What is Insomnia?
Insomnia is defined as a prolonged or abnormal inability to sleep. However, there are subsets of insomnia. The inability to get to sleep, awakening in the middle of a deep sleep, having difficulty falling back to sleep, the absence of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, are all forms of insomnia. Anything that interferes with a restful night’s sleep may be defined as insomnia.
What are causes of Insomnia?
There can be many causes for insomnia. We will only touch on a few of these. A common cause of an interrupted sleep pattern is increased alcohol ingestion. REM sleep is a physiological state, which occurs periodically during sleep, approximately every 90 minutes. There is heightened brain activity during this time. The reason this state is called rapid eye movement sleep, or REM sleep, is the eyes do move rapidly under the eyelids. This sometimes can be seen when watching someone sleeping. There is increased breathing, heart rate and genital engorgement during this time. Approximately 80% of individuals do report dreams during this time, and we do know that REM sleep does produce the excretion of acetylcholine. We know that increased alcohol ingestion definitely interrupts, and even inhibits REM sleep, although we are uncertain of the exact physiological mechanism. Tensions, stress, anxiety, conflicts in the home, as well as rumination over the day’s events, or the events of an upcoming day are more common causes of insomnia.
Some physiological disorders responsible for insomnia are medication side effects such as prednisone, some narcotics, and any reaction to medication such as flushing from niacin. (TMJ) Temporal Mandibular Joint Syndrome, frequently causes individuals to wake up from pain and clenching their teeth. Endocrine disorders, are a main cause of insomnia. Any physiological disorder that causes pain clearly plays a role in inhibiting sleep.
What is the treatment of Insomnia?
There are a variety of techniques dedicated to alleviating initial insomnia. Initial insomnia, is the difficulty in initially falling asleep. Techniques include drinking warm milk, listening to music, getting up earlier the next morning, avoiding naps during the day, having a fan or television constantly running in the bedroom on low, massages, meditation, and the list goes on.
Therapists trained in hypnosis, and visual imagery have been very effective in teaching one how to relax before trying to fall asleep. Individuals can be taught self hypnosis, and a variety of breathing techniques with guided imagery. St. Johns Wort was thought to help in aiding with sleep; however recent studies state the contrary. Please be advised I am one of the world’s worse cynics when it comes to research studies. I check and double check the source, secondary investment by who is doing the study, the legitimacy of the statistical analysis and on and on. I state this to my audience so you will be aware that when I site a study I have reviewed it’s legitimacy.
Before resorting to medication, this author strongly suggests the following:
Performing some type of exercise, pushups or sit-ups an hour before bed.
Never going to bed on an empty stomach.
Try to avoid any family conflicts within 5-6 hours of going to bed, and if possible, please try to resolve those to some degree before going to bed.
In the worst case scenario, over-the-counter Benadryl, 25 mg., may be very effective in helping you fall asleep initially, and should be tried before moving on to pharmaceutical medications.
Medical conditions affecting sleep patterns need to be ruled out, such as hyperthyroidism, diabetes, and many endocrine disorders can cause insomnia.
Meditation techniques are extremely helpful, and these will be discussed in the section on meditation.
If one has exhausted all methods for resolving their insomnia, as a last resort, pharmaceutical medication can be helpful. There are some excellent medications that are nonaddicting, and do not cause one to be groggy the next day. Sonata is a relatively new medication, which has a very short half-life, and only stays in the system 4 hours. You start feeling the effects in 30-45 minutes after ingestion, and it is an excellent, safe medication to treat insomnia.
