Insomnia is the name of a sleep disorder impacting as many as one in three adults. This disorder is marked by difficulties in falling asleep, remaining asleep throughout the night, and continuing to sleep as long as desired into the morning. Its serious side effects include such risks as a higher likelihood of getting into an automobile accident, complications associated with excessive sleepiness throughout the daytime, and a range of health effects caused by sleep deprivation. Insomnia's causes include irregular sleep schedules, other poor sleeping habits, stress, such mental health disorders as depression and anxiety, pain, physical illnesses, neurological problems, medications, and sleep disorders. Many of those who experience insomnia do so due to a combination of such factors. Insomnia has two types: primary and secondary. The former means sleep problems are not associated with other health conditions or problems. The latter refers to trouble sleeping due to other causes.
Ways Insomnia Affects Sleeping
Insomnia can impact sleep in several ways. It can strike at the beginning of the night when someone is trying to fall asleep. Throughout the night, it can cause difficulties staying asleep. And in the morning, it can cause someone to wake before they are ready to rise for the day. A diagnosis of insomnia hinges on two particular components. The first involves sleep difficulties occurring despite proper opportunities for regular sleep. The second pertains to daytime impairment resulting directly from either inadequate sleep duration or poor quality of sleep. There are three categories of insomnia according to its duration. Acute insomnia lasts as long as a month and is often known as adjustment insomnia. Transient insomnia lasts no more than a week and is caused by other disorders or stress. Chronic insomnia lasts longer than a month.
The type of insomnia falls into two categories: sleep-onset insomnia, which is when someone has difficulty achieving sleep, and sleep maintenance insomnia, which refers to trouble remaining asleep once someone has nodded off. The first occurs in people who struggle to relax in bed or whose circadian rhythms are out of joint due to factors such as irregular work schedules or jet lag. The second is common among the elderly as well as those who consume tobacco, alcohol, or coffee prior to trying to sleep. Periodic limb movement disorder and sleep apnea can also be the culprit in difficulties remaining asleep. Some people have mixed insomnia; this combines the two, and in people diagnosed with chronic insomnia, the symptoms may shift as time progresses.
Tips For Preventing and Reducing Insomnia
While chronic insomnia may indicate the need for prescription medications and cognitive-behavioral therapy among other varieties of formal treatment, some people can practice healthy lifestyle habits as well as proper sleep hygiene to alleviate symptoms and achieve sound sleep. Sleep hygiene involves a number of lifestyle choices. Limit or eliminate naps, particularly those later in the day. Restrict evening usage of coffee, alcohol, and smoking. Avoid late-night meals. Limit pre-bedtime screen time. Exercise regularly during the day and maintain a healthy diet. Commit to a consistent sleep schedule; this includes following the same times for going to bed and rising again every day. Finally, limit the use of your bedroom, particularly your mattress, to sleep and sex. Avoid video games, work, and other stimulating pastimes in the space dedicated to rest.
Multiple therapies may also be combined with each other and with medication to reduce the effects of insomnia. These include cognitive therapy, sleep hygiene education, relaxation therapy, sleep-restriction therapy, and stimulus control therapy. Relaxation therapy and cognitive therapy correct beliefs about sleep that are inaccurate, reduce excessive worrying and fear, encourage the recognition and control of tension throughout the muscle groups of the body, and use guided imagery as well as meditation to focus on thoughts that are pleasant or neutral. Stimulus control therapy works by way of associating the bed, rather than with arousal, with sleepiness. Included rules feature going to bed when sleepy, not otherwise; getting out of bed when sleep cannot be reached within 15 to 20 minutes and partaking in something relaxing; establishing a standard time to rouse and rise, and avoiding naps during the daytime.