Insomnia

Individuals will normally vary in their need for and the satisfaction they derive from sleep. Insomnia may cause problems during the day, such as tiredness, a lack of energy, difficulty in concentration and irritability.

Insomnia can be classified as transient (short term), where a person has not been able to get any sleep from the last few days or weeks, intermittent (on and off) or acute.

Transient insomnia lasts anywhere from a single night to a few weeks. If episodes of transient insomnia occur from time to time, insomnia is said to be intermittent.

A person with acute insomnia will either not be able to sleep properly, or will have difficulty sleeping for about 3 weeks to six months. Insomnia is considered to be chronic if it occurs on most nights and lasts for a month or more.

The Causes of Insomnia

Individuals with certain physiological and psychological conditions are more likely to be affected by insomnia. The following are some examples:

Advanced age (insomnia occurs more frequently in those age 60) Female gender A history of depression or having a negative mindset Other conditions (such as stress, anxiety, a medical problem, or the use of certain medications) including the above conditions, insomnia is likely to happen on the individual.

There are many causes of insomnia. Transient and acute/intermittent insomnia usually occur in people who are temporarily experiencing one or more of the following:

Reaction to Stress Environmental noise Extreme temperatures, too old or too warm Change in the surrounding environment i.e bedrooms Sleep/wake schedule problems such as those due to jet lag The side effects of medication Treating Insomnia

Many people with insomnia believe that they need medication to treat it. However, there is no guarantee that these will have long-lasting effects, and even then medication may have undesirable side-effects such as addiction to sleeping pills. There are alternative treatments to medication.

In general, the available treatments for chronic or acute insomnia may consist of:

First, diagnosing and treating the underlying medical or psychological problems Identifying behaviors that may worsen insomnia and stopping (or reducing) them Possibly using sleeping pills, although the long-term use of sleeping pills for chronic insomnia does not solve the problem and there may be health-damaging side effects, such as addiction Trying behavioral techniques to improve sleep, such as relaxation therapy, sleep restriction therapy, reconditioning or hypnotherapy

Hypnotherapy is by far the most effective tool as it targets the hidden roots of the problems that cause insomnia, especially acute and chronic insomnia.

Relaxation Therapy

There are specific and effective techniques that can reduce or eliminate anxiety and body tension. As a result, the person’s mind is able to stop “racing,” the muscles can relax, and restful sleep can occur. It usually takes much practice to learn these techniques and to achieve effective relaxation.

Sleep Restriction

Some people suffering from insomnia spend too much time in bed unsuccessfully trying to sleep. They may benefit from a sleep restriction program that at first allows only a few hours of sleep during the night. Gradually the time is increased until a more normal night’s sleep is achieved.

Reconditioning

Another treatment that may help some people with insomnia is to recondition them to associate the bed and bedtime with sleep. For most people, this means not using their beds for any activities other than sleep and sex.

As part of the reconditioning process, the person is usually advised to go to bed only when sleepy. If unable to fall asleep, the person is told to get up, stay up until sleepy, and then return to bed.

Throughout this process, the person should avoid naps and wake up and go to bed at the same time each day. Eventually the person’s body will be conditioned to associate the bed and bedtime with sleep.

Hypnotherapy as a treatment for Insomnia

Hypnotherapy can be a rapid technique to break the debilitating habit of sleep deprivation. Using hypnotherapy (usually in two or three sessions) can make getting to sleep easier, getting back to sleep after waking up easy, giving a better quality of life.

In the hypnosis session, we use several techniques, besides relaxing you deeply, which is exactly what you need for your body and mind to ‘tip over’ into sleep. We are also able to reprogram the mind to get normal natural sleep. In some of the chronic cases, we will get to the source of the insomnia and thus freeing you from sleeplessness.

Additionally, hypnosis is excellent for stopping the ‘chattering mind’ that plagues so many insomniacs.

We also teach our clients to use Self-Hypnosis. The following is a quick review of what we do:

How to use Self-Hypnosis to get to sleep Hypnotizing yourself Guided Self-Hypnosis for Insomnia

Here’s a short script for a guided self-hypnosis. Find yourself a quiet and comfortable place where you won’t be disturbed. Make sure that you take of all your accessories, switch off your handphone before you begin so that you won’t be disturbed.

Firstly make sure that your body is relaxed. Relaxation occurs when your body is free from tension in the muscles. A good technique to accomplish this is to want to relax all the muscles in the different areas of your body.

