep, you can’t sleep so you are overtired and round and round it goes.

Of course this is not the only characteristic of insomnia.  Some people only experience difficulty falling asleep, others staying asleep and many people just feel they have not had a restful sleep.  Insomnia is an individual condition, affecting people in different ways and in varying degrees.  A large proportion of the population suffers with insomnia at some stage, but only a small percentage ever has need of treatment.

Again sleep requirements are individualistic, where one person can be totally rejuvenated with five or six hours sleep, others may survive happily with four hours.  On average an adult requires seven to eight hours.  You probably know someone who doesn’t think they’ve been to bed unless they get ten hours sleep.  So sleep is a personal requirement.  So you may be one of those people who only need five to six hours sleep, on the other hand another person may feel they suffer insomnia if they can’t sleep longer than six hours.              

Insomnia is a common problem and often becomes a quite serious condition whereby many sufferers have difficulty getting to sleep and staying asleep. Others may have different problems in that they may fall asleep quite easily but wake continuously throughout the night.  Either way the person is not getting the recommended amount of restful sleep needed to revitalize the body.

Types of Insomnia

There are quite a number of different types of insomnia, the most common type is known as secondary insomnia and the less common type of the condition being primary insomnia.

• Primary Insomnia 

With primary insomnia, this is a type of sleeplessness that cannot be linked to any particular medical, psychiatric or environmental cause. Primary insomnia is typically characterized by a month or longer history of experiencing difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep.  In addition, sleep disturbance that is causing significant distress or impairment with regard to social, occupational and other areas of one’s life. 

• Secondary Insomnia

A number of problems are considered to be associated with the cause of secondary insomnia such as -  illness, heart and lung diseases, pain, anxiety, depression, caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, and general sleeping disorders.

 

This particular type of insomnia can often be resolved or improved without specific treatment if you are able to determine and eliminate the cause. This is especially true if the problem can be overcome soon after it is identified.

Treatment

Before appropriate treatment can be recommended, you will need to be assessed and properly diagnosed by your own doctor, as each case is different and therefore requires different medical treatment.

However, there are more common methods of treatment that are typically used, most of which are actually quite simple. For instance, exercising more is believed to be beneficial to those suffering with insomnia. It is usually recommended that you exercise during the earlier part of the day and try to avoid all strenuous activity before bedtime.

Controlling your environment is also very important, as light, noise and even elevated room temperature can disrupt your sleep. You should be comfortable while sleeping, so make sure that you are neither too hot nor too cold and that you are in as peaceful an environment as possible.

Although there are no actual preventative methods for insomnia, by exercising regularly, eating a healthy and nutritious diet, and otherwise maintaining a healthy lifestyle, you will be able to guard yourself against this and other health problems as much as possible.

Determining the underlying cause of insomnia will certainly lead you in the right direction to finding the correct action to take to overcome your insomnia.