|
What is Insomnia?
Have you ever complained
about inadequate sleep? You may be suffering from insommia.
Insommia is difficulty in falling alseep, waking up frequently
during the night and difficulty in returning to sleep, waking
to early in the morning or unrefreshing sleep. Insommia is
not defined as the number of hours of sleep one gets. The
reason for this is that many people need different amount
of sleep. During the day a person who sufferes from insommia
may have any of the traits. They are tiredness, or a lack
of energy, or a difficulity in concentrating and or irritability.
There are three stages of insommia. They are TRANSIENT INSOMMIA,
CHRONIC INSOMMIA and INTERMITTENT INSOMMIA.
Transient insommia is also
called short term insommia, intermittent insommia is also
called on and off and chronic insommia is called constant.
Insommia lasting from a single night to a few weeks is refererred
to as transient. If an episode of transient insommia occursd
from time to time it is said to be transient. Insommia is
considered to be chronic if it occurs on most night and lasts
for a month or more. People more likely to experience insommia
are those in advanced years, those of the female gender, those
with a history of depression.
Transient insommia occurs
in people who are temporaily experiencing 1 or more of these
conditions: stress, noise, hot or cold temperature changes,
jet lag and side effects from medications. Chronic insommia
is mainly due to depression, misuse of caffeine and alcohol
or shift work. Insommia is found in both male and female.
But in females in the menopause years it is most common. Insommia
is diagnosed with a medical history and a sleeping log. A
sleeping can be done thru journal entries, telling the time
you went to bed and the number of times you awaken during
the night. Insommia is treated differently depending on the
stage. Transient and intermittent may not require treatment.
Chronic is different. The reason it is different is because
the underlying cause must first be found.
The ways to avoid
insommia are
- don't go to bed until sleepy
- don't use the bed for anything
else but sleeping ie, no eating or watching TV.
- if you don't fall asleep
within 15 minutes get up and do something else.
- don't take naps during
the day and finally
- avoids alcohol and caffeine
before bed.
|