Starting with the area of the feet up through the knees, next relax your thighs then abdomen, back, shoulders arms and hands, all the way to your fingertips, move to your chest, throat, facial muscle, mouth and jaw areas. All this time feel a wave of calm relaxation flowing through those body parts.

Continue by taking gradual deep breaths through your nose, and then slowly exhale out through your mouth (The brain and body require more oxygen to enter hypnosis). Next, roll your eyes up (eyelids closed, looking up into the forehead). This causes the eyelids to “flutter”, replicating the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) of sleep.

Now concentrate on your breathing and, only on the exhale, mentally repeat “Relax, calm, peaceful, restful, sleep” or “Beautiful, deep, restful, sleep”. You will find yourself drifting off to sleep.

By now, indeed, you have hypnotized yourself, and that state of mind will draw you into unconscious sleep. During a one-on-one session with a Hypnotherapist you will be coached how to correctly do all this, and the success rate is 95%. For more information: http://hypnosisoneonone.com/oneonone/category/insomnia/

 

Insomnia is a symptom of a sleeping disorder characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep despite the opportunity. It is typically followed by functional impairment while awake. Insomniacs have been known to complain about being unable to close their eyes or “rest their mind” for more than a few minutes at a time. Both organic and non-organic insomnia constitute a sleep disorder.

Insomnia Causes

The most common psychological problems include anxiety, stress, and depression. In fact, insomnia may be an indicator of depression. Many people will have insomnia during the acute phases of a mental illness.

Many people have insomnia. People who have insomnia may not be able to fall asleep. They may wake up during the night and not be able to fall back asleep, or they may wake up too early in the morning.

Insomnia contributes to excessive daytime tiredness, which in turn may be responsible for accidents, recurrent infections, poor concentration, irritability, work and relationship problems and a general inability to cope.

Anxiety, a condition in which individuals feel increased tension, apprehension, and feelings of helplessness, fear, worry, and uncertainty. This may be due to the effects that other people at work have on us, financial worries, concerns over relationships outside work or numerous other causes.

Symptoms

Insomnia symptoms may include:

Difficulty falling asleep at night

Waking up during the night

Waking up too early

Daytime fatigue or sleepiness

Daytime irritability

It’s common for older adults to sleep less deeply and for less time than they did earlier in life, and to experience fragmented sleep. However, these normal changes in the sleep patterns of older adults do not mean that they should expect inadequate rest and to awaken feeling unrefreshed.8 Routine poor-quality sleep due to health problems, medication use, and major life changes can lead to chronic sleep problems.

Diagnosis of Insomnia

Surprisingly, a sleep study is not routinely recommended for those complaining of insomnia. The reason is that when a sleep study is performed in someone suffering from insomnia, it does not generally give any new information; it simply confirms that the patient is having trouble sleeping. The best way to find the cause for insomnia is by careful history taking. Assessment of recent onset insomnia should focus on acute personal and medical problems.

Treatment

The treatment of insomnia depends on its cause and severity. If insomnia results from another disorder, treatment of that disorder may improve sleep. For most people who have insomnia, some simple changes in lifestyle, such as following a regular sleep schedule and avoiding caffeine after lunch time, can improve sleep.

In addition to daytime tiredness or fatigue, chronic insomnia can be associated with a complaint of compromised intellectual function, mood disturbance, or an increase in physical complaints (e.g., headaches and gastrointestinal problems). Beyond these outcomes, there is now considerable evidence that individuals with chronic insomnia have an increased risk of psychiatric illness (especially major depressive disorder) and substance abuse and there is mounting evidence that insomnia is associated with absenteeism from work, higher health care costs, and reduced quality of life.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Cognitive behavior therapy helps patients change thoughts and behaviors that interfere with sleep. Treatment methods are often used in combination for increased effect.

 

You may find that if you are unable to fall asleep or wake up in the night, you spend a lot of time in bed trying unsuccessfully to sleep. If so, you may benefit from a sleep restriction program that initially allows only a few hours of sleep during the night. Gradually this time is increased until a normal sleep period is achieved.

 

Antihistamines

 

Diphenhydramine (for example, Sominex, Nytol) and doxylamine (for example, Unisom) are antihistamines that are currently marketed as OTC sleep aids. Diphenhydramine is the only agent that is considered to be safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration. The safety and effectiveness of doxylamine has not been evaluated adequately for FDA approval.

The Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder is a problem that has been taken into issue ever since a set of teenagers have been showing symptoms of being affected by this. The teenagers generally outgrow this problem once they are nearing their adulthood. DSP is present in less than 1% of the adults of today. Often, this kind of a sleep disorder is assumed to be insomnia.

When people are left to their own, they tend to sleep very late. They stay up till about 4 or even 5 in the morning before they hit the bed. This makes them wake up late in the morning, or even early in the afternoon. These are the kind of people who are referred to as nocturnals.

There are a lot of teenagers that stays up till the early hours of morning. They also admit that they are socializing only during those weird hours of the day. Due to such malpractices, the rhythm of the body tends to get disrupted, and they also face other problems later.

Many teenagers who are facing this kind of a sleep disorder generally make it late to school, because they find it very hard to wake up early in the morning. If they take one particular time to go and sleep, say at 11pm, then, they might not be able to sleep, and they will be moving on the bed uncomfortably, and they find it hard to sleep. They will in turn have a very hard time to wake up for school or college early in the morning. These kinds of students have a problem concentrating in the classroom, and then, they tend to fall asleep. The reason for such a sleeping disorder is still unknown. This is due to the problem with the circadian rhythm in the body.

There are other treatments available for such a sleeping disorder. The people suffering from such problem must start following a particular sleeping method. This is the treatment that includes even taking sleeping pills, and sleeping with bright light, and also chronotherapy.

In case of the bright light treatment for all the sleep related problems, the bright light is used to kick start the circadian clock in the brain. This kind of exposure to bright light will tick off the circadian rhythm.

Chronotherapy is a treatment that is administered to people who have not had good sleep for over a week, and finding it hard to sleep. Their usual bedtime gets shifted by around three hours. In case a person sleeps at 2am, but wanted to sleep by 11pm, then, the sleep hours will move to 8am, from the usual 5am. So, this is the lifestyle for the last one week, then, it leads to a sleeping problem. In case a teenager student is facing such a situation, then, he might need almost a week off from school in order to complete this cycle successfully. Once the proper bedtime schedule has been worked on, the next thing you have to do is wake up at the right time.

There are other treatments available that involve many drugs that can be used to treat DSP. People suffering from sleep disorder are suggested to take Melatonin. Other prescriptions also suggest medications in the form of Ramelteon, and there are other sleeping pills too.

In case you are a teenager and having a trouble to fall off asleep, then, you need to make sure that things are brought back into order in your life.

Find yourself having high anxiety levels with panic attack symptoms? Not only that, find yourself unable to sleep at night because of the stress? If you are having difficulties in coping, you may wish to consider using a herbal remedy for anxiety and insomnia. This is a good option to take rather than turning to drugs for relief.

A herbal remedy that is most appropriate in relieving anxiety and insomnia symptoms is the valerian. The wonderful part about using this herb is that it works to calm your nerves without many of the side effects that drugs have.

Valerian has a pungent smell, but this is considered insignificant compared to the amount of benefits that you can derive from this herbal remedy. Galen, a Greek physician, nicknamed this herb phu, but its scientific name is known as Valeriana officinalis. There has been much research done on this medicinal herb and its healing properties. Its most important being some chemicals called valepotriates that it contains. These chemicals apparently depresses some

activity of the nervous system.

Herbalists describe valerian as a dry, cool and bitter. Other substances that are in Valerian

include alkaloids, volatile oils (including borneol and isovalerianic), and inridoids. Valerian is used for many different ailments, including as an expectorant, tranquilizer, diuretic, lowering blood pressure, antispasmodic, carminative, and as a mild anodyne.

The root is the commonly used part of the plant in the making of a herbal remedy. It can be used

to treat insomnia, anxiety, and strengthening of your heart. It is sometimes used for treating ulcers and wounds as well. This herb is normally harvested in fall.

There are many ways that you can prepare a valerian herbal remedy. Firstly, you can prepare the valerian root into a maceration. Take two tablespoons of the chopped, fresh valerian root and soak it in a cup of cool water for approximately eight hours. Other herbs can be combined as well into this concoction, including peppermint, which can make it taste slightly better. A valerian root hot tea is another great choice to help decrease your anxiety and insomnia symptoms as well.

