Insomnia – Causes, Symptoms and Treatment
December 8, 2009 by admin
Filed under Alternative Medicine
peterhutch asked:
Insomnia is a symptom of a sleeping disorder characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep despite the opportunity. It is typically followed by functional impairment while awake. Insomniacs have been known to complain about being unable to close their eyes or “rest their mind” for more than a few minutes at a time. Both organic and non-organic insomnia constitute a sleep disorder.
Insomnia Causes
The most common psychological problems include anxiety, stress, and depression. In fact, insomnia may be an indicator of depression. Many people will have insomnia during the acute phases of a mental illness.
Many people have insomnia. People who have insomnia may not be able to fall asleep. They may wake up during the night and not be able to fall back asleep, or they may wake up too early in the morning.
Insomnia contributes to excessive daytime tiredness, which in turn may be responsible for accidents, recurrent infections, poor concentration, irritability, work and relationship problems and a general inability to cope.
Anxiety, a condition in which individuals feel increased tension, apprehension, and feelings of helplessness, fear, worry, and uncertainty. This may be due to the effects that other people at work have on us, financial worries, concerns over relationships outside work or numerous other causes.
Symptoms
Insomnia symptoms may include:
Difficulty falling asleep at night
Waking up during the night
Waking up too early
Daytime fatigue or sleepiness
Daytime irritability
It’s common for older adults to sleep less deeply and for less time than they did earlier in life, and to experience fragmented sleep. However, these normal changes in the sleep patterns of older adults do not mean that they should expect inadequate rest and to awaken feeling unrefreshed.8 Routine poor-quality sleep due to health problems, medication use, and major life changes can lead to chronic sleep problems.
Diagnosis of Insomnia
Surprisingly, a sleep study is not routinely recommended for those complaining of insomnia. The reason is that when a sleep study is performed in someone suffering from insomnia, it does not generally give any new information; it simply confirms that the patient is having trouble sleeping. The best way to find the cause for insomnia is by careful history taking. Assessment of recent onset insomnia should focus on acute personal and medical problems.
Treatment
The treatment of insomnia depends on its cause and severity. If insomnia results from another disorder, treatment of that disorder may improve sleep. For most people who have insomnia, some simple changes in lifestyle, such as following a regular sleep schedule and avoiding caffeine after lunch time, can improve sleep.
In addition to daytime tiredness or fatigue, chronic insomnia can be associated with a complaint of compromised intellectual function, mood disturbance, or an increase in physical complaints (e.g., headaches and gastrointestinal problems). Beyond these outcomes, there is now considerable evidence that individuals with chronic insomnia have an increased risk of psychiatric illness (especially major depressive disorder) and substance abuse and there is mounting evidence that insomnia is associated with absenteeism from work, higher health care costs, and reduced quality of life.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Cognitive behavior therapy helps patients change thoughts and behaviors that interfere with sleep. Treatment methods are often used in combination for increased effect.
You may find that if you are unable to fall asleep or wake up in the night, you spend a lot of time in bed trying unsuccessfully to sleep. If so, you may benefit from a sleep restriction program that initially allows only a few hours of sleep during the night. Gradually this time is increased until a normal sleep period is achieved.
Antihistamines
Diphenhydramine (for example, Sominex, Nytol) and doxylamine (for example, Unisom) are antihistamines that are currently marketed as OTC sleep aids. Diphenhydramine is the only agent that is considered to be safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration. The safety and effectiveness of doxylamine has not been evaluated adequately for FDA approval.
Insomnia is a symptom of a sleeping disorder characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep despite the opportunity. It is typically followed by functional impairment while awake. Insomniacs have been known to complain about being unable to close their eyes or “rest their mind” for more than a few minutes at a time. Both organic and non-organic insomnia constitute a sleep disorder.
Insomnia Causes
The most common psychological problems include anxiety, stress, and depression. In fact, insomnia may be an indicator of depression. Many people will have insomnia during the acute phases of a mental illness.
Many people have insomnia. People who have insomnia may not be able to fall asleep. They may wake up during the night and not be able to fall back asleep, or they may wake up too early in the morning.
Insomnia contributes to excessive daytime tiredness, which in turn may be responsible for accidents, recurrent infections, poor concentration, irritability, work and relationship problems and a general inability to cope.
Anxiety, a condition in which individuals feel increased tension, apprehension, and feelings of helplessness, fear, worry, and uncertainty. This may be due to the effects that other people at work have on us, financial worries, concerns over relationships outside work or numerous other causes.
