Understand Different Types of Insomnia
May 10, 2011 by admin
Filed under Diseases And Conditions
Cindy Heller asked:
Insomnia or sleeplessness as it is commonly known is a little understood affliction. In fact, you will find that sleep disorder is both a symptom and a malady by itself – and hence, its diagnosis is a bit troublesome. There have been so many myths and fables connecting to insomnia. If you are suffering from this condition, it is really very important to get the right information on insomnia to understand and treat your condition well. If you have been suffering from lack of sleep and do not have any idea what to do about your situation, it would be a good idea to seek information on sleep disorder from reliable sources such medical journals, your doctor or from websites of reputable organizations.
When you consult your doctor about your sleeping problems, you should ask him or her to discuss the different aspects of this disorder. When discussing information on insomnia with your doctor, you should also ask about the different options of treating the disorder. Note that natural treatments are generally preferred over the sleeping drugs available in the market. The natural treatments do not have the unwanted side effects like those of the pharmaceutical drugs. The natural treatment process is cost effective too. Another way of getting reliable information on sleep disorder is to go online and browse through some websites. When you do this, make sure that you only use websites of organizations that are authoritative on the topic.
Insomnia or lack of sleep can be of two types, i.e. (i) transient and (ii) intermittent. The former is when one experiences sleeplessness for a period of maximum 2-3 weeks; while the intermittent insomnia is when this gets repeated every now and then. This will mostly be a projection of an underlying problem, such as anxiety, depression, drug abuse, etc.
Childhood Insomnia
Sleep disorder is something that affects the old and young alike. Studies have shown that childhood insomnia has continuously risen all over the United States in the past few years. Experts attribute the increase in cases of childhood sleep disorder to many factors at home, school and the neighborhood. If you have a child who is struggling with childhood insomnia, you should try to help your child get some sleep. The first thing that you need to do to help your child get some sleep is to find out what is keeping him or her awake at night. If your child could not sleep because of some unfounded fear, you should try to be patient with him.
Children have very rich imaginations and the things which you think are so unreasonable and unreal, could be very real for them. Never for one moment belittle your child’s fear. One of the best ways to put a child to sleep is to read them some gentle and soothing bedtime stories. The soothing sound of your voice actually helps cure childhood insomnia. The human body responds well to schedules and rhythm. To help your child overcome childhood insomnia, you should set a specific time for your child to go to bed.
Hyper Insomnia
Generally speaking, there are two major types of insomnia, i.e. acute sleep disorder and chronic insomnia or hyper insomnia. You will know that you are suffering from acute insomnia when you cannot sleep because of some apparent reason like noise, bright light, too much of heat or cold, incoming illness, recovering from illness, uncomfortable bed, and so on. The other causes of acute sleep disorder are erratic sleeping schedules, i.e. working on night shifts, working late night, watching TV which interferes with the body’s normal biological clock. Normally, removing the irritants and minor home remedies would be sufficient to cure this type of insomnia.
The hyper insomnia or chronic insomnia is quite difficult to manage or cure. This is usually the result of a serious underlying problem, or a disease by itself triggered by some anxiety or serious health problem (which could be neurological, medical and/or psychiatric). Most of the times, the hyper insomnia would be connected with some psychiatric problem or other and hence would require long and careful tests for proper diagnosis. Reports show that hyper insomnia accounts for more than 45 percent of the cases.
The other major cause for hyper insomnia is drug abuse, not necessarily narcotics. There are many drugs some as innocent as decongestants and antidepressants that can cause long term insomnia. The other culprits could be coffee (and any caffeine consisting drinks), steroids (prescribed by the doctor), beta blockers, and even sleeping pills (withdrawal symptoms when they are discontinued). It is best to take medical advice and treatment for hyper insomnia.
Chronic Insomnia
Chronic sleep disorder is a complicated condition in which the patient has difficulty in sleeping or getting refreshing sleep for more than a month. Depression is a major cause of chronic insomnia. Other causes include diseases like arthritis, heart problems, kidney problems, respiratory diseases, Parkinson’s disease, hyperthyroidism, sleep apnea, and several other conditions. Constant experience of mental stress and excessive use of stimulants like caffeine (coffee, tea etc.) are also responsible for causing chronic insomnia.
