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Contributed by Michelle Robbins

Insomnia, literally meaning sleeplessness, is a medical condition where one finds it awfully difficult to fall asleep, or having fallen asleep, cannot stay so for long. Statistics say that about 50% of American adults are affected by insomnia, about 10% of these suffering from chronic insomnia, which is a rather severe form of the condition.

Insomnia can affect people from all age groups, and among adults, women are found to suffer more often than men. They say once an insomniac, always an insomniac – this is a rather exaggerated way of putting things, but research indicates that the occurrence of insomnia increases with age.

Insomnia can be temporary, acute or chronic. Temporary or transient insomnia is like a passing phase and its causes can be one-off events, such as jet lag or short-lived anxiety. Acute insomnia carries on from where temporary insomnia ends and continues for a short-term, maybe for a week or two. The most dangerous form of insomnia is chronic insomnia, where the insomniac fails to get proper sleep consistently for over a month.

The most dangerous thing about insomnia is that people tend to ignore it completely, perhaps because they don't even consider it as a medical problem. They brush aside the hangover of a few sleepless nights thinking that their sleeplessness will go away on its own with passage of time – these people do not know about the havoc that insomnia can cause in their lives. Insomnia is known to have busted careers, wrecked personal lives and ruined the health of many a people. It is, therefore, important that insomniacs must not ignore their condition – they must resort to medical help in order to avoid the severe physical and emotional distress that sleeplessness can give rise to.

Types of Insomnia

Insomnia can broadly be classified into two categories: primary and secondary. Primary insomnia refers to sleeplessness that cannot be directly linked to any known contributory medical problem. If left untreated, primary insomnia can turn chronic. On the other hand, the causes of secondary insomnia can be identified as an underlying physical or a mental health problem, or some other contributory factor – for example, cancer, arthritis, asthma, heartburn, depression, etc., can all cause sleeplessness; similarly, substances like alcohol, nicotine, caffeine, and certain types of drugs too can induce insomnia.

Signs of Insomnia

The following are some of the signs of insomnia:

1. Extreme difficulty in falling asleep.
2. Waking up several times in the middle of the night, or in the early morning, at the slightest of sound or disturbance, or for no reason.
3. Feeling fatigued, sleepy or burnt out during the day.
4. Feeling irritated all the time without any rhyme or reason.

So, if you have been experiencing any of these, you are probably suffering from insomnia. And if you feel that insomnia has been meddling into your daytime chores, then it is time for treatment. If you do not nip insomnia in the bud, it will develop into chronic insomnia and then the consequences could be serious.

About the Author
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