Symptoms
Insomnia symptoms may include:
Difficulty falling asleep at night
Waking up during the night
Waking up too early
Daytime fatigue or sleepiness
Daytime irritability
It’s common for older adults to sleep less deeply and for less time than they did earlier in life, and to experience fragmented sleep. However, these normal changes in the sleep patterns of older adults do not mean that they should expect inadequate rest and to awaken feeling unrefreshed.8 Routine poor-quality sleep due to health problems, medication use, and major life changes can lead to chronic sleep problems.
Diagnosis of Insomnia
Surprisingly, a sleep study is not routinely recommended for those complaining of insomnia. The reason is that when a sleep study is performed in someone suffering from insomnia, it does not generally give any new information; it simply confirms that the patient is having trouble sleeping. The best way to find the cause for insomnia is by careful history taking. Assessment of recent onset insomnia should focus on acute personal and medical problems.
Treatment
The treatment of insomnia depends on its cause and severity. If insomnia results from another disorder, treatment of that disorder may improve sleep. For most people who have insomnia, some simple changes in lifestyle, such as following a regular sleep schedule and avoiding caffeine after lunch time, can improve sleep.
In addition to daytime tiredness or fatigue, chronic insomnia can be associated with a complaint of compromised intellectual function, mood disturbance, or an increase in physical complaints (e.g., headaches and gastrointestinal problems). Beyond these outcomes, there is now considerable evidence that individuals with chronic insomnia have an increased risk of psychiatric illness (especially major depressive disorder) and substance abuse and there is mounting evidence that insomnia is associated with absenteeism from work, higher health care costs, and reduced quality of life.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy
Cognitive behavior therapy helps patients change thoughts and behaviors that interfere with sleep. Treatment methods are often used in combination for increased effect.
You may find that if you are unable to fall asleep or wake up in the night, you spend a lot of time in bed trying unsuccessfully to sleep. If so, you may benefit from a sleep restriction program that initially allows only a few hours of sleep during the night. Gradually this time is increased until a normal sleep period is achieved.
Antihistamines
Diphenhydramine (for example, Sominex, Nytol) and doxylamine (for example, Unisom) are antihistamines that are currently marketed as OTC sleep aids. Diphenhydramine is the only agent that is considered to be safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration. The safety and effectiveness of doxylamine has not been evaluated adequately for FDA approval.
Cure Insomnia With Hypnosis
October 22, 2009 by admin
Filed under Abstinence
Nancy Ho asked:
Insomnia
Individuals will normally vary in their need for and the satisfaction they derive from sleep. Insomnia may cause problems during the day, such as tiredness, a lack of energy, difficulty in concentration and irritability.
Insomnia can be classified as transient (short term), where a person has not been able to get any sleep from the last few days or weeks, intermittent (on and off) or acute.
Transient insomnia lasts anywhere from a single night to a few weeks. If episodes of transient insomnia occur from time to time, insomnia is said to be intermittent.
A person with acute insomnia will either not be able to sleep properly, or will have difficulty sleeping for about 3 weeks to six months. Insomnia is considered to be chronic if it occurs on most nights and lasts for a month or more.
The Causes of Insomnia
Individuals with certain physiological and psychological conditions are more likely to be affected by insomnia. The following are some examples:
Advanced age (insomnia occurs more frequently in those age 60) Female gender A history of depression or having a negative mindset Other conditions (such as stress, anxiety, a medical problem, or the use of certain medications) including the above conditions, insomnia is likely to happen on the individual.
There are many causes of insomnia. Transient and acute/intermittent insomnia usually occur in people who are temporarily experiencing one or more of the following:
Reaction to Stress Environmental noise Extreme temperatures, too old or too warm Change in the surrounding environment i.e bedrooms Sleep/wake schedule problems such as those due to jet lag The side effects of medication Treating Insomnia
Many people with insomnia believe that they need medication to treat it. However, there is no guarantee that these will have long-lasting effects, and even then medication may have undesirable side-effects such as addiction to sleeping pills. There are alternative treatments to medication.
In general, the available treatments for chronic or acute insomnia may consist of:
First, diagnosing and treating the underlying medical or psychological problems Identifying behaviors that may worsen insomnia and stopping (or reducing) them Possibly using sleeping pills, although the long-term use of sleeping pills for chronic insomnia does not solve the problem and there may be health-damaging side effects, such as addiction Trying behavioral techniques to improve sleep, such as relaxation therapy, sleep restriction therapy, reconditioning or hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is by far the most effective tool as it targets the hidden roots of the problems that cause insomnia, especially acute and chronic insomnia.
