Every time lacking in sleep is not insomnia. But if it is, then you need to be careful since ignorance may lead you to many serious troubles (motor vehicle collision, loss in studies and work, etc). If you facing somewhat difficulty in sleeping must read further to confirm and find a solution. There are even many myths revolving about insomnia you need to know about and forefend from.

How do you recognize Insomnia?

1. Lying awake for a long time before you fall asleep
2. Fatigue
3. Difficulty falling asleep in the night
4. Daytime sleepiness
5. Waking during the night
6. Waking earlier than desired
7. Gastrointestinal symptoms
8. Feeling being unwell mentally or physically (Headaches and dizziness)
9. Mood swings
10. Anxiety
11. Poor concentration and focus
12. Worrying about sleeping

These are the symptoms of insomnia. One or many of them could match with symptoms of yours.

Myths about Insomnia:

When persons find such symptoms they start running off and then entangled in some fake solutions. Following are the myths which people find are true initially.

1. A drink/alcohol will help you sleep
2. Insomnia is strictly mental or related to brain
3. You can make up for lost sleep
4. Sleep problems go away on their own
5. Insomnia is temporary
6. Falling asleep is a slow process
7. Only depressed or nervous people have insomnia
8. Everyone needs 8 hours of sleep
9. Naps in daytime do not interfere with nighttime sleep
10. Insomnia is difficult to treat.

Above all things are untrue and have a flip side. This article subsequently will give you all the answers.

Types of Insomnia

1. Transient Insomnia: It occurs for three nights or up to less than a week. Transient insomnia may be due to other medical maladies one is going through, a sudden change in sleeping environment, severe depression or stress.
2. Acute insomnia: Its symptoms persist for several weeks or less than a month. It is also known as short term insomnia or stress related insomnia.
3. Chronic Insomnia: This type of insomnia lasts for months, and sometimes years. In the majority of the cases it resulted from side effects of another primary problem or it can be a primary disorder. According to causes, its effects vary as muscular weariness, hallucinations, and/or mental fatigue. It can also cause double vision.

What are the causes of Insomnia?

There are different causes of insomnia. It may be the psychological issue, medical condition, body clock disruption due to any reason and other as follows.

1. Psychological issues

• Anxiety/Tension: Reasons to be an anxious change from person to person. It may be because you caught up in the nasty past memories, over thinking about future, and many such things make you lost in thoughts.
• Bipolar Disorder
• Psychotic disorder

2. Medical conditions

• If you are forbearing any medical condition like Nasal/sinus allergies, Gastrointestinal problems such as reflux, Endocrine problems such as hyperthyroidism, Arthritis, asthma, neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, chronic pain, low back pain, heart failure
• Medications such as those taken for the common cold or for other medical conditions mentioned above can cause insomnia.
• Insomnia may be a symptom of underlying sleep disorders. For an instance, restless leg syndrome. An approximately 10 percent of the population has restless legs syndrome.
• Another sleep disorder called sleep apnea can be the cause of insomnia.

3. Circadian rhythm disruption

The human body has a master circadian clock in a center of the brain which controls when a person sleeps and awake. Circadian rhythms and their sensitivity to time cues may change as a person’s age. Any of the frequent change in this clock may lead to a sleep disorder.

4. Lifestyle

Late night work on computer, daytime naps make some people awake at night, sometimes sleep in later to make up for lost sleep can confuse your body’s clock and make it difficult to fall asleep again the following night, non-traditional hours (if works in shifts) can confuse your body’s clock, mostly when you are trying to sleep during the day, or if your schedule changes periodically.

5. Hormone levels

Estrogen or hormone shifts during menstruation can be the cause of insomnia.

6. Other causes may include pregnancy, genetic conditions, overactive mind, parasites can be the cause of insomnia.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is based on sleep habits and an examination to look for underlying causes. You have been asked medical history and sleep patterns. A doctor might screen for psychiatric disorders and drug and alcohol use.

For diagnosis, symptoms have to be occurring for more than 1 month. It should have ill effects ones normal life like depressed mood or worsening performance. The patient may be asked to keep a sleep diary to help understand their sleeping patterns.

Other tests may include a polysomnograph. This is an overnight sleeping test that records sleep patterns. Thereto, actigraphy may be conducted. This uses a small, wrist-worn device called an actigra1ph to measure movement and sleep-wake patterns.

Treatments

Before taking any treatment or prior to visiting doctor, check seriousness of it, like how long it lasts as mentioned in types of insomnia. This will help you find the correct way to take therapies. Primarily one should try sleep hygiene training, lifestyle changes should try to see the effects, change some eating habits. If it is not treatable at home then go take medical help.

• Sleep hygiene: Not sleeping too much or too little, exercising daily, not forcing sleep, maintaining a regular sleep schedule, avoiding caffeine at night, avoiding smoking, avoiding going to bed hungry, and ensuring a comfortable sleeping environment.
• Lifestyle change: Include meditation and relaxation technique in your daily routine, only go to bed when sleepy, avoid long daytime naps, stop watching TV, reading, worrying, surfing the web, and eating in bed, set body clock and avoid exercise near bedtime.
• Eating habits: Alcohol is sedative, though it makes you fall asleep soon, it may disrupt your sleep with a headache in the night or next day. Caffeine is stimulant and excessive intake may cause insomnia. Smoking cigarettes or tobacco products near to bedtime can make it hard to fall asleep and disrupt your sleep overnight. Take light meal close to bedtime. Spicy food also causes heartburn and disrupt your sleep.
• Medical: If any of these home remedies do not work patient should take medical help. After going through individuals medical condition physician may suggest sleeping pills, antidepressant, antihistamines, melatonin and ramelteon like medications.
• A type of counseling called cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can help relieve the anxiety linked to chronic (ongoing) insomnia

Related article: Sleep disorders people do not even know they are sufferers of