Insomnia generally refers to a subjective experience where a patient is dissatisfied with the duration or quality of their sleep, which affects their daytime social functioning. Patients typically experience the following:
- Unable to fall asleep within half an hour of going to bed
- Easily startled, awake for more than half an hour at night
- Sleep duration shorter than normal, i.e. waking up too early.
Definition of insomnia
Insomnia is defined as difficulty falling asleep, difficulty sustaining sleep, or waking up the next morning without feeling satisfied or refreshed. It is difficult to determine whether a person is getting enough sleep based on the length of sleep, as the amount of sleep needed varies from person to person. Some people only need four or five hours of sleep a day, while others need ten hours of sleep to feel satisfied.
Insomnia is a symptom, not a disease. Just like fever or abdominal pain, it is merely a symptom of an underlying condition. It is necessary to find the underlying cause and treat it, rather than simply treating the symptom of insomnia.
Causes of insomnia
Types of insomnia
Based on the duration of insomnia, insomnia can be categorized as follows:
Transient insomnia
（Less than a week）
Almost everyone has experienced this type of insomnia. When you encounter significant stress (such as exams or important meetings) or emotional excitement (such as things that excite or anger you), you may experience insomnia that night. Of course, jet lag caused by traveling across multiple time zones can also affect your sleep in the first few nights after arriving at your destination; other factors include shift work and physical environment.
Short-term insomnia
（Time: one week to one month）
The causes of this type of insomnia overlap with those of transient insomnia, only the duration is longer. Issues such as bereavement, divorce, breakup, or financial stress can all cause temporary emotional shocks, and the recovery time often takes several weeks. In addition, some acute internal or surgical illnesses (such as appendicitis or pneumonia) can also cause difficulty falling asleep or fragmented sleep due to the discomfort of the illness itself (such as pain or fever) or the central nervous system stimulation effect of medications. Once the illness subsides or the medication is discontinued, the insomnia symptoms will alleviate.
Chronic insomnia
（More than a month）
This type of insomnia is the most common type of disease encountered by patients seeking treatment at insomnia clinics. Some patients have a history of the disease for several years or even decades. It is necessary to find out the underlying cause in order to have any hope of recovery.
The most common type of chronic insomnia is psychophysiological insomnia. Patients initially experience temporary or short-term insomnia due to some reason (such as family discord, financial disputes, jet lag, or temporary emotional stress). However, even when the cause of the insomnia disappears, the insomnia symptoms persist, lasting for months, years, or even decades. Some patients, due to long-term use of sleeping pills to treat this type of insomnia, increase the dosage with decreasing effectiveness, eventually becoming dependent on sleeping pills. If this condition is not properly treated, even without initial mental or psychological problems, prolonged insomnia can eventually lead to symptoms such as depression and anxiety.
Other chronic insomnia includes: poor sleep hygiene, delayed sleep cycles, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, periodic limb tics, insomnia caused by neurological disorders, insomnia caused by psychological disorders, sleep abnormalities (such as nightmares, night terrors, sleepwalking, sleep terrors, nocturnal epilepsy, and sleep paralysis), insomnia caused by internal medical diseases, and insomnia caused by drugs or alcohol, etc.
Treatment of insomnia
Body-related nature
For insomnia caused by illness, the priority should be given to treating the underlying disease.
psychogenic
Supportive therapy, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, is provided by experts including psychologists and psychologists.
drug
A prescription for appropriate sleep aids from a specialist physician.
Non-pharmaceutical
It includes methods such as meridian massage, essential oils, and CES transcranial microcurrent stimulation...