Relaxation Therapy
There are specific and effective techniques that can reduce or eliminate anxiety and body tension. As a result, the person’s mind is able to stop “racing,” the muscles can relax, and restful sleep can occur. It usually takes much practice to learn these techniques and to achieve effective relaxation.
Sleep Restriction
Some people suffering from insomnia spend too much time in bed unsuccessfully trying to sleep. They may benefit from a sleep restriction program that at first allows only a few hours of sleep during the night. Gradually the time is increased until a more normal night’s sleep is achieved.
Reconditioning
Another treatment that may help some people with insomnia is to recondition them to associate the bed and bedtime with sleep. For most people, this means not using their beds for any activities other than sleep and ***.
As part of the reconditioning process, the person is usually advised to go to bed only when sleepy. If unable to fall asleep, the person is told to get up, stay up until sleepy, and then return to bed.
Throughout this process, the person should avoid naps and wake up and go to bed at the same time each day. Eventually the person’s body will be conditioned to associate the bed and bedtime with sleep.
Hypnotherapy as a treatment for Insomnia
Hypnotherapy can be a rapid technique to break the debilitating habit of sleep deprivation. Using hypnotherapy (usually in two or three sessions) can make getting to sleep easier, getting back to sleep after waking up easy, giving a better quality of life.
In the hypnosis session, we use several techniques, besides relaxing you deeply, which is exactly what you need for your body and mind to ‘tip over’ into sleep. We are also able to reprogram the mind to get normal natural sleep. In some of the chronic cases, we will get to the source of the insomnia and thus freeing you from sleeplessness.
Additionally, hypnosis is excellent for stopping the ‘chattering mind’ that plagues so many insomniacs.
We also teach our clients to use Self-Hypnosis. The following is a quick review of what we do:
How to use Self-Hypnosis to get to sleep Hypnotizing yourself Guided Self-Hypnosis for Insomnia
Here’s a short script for a guided self-hypnosis. Find yourself a quiet and comfortable place where you won’t be disturbed. Make sure that you take of all your accessories, switch off your handphone before you begin so that you won’t be disturbed.
Firstly make sure that your body is relaxed. Relaxation occurs when your body is free from tension in the muscles. A good technique to accomplish this is to want to relax all the muscles in the different areas of your body.
Starting with the area of the feet up through the knees, next relax your thighs then abdomen, back, shoulders arms and hands, all the way to your fingertips, move to your chest, throat, ****** muscle, mouth and jaw areas. All this time feel a wave of calm relaxation flowing through those body parts.
Continue by taking gradual deep breaths through your nose, and then slowly exhale out through your mouth (The brain and body require more oxygen to enter hypnosis). Next, roll your eyes up (eyelids closed, looking up into the forehead). This causes the eyelids to “flutter”, replicating the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) of sleep.
Now concentrate on your breathing and, only on the exhale, mentally repeat “Relax, calm, peaceful, restful, sleep” or “Beautiful, deep, restful, sleep”. You will find yourself drifting off to sleep.
By now, indeed, you have hypnotized yourself, and that state of mind will draw you into unconscious sleep. During a one-on-one session with a Hypnotherapist you will be coached how to correctly do all this, and the success rate is 95%. For more information:
Insomnia
Individuals will normally vary in their need for and the satisfaction they derive from sleep. Insomnia may cause problems during the day, such as tiredness, a lack of energy, difficulty in concentration and irritability.
Insomnia can be classified as transient (short term), where a person has not been able to get any sleep from the last few days or weeks, intermittent (on and off) or acute.
Transient insomnia lasts anywhere from a single night to a few weeks. If episodes of transient insomnia occur from time to time, insomnia is said to be intermittent.
A person with acute insomnia will either not be able to sleep properly, or will have difficulty sleeping for about 3 weeks to six months. Insomnia is considered to be chronic if it occurs on most nights and lasts for a month or more.
The Causes of Insomnia
Individuals with certain physiological and psychological conditions are more likely to be affected by insomnia. The following are some examples:
Advanced age (insomnia occurs more frequently in those age 60) Female gender A history of depression or having a negative mindset Other conditions (such as stress, anxiety, a medical problem, or the use of certain medications) including the above conditions, insomnia is likely to happen on the individual.
