The Keys to Understanding Insomnia
Contrary to popular belief, insomnia is a symptom, not a disease.
It usually occurs in reaction to a variety of medical, psychiatric, and physiological disorders.
Complaining of insomnia usually means you are upset by the following:
When you suffer from persistent sleeplessness it is crucial to define exactly how the condition is effecting you, being as specific as possible.
This is why it is very important that each patient defines to the best of their ability what he or she means by the term "insomnia".
Research has found that patients with insomnia show a variety of consistent features.
They are more likely to have:
These are what we call the three P's:
White noise and/or Light Therapy will normally help the perpetuating insomniac by allowing a calm, soothing environment.
Melatonin preparations can assist those who have a specific predisposition to insomnia, and certain herbal teas, such as Valerian Root all have shown success in treating sleeplessness.
Those that find themselves with insomnia due to a preceding event should also use things such as ocean waves or other audio distractions, which you can purchase almost anywhere.
However, if the conditions of said preceding event are due to a specific serious trauma, it is extremely wise to seek out a diagnosis of emotional health, since PTSD (Post Trauma Stress Disorder) must then be ruled out.
A combination of therapy and anti-depressant medications will certainly help immensely in dealing with PTSD, and as a result sleep will come easier.
This article was meant to list the variables associated with insomnia, and to provide some natural insomnia cures to assist you in getting a proper rest.
It is always most wise to consult a proper sleep clinic with concerns as they become more and more persistent, but in some cases, commercial systems can help significantly.
As I have said many times in my articles, it is always best to try non-intrusive therapies before resorting to medications.
It usually occurs in reaction to a variety of medical, psychiatric, and physiological disorders.
Complaining of insomnia usually means you are upset by the following:
- difficulty falling asleep
- sleeping too lightly
- having multiple spontaneous awakenings
- early awakenings with an inability to fall back to sleep
When you suffer from persistent sleeplessness it is crucial to define exactly how the condition is effecting you, being as specific as possible.
This is why it is very important that each patient defines to the best of their ability what he or she means by the term "insomnia".
Research has found that patients with insomnia show a variety of consistent features.
They are more likely to have:
- higher rate of depression and depressive and/or anxiety issues
- longer daytime sleep latency (unable to rest during the day)
- an increased 24 hour metabolic rate
- more night to night variability in their sleep (irregular sleeping patterns)
These are what we call the three P's:
- The Predisposed personality, sometimes including people with a higher than normal rate of neural activity.
This can include any combination of the following personality traits: anxious, pessimistic, emotional hyper-activity, general stress or tension. - A Preceding event, or an event(s) that is outside of the person's control that is the cause of sleep problems.
These events are usually easy to spot as changes in our routines caused by anything from a family conflict to surviving an earthquake.
Such preceding events could easily include: work stress, financial stress, health problems, death in the family, surviving disaster situations (earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, e.
t.
c...
), shift work, *melatonin deficiency - The Perpetuating insomniac.
This condition is closely related to somniphobia.
A perpetuating insomniac will often fall under the category of somniphobe.
It develops as a response to sleeplessness, but inevitably ends in prolonging the condition by developing series of thoughts and fears about the insomnia, wherein the subject can "talk" themselves out of a quality rest.
Traits of a perpetuating insomniac can include: sleeping too early, staying in bed late, caffeine, reactions to sleep medications, excessive worrying over sleep, daytime napping.
White noise and/or Light Therapy will normally help the perpetuating insomniac by allowing a calm, soothing environment.
Melatonin preparations can assist those who have a specific predisposition to insomnia, and certain herbal teas, such as Valerian Root all have shown success in treating sleeplessness.
Those that find themselves with insomnia due to a preceding event should also use things such as ocean waves or other audio distractions, which you can purchase almost anywhere.
However, if the conditions of said preceding event are due to a specific serious trauma, it is extremely wise to seek out a diagnosis of emotional health, since PTSD (Post Trauma Stress Disorder) must then be ruled out.
A combination of therapy and anti-depressant medications will certainly help immensely in dealing with PTSD, and as a result sleep will come easier.
This article was meant to list the variables associated with insomnia, and to provide some natural insomnia cures to assist you in getting a proper rest.
It is always most wise to consult a proper sleep clinic with concerns as they become more and more persistent, but in some cases, commercial systems can help significantly.
As I have said many times in my articles, it is always best to try non-intrusive therapies before resorting to medications.
