Insomnia

Introduction

Insomnia is the most prevalent sleep malady in modern society. It occurs when it is frequently troublesome to fall asleep, stay asleep for an extended period, or wake up incredibly early in the morning.

The ill effects of this sleep disorder can affect every aspect of your daily life – from poor workplace performance, impaired judgment and decision-making, and detrimental interpersonal relationships with your spouse, family, and friends.

Invariably, a meaningful reduction in the quality of life is typically reported by all sufferers.

Photo by Alexandra Gorn on Unsplash

What Are the Main Causes of Insomnia?

Insomnia can sometimes occur for no apparent reason.

There are numerous likely causes as to why it does, as follows:

• Inadequate Sleep Habits: poor or inadequate sleeping habits are the most common reason for insomnia to occur. Devising and adhering to a regular sleep system, such as pre-bedtime routines and activities, ensure your bedroom surroundings are dark with reduced external noises can all have a prominent impact on the quality of your sleep.

• Substance Use – Legal and Illegal: drinking caffeine before bedtime, smoking cigarettes with high nicotine content, too many drinks of alcoholic beverages, amphetamine usage, and some prescription medicines will have a dramatic effect on your ability to sleep.

• Stress: External stress, such as workplace pressures, personal financial problems, and relationship issues, can impact sleep quality.

• Physical Health Problems: If your current medical issues involve prolonged and acute pain, hormone changes resulting from monthly menstrual cycles, breathing difficulties, or urinary or digestive difficulties, they will all impact your sleep.

• Mental Health Problems: studies have shown that this malady can be directly attributed to the symptoms of anxiety, depression, or other mental health disorders.

• Other Sleep Disorders: including sleep apnoea, restless leg syndrome, and sporadic and violent periodic limb movement, can contribute to poor sleeping patterns.

• Age Groups/Stage: As we age, our sleeping requirements change, and we typically do not require the usual amount of sleep that we were used to—as a consequence, elderly people are more prone to experience insomnia than younger people.

• Shift/Odd Work Practices: Shift workers usually do not sleep well due to the different days and nights that they work. It is especially so compared to those office workers who work a set weekly routine such as nine to five from Monday to Friday.

What Are the Three Types?

There are three types of insomnia based on how consistently it occurs, the duration of sleep disruption, and consequential daytime indications:

1. Transient Insomnia

• It usually lasts for less than seven days,
• It is caused by another prevalent disorder, differences in the sufferer’s sleep environment, and mild stress from external factors.

2. Acute Insomnia

• It usually lasts up to one month, but no more than that timeframe,
• It is commonly referred to as an adjustment insomnia.
• It occurs due to a short but acute situational stress situation from developing – such as the commencement of a new job, an impending and important work deadline, or stressful exams studying difficult subjects.
• Acute insomnia usually resolves when the external stress event is no longer present or when the sufferer resolves or adapts to the event, such as when exams are over or a work deadline is successfully met.

Important to note that both Transient and Acute insomnia are considered Short-term insomnia. They occur in approximately 15 – 20% of people.

3. Chronic Insomnia

• This is the worst type of insomnia to experience,
• It lasts for more than one month,
• Insomnia of this form is considered chronic,
• It is associated with prolonged medical and psychiatric conditions,
• Sufferers who are predisposed to this condition and are at high risk, are the majority of chronic insomnia patients.

Chronic insomnia sufferers occur in approximately 10% of the population.

How is Insomnia Diagnosed?

Ask yourself the following questions if you believe you may have insomnia:

1. Do you need more than 30 minutes to fall asleep?
2. Do you wake up during the night and cannot return to sleep readily, or do you wake up much earlier than you need to?
3. During the day, are you experiencing fatigue, mood swings, lethargy, or diminished energy?
4. Are you maximising natural sleep from happening by allowing at least 7 hours of sleep to occur per night?
5. Is your sleeping environment safe, adequately dark, and quiet enough to provide the ideal situation so as to sleep well?

Answering “Yes” to all of these questions may indicate that you have insomnia. It is now time then to seek out a medical professional who can provide you with the assistance you need.

What Types of Insomnia Treatments Are There?

The key to successfully treating insomnia depends on identifying the underlying cause. For chronic insomnia sufferers, your medical provider might recommend one or a combination of the subsequent treatments:

Sleep Hygiene/ Sleep Routine

In most cases, devising and abiding by a sound sleeping routine/ hygiene can vastly improve one’s sleep habits and the quality of sleep.

Think of this routine as a series of steps or rituals you perform every night before you go to bed. Sleep studies have reported that such routines are highly efficient at improving sleep patterns in insomnia sufferers.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for Resolving Insomnia

Cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia or CBT, addresses the negative thoughts and behaviours that prevent one from sleeping soundly. CBT includes techniques to reduce stress, muscle relaxation, and sleep schedule management.

Medication

Occasionally, medical providers may prescribe medication or sleeping pills to treat insomnia. Within the medical fraternity, sleeping pills are labelled ‘hypnotics’, and are only recommended to be used for a short period.

Tolerance build-up, emotional reliance, and addictive reasons are why short-term use is advised only. You should only take medication that has been prescribed and supervised by a medical provider.

Conclusion

For a long period, health professionals were of the opinion that this sleep disorder was deemed to solely be a symptom of depression or anxiety, and that it would simply go away once you successfully treated the underlying psychiatric disorder.

These days, this affliction is considered more of an independent disorder, with infliction rates increasing from previous years. Conclusively, insomnia rates have grown due to the increase in distractions prevalent in today’s society. It is so much more difficult now to unwind and relax, to ignore and shut off unpleasant thoughts, and these internal dialogues are interfering with how well we sleep, resulting in insomnia.

Insomnia is a solemn sleep disorder that can occur at the most inopportune times in our lives and typically when we are leading a hectic and somewhat stressful existence. But there has been progress in treating this malady, and the latest research comprising the new CBT techniques is more than promising for sufferers. However, while research is progressing successfully, the rates of insomnia are growing amongst us, and it might be time to realize and comprehend that our personal obsession with constant 24 x 7 social media might not be the entertaining fascination that we need.

Featured post photo by Yuris Alhumaydy on Unsplash