There are many causes of insomnia. Transient and acute/intermittent insomnia usually occur in people who are temporarily experiencing one or more of the following:
Reaction to Stress Environmental noise Extreme temperatures, too old or too warm Change in the surrounding environment i.e bedrooms Sleep/wake schedule problems such as those due to jet lag The side effects of medication Treating Insomnia
Many people with insomnia believe that they need medication to treat it. However, there is no guarantee that these will have long-lasting effects, and even then medication may have undesirable side-effects such as addiction to sleeping pills. There are alternative treatments to medication.
In general, the available treatments for chronic or acute insomnia may consist of:
First, diagnosing and treating the underlying medical or psychological problems Identifying behaviors that may worsen insomnia and stopping (or reducing) them Possibly using sleeping pills, although the long-term use of sleeping pills for chronic insomnia does not solve the problem and there may be health-damaging side effects, such as addiction Trying behavioral techniques to improve sleep, such as relaxation therapy, sleep restriction therapy, reconditioning or hypnotherapy
Hypnotherapy is by far the most effective tool as it targets the hidden roots of the problems that cause insomnia, especially acute and chronic insomnia.
Relaxation Therapy
There are specific and effective techniques that can reduce or eliminate anxiety and body tension. As a result, the person’s mind is able to stop “racing,” the muscles can relax, and restful sleep can occur. It usually takes much practice to learn these techniques and to achieve effective relaxation.
Sleep Restriction
Some people suffering from insomnia spend too much time in bed unsuccessfully trying to sleep. They may benefit from a sleep restriction program that at first allows only a few hours of sleep during the night. Gradually the time is increased until a more normal night’s sleep is achieved.
Reconditioning
Another treatment that may help some people with insomnia is to recondition them to associate the bed and bedtime with sleep. For most people, this means not using their beds for any activities other than sleep and ***.
As part of the reconditioning process, the person is usually advised to go to bed only when sleepy. If unable to fall asleep, the person is told to get up, stay up until sleepy, and then return to bed.
Throughout this process, the person should avoid naps and wake up and go to bed at the same time each day. Eventually the person’s body will be conditioned to associate the bed and bedtime with sleep.
Hypnotherapy as a treatment for Insomnia
Hypnotherapy can be a rapid technique to break the debilitating habit of sleep deprivation. Using hypnotherapy (usually in two or three sessions) can make getting to sleep easier, getting back to sleep after waking up easy, giving a better quality of life.
In the hypnosis session, we use several techniques, besides relaxing you deeply, which is exactly what you need for your body and mind to ‘tip over’ into sleep. We are also able to reprogram the mind to get normal natural sleep. In some of the chronic cases, we will get to the source of the insomnia and thus freeing you from sleeplessness.
Additionally, hypnosis is excellent for stopping the ‘chattering mind’ that plagues so many insomniacs.
We also teach our clients to use Self-Hypnosis. The following is a quick review of what we do:
How to use Self-Hypnosis to get to sleep Hypnotizing yourself Guided Self-Hypnosis for Insomnia
Here’s a short script for a guided self-hypnosis. Find yourself a quiet and comfortable place where you won’t be disturbed. Make sure that you take of all your accessories, switch off your handphone before you begin so that you won’t be disturbed.
Firstly make sure that your body is relaxed. Relaxation occurs when your body is free from tension in the muscles. A good technique to accomplish this is to want to relax all the muscles in the different areas of your body.
Starting with the area of the feet up through the knees, next relax your thighs then abdomen, back, shoulders arms and hands, all the way to your fingertips, move to your chest, throat, ****** muscle, mouth and jaw areas. All this time feel a wave of calm relaxation flowing through those body parts.
Continue by taking gradual deep breaths through your nose, and then slowly exhale out through your mouth (The brain and body require more oxygen to enter hypnosis). Next, roll your eyes up (eyelids closed, looking up into the forehead). This causes the eyelids to “flutter”, replicating the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) of sleep.
Now concentrate on your breathing and, only on the exhale, mentally repeat “Relax, calm, peaceful, restful, sleep” or “Beautiful, deep, restful, sleep”. You will find yourself drifting off to sleep.
By now, indeed, you have hypnotized yourself, and that state of mind will draw you into unconscious sleep. During a one-on-one session with a Hypnotherapist you will be coached how to correctly do all this, and the success rate is 95%. For more information:
