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.
In either case encouraging sleep should help with the
symptoms of insomnia and the behavioral causes can be
addressed by yourself.
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.
Don't give a child sleeping medicines unless advised to do
so by a doctor. 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.
Normal foods and behaviors can act as obstacles to sleep:
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 high in carbohydrate such as bread or
crackers can reduce anxiety, all 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. The best time for exercise
to aid sleep is the early evening.
A warm bath can help relaxation - but don't stay there too
long or have the water too hot.
Try relaxation or meditation techniques. Once a good sleep
rhythm is established, then you may no longer need them,
though with continuous practice they become more effective.
If you are skeptical then just treat them as fun -
something to do while you are lying awake!
----------------------------------------------------
Andrew Jones is an insomnia sufferer. He has assembled
information on the disorder and behavioral treatments -
visit his blog at:
http://www.andrew-p-jones.com/insomnia-a-simple-guide/
No comments:
Post a Comment