Secondly, it is possible to make a potent tincture out of the Valerian root as well. This will help to relieve the symptoms of insomnia and anxiety. Start with low dosages of Valerian around 1-2ml. You should know that it is very normal to get headaches when using the Valerian and by starting your dosage lower, you can help keep this symptom at bay. You can gradually increase the Valerian if needed.

Thirdly, you can also make a compress out of Valerian. Additionally, for muscle cramps, simply

soak a clean pad in the tincture and place it on the area where you are having pain.

Fourthly, if you need to drawing splinters out and treating wounds and chronic ulcers, a valerian

herbal wash is most helpful. Use the wash over your cuts and pains.

Before you jump right in and use the valerian, it is important that you consult your doctor if it is

safe for you to do so. You may already be taking some drugs at the same time. You will need to determine if you need to stop taking them should you wish to try the valerian root for relieving your anxiety and insomnia symptoms. Also, if you are pregnant, or have some serious conditions, always check with your doctor first.

Into the wall

Don’t you think you create an utter nuisance for your bedmate when you snore throughout the night? Before all hells break loose, get yourself a stop snoring pillow.

Often when you sleep on your back, you tend to breathe through your mouth, and this in turn makes you snore night in and night out. According to a recent record, it has been observed that more than 60% of people snore due to inaccurate sleeping position. Stop snoring pillow will provide you ultimate relief by keeping your body in a perfect position and thereby contributing immensely to a peaceful sleep.

Stop snoring pillow has become a popular sleep remedy product and has already taken the market by storm. When it was launched initially, it was meant to take care of mild symptoms pertaining to acid reflux but when the victims of acid reflux derived immense benefits out of stop snoring pillow, it proved to be an ultimate remedy for those people who could not help stop snoring. Gradually the mechanism of stop snoring pillows was further enhanced by the worldwide doctors to put an end to snoring by making the sleeping position accurate and helping one to recover from the distressing effects of snoring.

With the advancement in technology, the computerized stop snoring pillow is regarded as a brilliant innovation. Being a favorite of the regular snorers, this pillow comes with audible system detection and reacts to the snores in form of vibrations. It also helps the snorers to move around and make their sleeping position accurate. This stop snoring pillow is also considered to be much better than that of exorbitantly priced nasal sprays and mouth guards.

After all nobody would like to be a cause of irritation and I am pretty sure you also want to buy your partner a pleasant night. So what are you waiting for? Just put in stake a small investment to get a stop snoring pillow and be insured for the rest of your life.

www.nextgenupdate.com presents the Sleep Walking glitch tutorial. Very old glitch

Insomnia is actually quite a common sleep disorder that will keep you awake at night and will usually occur every night which will then lead to sleep deprivation.

Symptoms of Insomnia are:

-Difficulty getting to sleep at night which continues night after night for a long period of time.

-Waking during the night and then have difficulty getting back to sleep.

-Waking up tired and feeling as though you haven’t slept at all.

-Headaches. The tiredness associated with insomnia will often give you a feeling like you have a hangover even though you hadn’t been drinking the night before.

-Lack of concentration during the day.

-Irritability.

-Feel like sleeping a lot during the day.

Some causes of Insomnia are:

-Depression. Many people suffering from depression will often suffer either from insomnia or the complete opposite and will sleep long hours. However, the reverse can also be true in that

-Insomnia can cause depression.

-Stress and anxiety. If you are going through a particularly stressful time you may lie in bed at night and think about your problems. While your mind is so active you will have trouble falling asleep.

-Stimulants. Too many stimulants such as coffee, nicotine and cola during the day can lead to insomnia.

-Some medications may cause insomnia. In particular anti-depressants can cause insomnia so it is helpful to take your medication in the morning to avoid this.

-Some disorders such as sleep apnoea, diabetes and kidney disease may cause Insomnia.

-Injury or pain of any sort may lead to being unable to sleep.

-Working late can affect your sleep as you may go to bed with thoughts of your work still looming in your head.

-Eating habits can affect your sleep patterns; it is unwise to have a large meal soon before bed time.

-Lack of exercise.

-Habit. Often insomnia starts off as not being able to sleep perhaps for the above reasons, but will then develop into a habit. Once you start going to bed with the thought in your mind that you are not going to be able to sleep, then you won’t be able to.

Insomnia is very easy to diagnose as you yourself will know if you are unable to sleep. You may want to have a complete physical from your GP just to rule out any other health problems that may be causing your sleeplessness.