Treatment of chronic sleep disorder consists of diagnosing and eliminating the underlying medical/psychological disorders. Stopping or minimizing behaviors that aggravate sleep disorder are also part of the treatment plans. Sleeping pills may be prescribed by the physician for temporary use but they are not allowed for long-term use. Different behavioral techniques are employed to treat chronic insomnia. These include techniques like relaxation therapy, sleep restriction therapy, reconditioning, and using bright light.
Insomnia or sleeplessness as it is commonly known is a little understood affliction. In fact, you will find that sleep disorder is both a symptom and a malady by itself – and hence, its diagnosis is a bit troublesome. There have been so many myths and fables connecting to insomnia. If you are suffering from this condition, it is really very important to get the right information on insomnia to understand and treat your condition well. If you have been suffering from lack of sleep and do not have any idea what to do about your situation, it would be a good idea to seek information on sleep disorder from reliable sources such medical journals, your doctor or from websites of reputable organizations.
When you consult your doctor about your sleeping problems, you should ask him or her to discuss the different aspects of this disorder. When discussing information on insomnia with your doctor, you should also ask about the different options of treating the disorder. Note that natural treatments are generally preferred over the sleeping drugs available in the market. The natural treatments do not have the unwanted side effects like those of the pharmaceutical drugs. The natural treatment process is cost effective too. Another way of getting reliable information on sleep disorder is to go online and browse through some websites. When you do this, make sure that you only use websites of organizations that are authoritative on the topic.
Insomnia or lack of sleep can be of two types, i.e. (i) transient and (ii) intermittent. The former is when one experiences sleeplessness for a period of maximum 2-3 weeks; while the intermittent insomnia is when this gets repeated every now and then. This will mostly be a projection of an underlying problem, such as anxiety, depression, drug abuse, etc.
Childhood Insomnia
Sleep disorder is something that affects the old and young alike. Studies have shown that childhood insomnia has continuously risen all over the United States in the past few years. Experts attribute the increase in cases of childhood sleep disorder to many factors at home, school and the neighborhood. If you have a child who is struggling with childhood insomnia, you should try to help your child get some sleep. The first thing that you need to do to help your child get some sleep is to find out what is keeping him or her awake at night. If your child could not sleep because of some unfounded fear, you should try to be patient with him.
Children have very rich imaginations and the things which you think are so unreasonable and unreal, could be very real for them. Never for one moment belittle your child’s fear. One of the best ways to put a child to sleep is to read them some gentle and soothing bedtime stories. The soothing sound of your voice actually helps cure childhood insomnia. The human body responds well to schedules and rhythm. To help your child overcome childhood insomnia, you should set a specific time for your child to go to bed.
Hyper Insomnia
Generally speaking, there are two major types of insomnia, i.e. acute sleep disorder and chronic insomnia or hyper insomnia. You will know that you are suffering from acute insomnia when you cannot sleep because of some apparent reason like noise, bright light, too much of heat or cold, incoming illness, recovering from illness, uncomfortable bed, and so on. The other causes of acute sleep disorder are erratic sleeping schedules, i.e. working on night shifts, working late night, watching TV which interferes with the body’s normal biological clock. Normally, removing the irritants and minor home remedies would be sufficient to cure this type of insomnia.
The hyper insomnia or chronic insomnia is quite difficult to manage or cure. This is usually the result of a serious underlying problem, or a disease by itself triggered by some anxiety or serious health problem (which could be neurological, medical and/or psychiatric). Most of the times, the hyper insomnia would be connected with some psychiatric problem or other and hence would require long and careful tests for proper diagnosis. Reports show that hyper insomnia accounts for more than 45 percent of the cases.
The other major cause for hyper insomnia is drug abuse, not necessarily narcotics. There are many drugs some as innocent as decongestants and antidepressants that can cause long term insomnia. The other culprits could be coffee (and any caffeine consisting drinks), steroids (prescribed by the doctor), beta blockers, and even sleeping pills (withdrawal symptoms when they are discontinued). It is best to take medical advice and treatment for hyper insomnia.
Chronic Insomnia
Chronic sleep disorder is a complicated condition in which the patient has difficulty in sleeping or getting refreshing sleep for more than a month. Depression is a major cause of chronic insomnia. Other causes include diseases like arthritis, heart problems, kidney problems, respiratory diseases, Parkinson’s disease, hyperthyroidism, sleep apnea, and several other conditions. Constant experience of mental stress and excessive use of stimulants like caffeine (coffee, tea etc.) are also responsible for causing chronic insomnia.
