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What Is Chronic Insomnia

Friday, March 16th, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

Insomnia means the lack of adequate quality sleep, or for many people, it means no sleep at all. There are three categories that insomnia is divided into: transient, intermittent and chronic insomnia.

What You Should Know About Chronic Insomnia

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Approximately 10% of people who suffer from insomnia have chronic insomnia. This is a very complex condition with no simple explanation for its cause. It is usually a symptom of some underlying physical or mental disease. Once the root cause is discovered, it is prudent to refer these people to specialists who can help them manage their chronic insomnia.

Some of the physical ailments that cause chronic insomnia include:

Arthritis
Asthma
Parkinson’s disease
Hyperthyroidism
Prostate problems
Some types of neurological disorders
Kidney problem
Heart failure
Various types of sleep apnea

Of course, there are also mental health disorders that cause this type of insomnia, too. These include:

Stress
Anxiety
Grief
Depression
Schizophrenia
Panic disorder
Mania

These are just some of the many causes of this form of insomnia. There are also some behavior patterns that can lead a person to have insomnia, including:

Smoking
Alcohol
Caffeine
Shift work
Certain medications

Once you know what is causing your insomnia, you are going to need holistic management instead of just a simple treatment plan. While health professionals can help and guide you to these practices, the patient themselves must be in charge of managing the condition. The health professional’s role is to simply treat the underlying physical or mental disorder so that the patient can then work on getting over their insomnia.

Some of the treatments that are available to help a patient overcome their insomnia are:

Modifying life style habits
Creating the proper environment for sleeping
Mild aerobics exercises
Snacking on milk, figs, bananas, dates or tuna before bedtime
Relaxation therapy
Yoga
Meditation
Music
Aromatherapy
Teaching the person who suffers from insomnia to only use their bed for sleep

If you are a person who suffers from this form of insomnia and you are not managing it properly, then you should know that this can lead to a lot of very serious consequences. First of all, you should know that it is dangerous to drive or handle machinery, especially if you are feeling sluggish or dizzy. This will also cause you to have poor performance on your job because of your low energy level and lack of concentration. You will also have problems with your family and friends because you are irritable.

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