Treatment for insomnia may include:

-If you have an underlying cause that is causing your insomnia then you need to treat that cause first to be able to stop the insomnia.

-Take some stress management courses and try to manage your stress better.

-Don’t work too late and make sure you have a reasonable break after finishing work and going to bed.

-Use relaxation techniques such as yoga, meditation and soft music.

-Improve your lifestyle by keeping a regular routine. Try to avoid caffeine, alcohol and smoking.

-Take a look at your bedroom and see if it is a comfortable place to be and is your actual bed comfortable to sleep in.

-Medication. You don’t want to be taking medication for long periods but often taking medication for a week or so may break the habit of not being able to sleep and quite often that is enough to solve the problem. There are some good herbal medicines from the health shop that are just as effective as traditional medicines.

-Avoid sleeping during the day, although you are tired and may find it hard to resist sleeping during the day if you can, it is disrupting your sleeping pattern and will continue to make it harder to sleep at night.

to share with you some of the methods to cure bruxism. This is a condition where people unconsciously grind their teeth while they’re asleep. Not only is this condition hard to address, but also it is even harder to identify. All this damage happens while you’re asleep and you’ll wake up in the morning completely oblivious to the problem. There are faint symptoms you have to watch out for. I use to wake up in the morning with a sore jaw. At first I had no clue why, but I learned that it was bruxism. I’m going to show you the methods to cure bruxism. If you’re waking up with a splitting headache, sore jaw or even aching teeth than you could be suffering from bruxism. If you have a headache, there is no guarantee it is bruxism, but you should look into it. The easiest solution is a mouth guard. You just go to a sports store and buy one. It’s the same thing a doctor will offer you except you’ll have a cheap sports mouth guard, instead of an expensive medical one. This will physically prevent you from grinding while you’re asleep. Another one of the methods to cure bruxism is to identify the stress causing it. You grind because there is something on your mind. Your mind is supposed to be clear when you’re asleep, but when you have some stress on your mind you’ll just grind. Addressing the stress and solving it is really the only solution that works indefinitely. A mouth guard will protect you, but as soon as you stop using it you’ll be grinding again.

Copyright 2005 Wendy Owen

There is a huge difference between nightmares and night terrors. There is also a difference in the way they are best handled by the parent or carer.

A nightmare is an unpleasant or scary dream. Everyone dreams and everyone is capable of experiencing nightmares. Many of us have nightmares without even being aware of it. Nightmares occur more frequently in children than adults.

A night terror is not a dream but a more an altered sleep state (parasomnia). Adults rarely experience night terrors.

A child will nearly always wake up after a nightmare and will probably be distressed. You can comfort a child after a nightmare.

Night terrors do not wake a child up. Even though he or she may have their eyes open, they will not be awake and cannot recognize or communicate. Do not try to wake them up as they will become confused.

Children who have had a nightmare may resist going back to sleep because they are afraid. Sometimes they will want to come and sleep in your bed. This is ok if it just happens occasionally

After a night terror, children will probably settle down fairly quickly. Just stay with them until then in case they try to get up and hurt themselves.

Nightmares almost always occur later in the night during the light stages of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.

Night terrors happen earlier in the night during deep non-REM or delta sleep. They are unlikely to happen after the first 4 hours.

Children will usually remember a nightmare in the morning, especially if it is recurring.

Night terrors are usually completely forgotten.

Both nightmares and night terrors can be alarming for parents but are not in themselves harmful. Both are by products of an active developing mind. Night terrors should only be a concern if they last longer than 30 minutes or are accompanied by other unusual behavior such as jerky movements or stiffening of the body.

Make sure your child is not overtired, this is a leading cause of night terrors. Make sure they go to bed and get up at the same time of the day or night. This helps establish a healthy sleep pattern.

Nightmares can be caused by something that is worrying your child. Try to get them to talk about their fears and reassure them during the day.

Another cause of nightmares could be separation anxiety. Children’s survival instinct causes this fear of abandonment. Make sure they know they are safe and secure.

Sleepwalking can occur during or after night terrors and is tied to the same deep phase of sleep. Sleepwalking on it’s own isn’t usually a cause for alarm, but the potential for accident of injury makes it a risky activity!

If you know or even suspect that your child is a sleepwalker, make sure there are no traps they can walk into such as stairs or open windows.

If you feel there is something about your child’s sleep that is unusual or abnormal, see your physician. Parental intuition can be very accurate!