Treatment of chronic sleep disorder consists of diagnosing and eliminating the underlying medical/psychological disorders. Stopping or minimizing behaviors that aggravate sleep disorder are also part of the treatment plans. Sleeping pills may be prescribed by the physician for temporary use but they are not allowed for long-term use. Different behavioral techniques are employed to treat chronic insomnia. These include techniques like relaxation therapy, sleep restriction therapy, reconditioning, and using bright light.
Facts About Insomnia, Causes, Cures and Tips
Andrew P Jones asked:
What is Insomnia? The Insomnia sleep disorder, also known as Wakefulness or Dysomnia, is an inability to sleep, or disturbed sleep preventing you from getting a proper night’s rest.
The main effect of insomnia is that you may feel constantly tired and irritable, with poor concentration and coordination.
There are two main types of Insomnia:
Primary Insomnia has no underlying medical cause for the difficulty in sleeping.
Secondary Insomnia has an underlying medical cause triggering disturbed sleep: any condition causing pain, discomfort, or directly causing mental disturbance or anxiety, or specific conditions such as Sleep Apnea or Seasonal Affective Disorder. If you suspect an underlying medical or mental condition seek medical advice.
Behavioral therapy to encourage sleep can be used in both cases, though for Secondary Insomnia you should liaise with your doctor if receiving treatment for an underlying cause.
A period of insomnia can vary from transient (a few nights) to short term (up to 3 weeks) to chronic, long term insomnia (over 3 weeks)
Transient or Short Term Insomnia can be caused by traumatic events such as acute illness, injury or surgery, bereavement, job loss or less serious events such as trouble at work, an exam, extreme weather change, traveling (including jet lag)
Statistics about Insomnia causes: 50% Psychological, 40% Behavioral: sleep environment (30%) stimulants or medication (10%), 10% Physical (pain, illness etc.)
30-40% of people report insomnia each year; 10-15% of people reporting insomnia say they have chronic insomnia.
The amount of sleep needed by people varies: Babies need about 17 hours sleep a day, a child nine to ten hours per night, and an adult seven to eight hours each night, though that typically decreases as you get older.
Chronic Child Insomnia can have even more serious effects than with adults. Getting enough sleep is much more important for young children than for fully grown adults, as a childhood growth demands a healthy sleep cycle.
Don’t send a child to bed as a punishment as this may lead to insomnia due to a fear of being sent to bed. Consider using a bedroom only for sleep, not play.
Never give a child sleeping medicine without proper medical consultation. Sleeping pills may seem to provide instant, even amazing insomnia relief compared to behavioral therapies, but their results are short term and they often have other side effects.
Adults do not all need eight hours every night! Some people manage on as little as four hours sleep a night. If you don’t need much sleep then get up early – spending too long in bed can help trigger insomnia.
People can also mistake the amount of sleep they are actually getting, because they tend to remember waking up as a longer period than it actually was.
After failing to sleep for a few nights, you may become anxious that you won’t sleep causing Fear or Anxiety Insomnia. A major step towards anxiety insomnia treatment can be to accept that you can cope with its effects, thus reducing the fear of not sleeping. You would then build upon this with behavioral therapy.
Three main areas where you can encourage sleep are:
Sleep Environment – a comfortable bed, a bedroom that is quiet, dark and the right temperature
Sleep Discipline – use your bed for sleeping (and sex) only, watch TV etc. elsewhere
Sleep Conditioning – creating a routine, going to bed and getting up at the same time
The results of behavioral therapy may take effect slowly but are long term – the creation of good habits which make you less prone to insomnia.
Sleep can be disrupted even by normal foods and behaviors: e.g. don’t consume coffee after 1pm – try decaffeinated coffee instead. Avoid consuming alcohol within two hours of going to bed, although it may make you drowsy initially it can inhibit sleep when you wake up in the middle of the night.
A warm drink, dairy, soy products, eggs, rice and grains aid relaxation; foods such as bread or crackers which are high in carbohydrate can reduce anxiety, thus aiding sleep. Do not eat sugary or spicy food or drink near bedtime.
Stress or a mind too active or anxious will hinder the relaxation necessary before sleep comes.
Regular physical exercise helps control stress physically and psychologically by breaking up the day after work to distance you from work problems. Early evening is the best time for exercise if you want to use it to help get to sleep.
