Insomnia
The average adult needs 7-9 hours of sleep a night, however this varies from person to person. Insomnia is a common sleep disorder. At some time or another everyone has a night they can’t sleep (short-term insomnia). So what to do when you’re staring at the ceiling and your mind won’t stop every night? Long-term insomnia is considered chronic if it occurs 3 or more nights a week and lasts for three or more months and can’t be explained by another health problem. When it causes a significant amount or distress or anxiety or results in daytime impairment, congratulations you have yourself a disorder!
There are also multiple types of insomnia that effect people:
Hard time falling asleep
Waking up during the night
Waking up too early
Poor quality sleep
However, some people deal with ongoing insomnia. This can and will effect you the next day. It can present and be described several ways:
Tired / sleepy
Not rested
Low energy
Can’t focus or slowed thinking
Memory issues
Making errors or having accidents
Delayed reaction time
Irritable or short tempered
Worse depression or anxiety
Ongoing worry about sleep
Body aches
Dry eyes
All of this leads to problems in life, like work, school, social, hobbies, and other routine activities. This means it effects your quality of life.
It also puts you at risk to develop certain medical issues:
Depression
Anxiety
High blood pressure
Heart attack
Stroke
Obstructive sleep apnea
Type 2 diabetes
Obesity
Conditions that involve psychosis
Unfortunately there are many factors that can cause and / or effect insomnia:
Genetics (family history)
Differences in the brain (like more active or different brain chemistry)
Medical conditions
Medicines
Hormone changes
Mental Health conditions
Life circumstances (like stress)
Life changes (like travel or a new work schedule)
Personal habits / routine
Eating too much / too late
Known risk factors include:
Being a light sleeper
Alcohol usage, caffeine, nicotine
Not feeling safe in your home
Fear or anxiety about sleep
There are different ways to treat insomnia.
Medical causes should be ruled out through testing, like a sleep study to check for sleep apnea, actigraphy to measure how much you move during sleep or multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) which measures how quickly you fall asleep during the day.
Therapy, but not just any therapy. There are specific methods that have shown to be very effective for insomnia:
CBT-I - helps identify behaviors, thoughts, beliefs and emotions that could be effecting insomnia, it is brief (typically 6-8 weeks) and can be one on one or in a group
Sleep restrictive therapy (SRT) - looks at the mismatch between how much you sleep and how much time you spend in bed
Stimulus control therapy - doing things associated with sleep (like lying down when sleepy) and avoiding things that aren’t (like watching TV), it also recommends getting up the same time every day and avoiding napping
Sleep hygiene - methods to help you create a routine to help you sleep, things to avoid and making a comfortable sleeping environment
Cognitive therapy - addressing negative thoughts, beliefs or emotions that are related to sleep or the effects of insomnia
2. Medications can be helpful at times, and detrimental at others. Please consult a healthcare professional because even over the counter medications for insomnia can interact with other medications or aren’t meant for long term usage.
Over the Counter
Prescription
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/12119-insomnia
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/insomnia/symptoms-causes/syc-20355167