Insomnia

What are the signs of insomnia?

Insomnia is a sleep disorder associated with trouble falling or staying asleep. This disorder causes problems during nonsleep hours as well, which interferes with your work and social life.

There are many signs and symptoms associated with insomnia, including:

• Trouble getting to sleep
• Daytime tiredness
• Waking during the night
• Trouble concentrating
• Irritability or depression
• Never feeling rested

There are different forms of insomnia, but each is characterized by certain traits that affect you and your ability to sleep. For example, acute insomnia affects your sleep only for a few weeks, whereas chronic insomnia causes problems several times a week for more than three months.

What causes insomnia?

Insomnia can either be idiopathic or comorbid. Primary, or idiopathic, insomnia doesn’t seem to stem from any specific cause. This means there’s no clear-cut answer to why you’re suffering from the disorder.

Secondary, or comorbid, insomnia usually stems from a medical problem or something else in your life. The underlying issues related to secondary insomnia include:

• Work schedule
• Stress
• Bad sleep habits
• Medications
• Mental health problems
• Caffeine and alcohol

Medical conditions like arthritis, sleep apnea, and anxiety or depression can also lead to insomnia. Traumatic events or substance abuse can be other contributing factors.

There are many contributing factors to insomnia, and the Center for Pain & Rehabilitation Medicine helps you determine what’s leading to your sleepless nights. This helps them formulate a specialized plan to get you the sleep you need.

How can you treat insomnia?

The team at the Center for Pain & Rehabilitation Medicine provides different treatment modalities to help you overcome insomnia. They often prescribe a combination of treatments to allow you to get some rest.

Treating underlying medical problems is just one way to treat insomnia. This includes getting conditions like sleep apnea or chronic pain under control.

Lifestyle changes and good sleep hygiene are other ways the practice helps you with insomnia. Good sleep hygiene includes things such as:

• Avoiding napping for long hours* 
• Creating a sleep schedule
• Avoiding eating before bed
• Limiting caffeine and alcohol
• Keeping active
• Limiting your bed to sleep and sex

Though purposeful short naps between certain hours of the day may actually promote healthy living and better sleep, it’s important that they’re combined with normal daily activity during the day. 

Often, a combination of lifestyle changes, medications, and treating underlying issues is enough to control your insomnia symptoms. The practice stands by you for every treatment, providing expert care.

To learn more about insomnia treatments, call the office today or book a consultation on the website.