A warm bath can help relaxation – but don’t stay there too long or have the water too hot.
Try meditation or other relaxation techniques. Continuous practice will help you do them more effectively, so practice during the day to reduce stress, then even when you are tired it’ll work better. If you are lying awake anyway, why not just do the relaxation exercises for fun!
What is Insomnia? The Insomnia sleep disorder, also known as Wakefulness or Dysomnia, is an inability to sleep, or disturbed sleep preventing you from getting a proper night’s rest.
The main effect of insomnia is that you may feel constantly tired and irritable, with poor concentration and coordination.
There are two main types of Insomnia:
Primary Insomnia has no underlying medical cause for the difficulty in sleeping.
Secondary Insomnia has an underlying medical cause triggering disturbed sleep: any condition causing pain, discomfort, or directly causing mental disturbance or anxiety, or specific conditions such as Sleep Apnea or Seasonal Affective Disorder. If you suspect an underlying medical or mental condition seek medical advice.
Behavioral therapy to encourage sleep can be used in both cases, though for Secondary Insomnia you should liaise with your doctor if receiving treatment for an underlying cause.
A period of insomnia can vary from transient (a few nights) to short term (up to 3 weeks) to chronic, long term insomnia (over 3 weeks)
Transient or Short Term Insomnia can be caused by traumatic events such as acute illness, injury or surgery, bereavement, job loss or less serious events such as trouble at work, an exam, extreme weather change, traveling (including jet lag)
Statistics about Insomnia causes: 50% Psychological, 40% Behavioral: sleep environment (30%) stimulants or medication (10%), 10% Physical (pain, illness etc.)
30-40% of people report insomnia each year; 10-15% of people reporting insomnia say they have chronic insomnia.
The amount of sleep needed by people varies: Babies need about 17 hours sleep a day, a child nine to ten hours per night, and an adult seven to eight hours each night, though that typically decreases as you get older.
Chronic Child Insomnia can have even more serious effects than with adults. Getting enough sleep is much more important for young children than for fully grown adults, as a childhood growth demands a healthy sleep cycle.
Don’t send a child to bed as a punishment as this may lead to insomnia due to a fear of being sent to bed. Consider using a bedroom only for sleep, not play.
Never give a child sleeping medicine without proper medical consultation. Sleeping pills may seem to provide instant, even amazing insomnia relief compared to behavioral therapies, but their results are short term and they often have other side effects.
Adults do not all need eight hours every night! Some people manage on as little as four hours sleep a night. If you don’t need much sleep then get up early – spending too long in bed can help trigger insomnia.
People can also mistake the amount of sleep they are actually getting, because they tend to remember waking up as a longer period than it actually was.
After failing to sleep for a few nights, you may become anxious that you won’t sleep causing Fear or Anxiety Insomnia. A major step towards anxiety insomnia treatment can be to accept that you can cope with its effects, thus reducing the fear of not sleeping. You would then build upon this with behavioral therapy.
Three main areas where you can encourage sleep are:
Sleep Environment – a comfortable bed, a bedroom that is quiet, dark and the right temperature
Sleep Discipline – use your bed for sleeping (and sex) only, watch TV etc. elsewhere
Sleep Conditioning – creating a routine, going to bed and getting up at the same time
The results of behavioral therapy may take effect slowly but are long term – the creation of good habits which make you less prone to insomnia.
Sleep can be disrupted even by normal foods and behaviors: e.g. don’t consume coffee after 1pm – try decaffeinated coffee instead. Avoid consuming alcohol within two hours of going to bed, although it may make you drowsy initially it can inhibit sleep when you wake up in the middle of the night.
A warm drink, dairy, soy products, eggs, rice and grains aid relaxation; foods such as bread or crackers which are high in carbohydrate can reduce anxiety, thus aiding sleep. Do not eat sugary or spicy food or drink near bedtime.
Stress or a mind too active or anxious will hinder the relaxation necessary before sleep comes.
Regular physical exercise helps control stress physically and psychologically by breaking up the day after work to distance you from work problems. Early evening is the best time for exercise if you want to use it to help get to sleep.
A warm bath can help relaxation – but don’t stay there too long or have the water too hot.
Try meditation or other relaxation techniques. Continuous practice will help you do them more effectively, so practice during the day to reduce stress, then even when you are tired it’ll work better. If you are lying awake anyway, why not just do the relaxation exercises for fun!
