Insomnia
What is Insomnia?
Insomnia sufferers either have problems falling asleep
or wake up frequently during the night and feel exhausted in
the morning. There is no 'right amount of sleep', every
individual needs a different amount of sleep to feel good.
So, insomnia is defined by how rested you feel after
a night's sleep rather than by the number of hours you actually
sleep. Symptoms of insomnia include problems falling asleep,
waking frequently during the night or early morning, and not
feeling refreshed from sleep. Insomnia results in tiredness
during the day, lack of energy, difficulty concentrating,
irritability and can contribute to mood swings.
Types of Insomnia
The types of insomnia can be categorized by how long the symptoms of insomnia
have lasted. Short-term insomnia lasts for a few days or weeks, intermittent
insomnia occurs periodically and chronic (constant) insomnia lasts longer
than a month. Short-term or intermittent insomnia is experienced by many
people at some point during their lives.
Rule out and Treat Any Medical Causes of Insomnia
There can be medical causes of insomnia that need to be ruled
out by your physician or treated if present. These include
sleep apnea, depression, acute or chronic anxiety, chronic
pain, arthritis, kidney disease, heart disease, asthma, narcolepsy,
Parkinson's disease and hyperthyroidism. Restless legs syndrome, substance
use or withdrawal and excessive caffeine intake can also contribute
to insomnia.
Behavior Patterns Promote Chronic Insomnia
The most common forms of insomnia do not involve underlying medical conditions
and are often the result of poor sleep habits. This is where behavior therapy
or self-regulation training is helpful. Insomnia can begin due to temporary
disruptions of sleep patterns due to stress, worry, jet lag, changes in work
shift times, etc., which over time become chronic. The normal behavior patterns
leading to restful sleep become disrupted and are replaced with fear and
apprehension about falling asleep. This fear and apprehension blocks the
sleep response and instead of calming down, your body remains geared up and
your mind remains active when it is time to sleep.
Behavior Modification Improves Sleep
Once the medical causes of insomnia have been ruled out,
learning how to relax quickly, easily and reliably can
dramatically improve control over falling asleep and problems
with early morning awakening. Learning how to relax
helps calm the body and turn off the mind.
Learning how to relax well is important in changing the patterns
of insomnia for most insomnia sufferers. Research has shown
that the type of relaxation utilized is not important; some
people like one technique over another while others like to
use several techniques simultaneously. Relaxation training
combined with other techniques designed to strengthen the
sleep/wake cycle is important in improving insomnia.
For help with your insomnia problem, the Freedom
from Insomnia Online Class we developed can teach
you how to manage and improve your sleep.
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