From What Causes Insomnia To It’s Solutions

Insomnia is best defined as a sign and/or a symptom of a present or potential sleep disorder. It is characterized by a state of sleeplessness or challenges in maintaining a state of sleep for any prolonged period of time.

The best timespan to analyze if you suffer from insomnia is one month where you experience difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep and your daytime activities are adversely affected due to this lack of sleep.

Insomnia is commonly placed into two main categories: 1) Primary and; 2) Secondary (Comorbid).

1. Primary insomnia is sleeplessness which is not due to any medical, psychiatric or other causes such as use of medications or substance abuse; This category of primary insomnia can be further broken down into three types:

I.        Psychophysiological Insomnia –

The most common type of insomnia and affects at least 10% of adults. It can be caused by:

• An individual’s tendency to worry excessively or be hyper aroused;
• The individual telling themselves they are not going to be able to sleep (negative self-conditioning);
• A stressor that occurs to trigger the individual not being able to sleep, e.g. a harsh boss threatening your job security that day.

II.        Idiopathic Insomnia –

One of the rarest forms of insomnia estimated to affect 1% or less of the population.

• It is theorized that idiopathic insomnia begins from a very early age sometimes from birth;
• With this type of primary insomnia, sleeplessness occurs for no apparent reason such as stress, medication or psychiatric conditions;
• Since this disorder begins at an early age, the individual may adjust to it over the years and one may not see any detrimental effects.

III.        Paradoxical Insomnia –

Another infrequently occurring form of insomnia affecting an estimated 5% or less of the population

• Individual’s tend to underestimate the amount of sleeping hours, e.g. “I only got two hours last night”;
• Individuals are very aware of their surroundings and may be deemed as very light sleepers;
• Daytime functioning may only be moderately affected.

2. Secondary insomnia is sleeplessness that can be attributable to one or more medical conditions such as sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome or reaction to medications to name a few.

The term secondary insomnia has been updated to and is widely referred to now as comorbid insomnia. Statistical analysis has shown that this type of insomnia is most prevalent in the following groupings:

Shift workers; elderly people and individuals who suffer from mental and psychiatric conditions.

Some of the adverse effects of insomnia can be increased risk of falls for the elderly, loss of attentiveness at work or on operating machinery, altered moods, increased fatigue, loss of memory and headaches.

As is apparent comorbid insomnia is very serious and can cause extreme discomfort to the individual and even escalate to life threatening levels. For this type of insomnia more proactive steps are recommended. This can come in the form of cognitive relaxation therapy, medicinal aids or surgery or in many cases a combination of all.

Insomnia in whatever form is to be taken seriously and should be addressed as soon as diagnosed. Seeking medical attention even if you are not absolutely sure that it is insomnia you are suffering from is recommended. It is always better to be proactive than reactive in the area of sleeplessness. For more on this topic, please visit the insomnia page on this site.