What Is Insomnia? What Are Its Types?

What Is Insomnia

The number of people affected by Insomnia worldwide is very large. In America alone, more than 70 million people are affected by it. Besides, there are so many cases which are unreported as well. But before treatment, one must understand what is insomnia and what are its types. This would enable one to treat the condition as per the severity.

What is insomnia? Insomnia derives its name from a Latin word which means inability to sleep or no sleep. So word insomnia means lack of quality sleep. Further Insomnia, the sleeping disorder, is the most popular and common types of sleep disorders known to humankind. Further Insomnia is more likely to occur in women than men. During pregnancy and menopause women are more likely to suffer from it. Also, the condition can deteriorate as the age of the patient increases.

For some people insomnia can occur for some days or some weeks and for some it can remain life long. To prevent this disorder from becoming chronic, it is very necessary that the patient recognize what type of Insomnia he or she is suffering from and take treatments accordingly.

Types of insomnia The first type of insomnia is the acute or intermittent insomnia. This is basically the short term insomnia which happens only for a short period and then disappears. In some cases it again appears after sometime. This type of insomnia is generally man made. That is, irregular or bad lifestyle habits, stress, pressure and medications are generally the cause of this type of sleep disorder. This type of sleep disorder is probably the easiest to treat.

The first thing to do is to realize about insomnia and then identify actually what really is causing the irregular sleeping habit, whether its lifestyle, medications or stress. Then you need to deal with it. The sooner you are successful in dealing with the cause the sooner your sleeping disorder will be corrected.

The second type of Insomnia is the Chronic Insomnia. Here sleeping disorder stays for a longer period of time. In some cases it can be weeks, in some it can be months whereas in cases where it is not properly treated it can stay on for a lifetime. Causes of chronic insomnia can be serious depression, anxiety or some medical conditions. To solve chronic depression one needs to get to the root of the problem.

Transient or primary insomnia is very similar to intermittent insomnia. Here also the sleeping disorder lasts only for days or weeks. But the only difference is that there are no chances of its occurrence again. Probable causes of occurrence of primary insomnia are improper eating habits or sleeping habits. Identifying and correcting the cause of the sleep disorder will help in restoring sleep.

For people who toss and turn the whole night in their bed answer what is insomnia all about; but not all of them go a step ahead and try to deal with the causes. The only way to cure insomnia is to talk to a doctor and identify the causes and take treatment accordingly.

Insomnia