“Insomnia is when you cannot even sleep in the service,” and not only, but even at home at night, lying in a cozy bed. Insomnia (insomnia) is characterized by a lack of sleep, in which there is no complete compensation of body functions.
Insomnia is a multicomponent problem. The factors predisposing to it, generating and supporting it, are numerous. For example, insomnia in an anxious and restless person (a predisposing factor) is the result of worries about work (a generating factor). This leads to an uncontrolled intake of sleeping pills and alcohol in order to induce sleep, and anxiously awaiting the impossibility of falling asleep (supportive factors).
Insomnia manifests itself in different ways, because its causes are extremely multifaceted. Some people can not fall asleep because of relentless obsessive thoughts that excite them all night and keep them in suspense all day. Others suffer from chronic pain that interferes with a full sleep. Often, a cup of strong coffee at night, smoking or alcohol steal a night’s sleep.
Patients with depression insomnia overcomes from 4-5 o’clock in the morning, bringing a state of depression and hopeless melancholy to the first morning rays. Defective sleep is also familiar to those who love to sleep only in their own home, and in the new place – “at least for the eye”. A common example of insomnia in clinical practice is noise, walking, procedures, turning the lights on and off, fear and pain in those who are treated in a multi-bed hospital. But sometimes it also happens that it is your own bedroom that becomes the conditional-reflex factor that drives sleep away. This happens if the bed is associated with family conflicts: quarrels, feelings of guilt, anxiety or unwanted intimacy. Very often patients tell that they have lost sleep. after the loss of a loved one, separation, sad events in life or because of unrequited love. Changing time zones and night work is always reflected in the quality of sleep. Tight work schedules, stress, overwork, and also the worries and fear of deterioration of their standard of living and financial situation can cause insomnia. These generative factors explain the widespread sleep disturbance among socially and economically unprotected segments of the population.
More and more, people with insomnia report complex relationships at home or at work. It is difficult for them to focus on the issues that life poses to them. Memory and attention weaken, the mood “at zero.” Such undesirable processes are associated with the peculiarities of today’s way of existence, which are such that more and more people are under conditions of information pressure. The need to make quick and responsible decisions forces one to constantly be in a state of emotional and physical overstrain, which inevitably leads to stress. The release of stress hormones implements a system of protection of the body from an imaginary external danger: pulse and respiration increase, blood pressure and blood glucose levels increase. As a result of prolonged overloads, these phenomena are firmly established,turning from beneficial defensive reactions into harmful ones. That is why stress and overwork provoke any diseases, and sometimes they themselves become their cause. Insomnia is among them. The difficulty of falling asleep, frequent awakenings and superficial sleep, not restoring strength, too early morning awakenings make it impossible for a person to rest. Sleep becomes shallow, sometimes – with the effect of direct participation in the events taking place around. During the day, drowsiness occurs and performance decreases.Sleep becomes shallow, sometimes – with the effect of direct participation in the events taking place around. During the day, drowsiness occurs and performance decreases.Sleep becomes shallow, sometimes – with the effect of direct participation in the events taking place around. During the day, drowsiness occurs and performance decreases.
Insomnia can be a symptom of any illness of the body (somatic disease), since the brain and the nervous system as a whole, as the most subtle and sensitive, suffer primarily as a signal of ill-being in the body. Especially often insomnia appears in diseases that cause chronic pain or discomfort. It is clear that the main thing in correcting such insomnia is to correctly establish a somatic diagnosis and treat the underlying disease. An example of this type of insomnia may be the following clinical case.
Patient A., 64 years old, complained of daytime sleepiness, irritability, fatigue and insomnia with frequent arousals. A detailed survey revealed that she was worried about strong night pains in the joints, which prevented her from falling asleep. She did not consider it necessary to tell the doctor about the disease of the joints, because she decided that the neurologist does not treat them. After the necessary treatment was carried out, the condition of the joints improved, the pain disappeared and sleep was restored.
But most often the cause of insomnia lies in the bad habits of a person, which affect both health and the structure of sleep. In this case, training in sleep hygiene is required and then insomnia passes without a trace.
Thus, we have been convinced that sleep is an important component of human health, and its disturbances are the result of prolonged negative effects, which gradually destroy the body, claiming to be insomnia.
Insomnia is episodic, short-term or chronic, and not all of its types require treatment. Some – pass on their own, others – are adjusted by non-medicinal methods, when, for example, it is enough to give up bad habits. But sometimes it becomes a real suffering, which one can get rid of with great difficulty.