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What is insomnia essay

Insomnia is a self diagnosis that someone suffers sleeping difficulty; either difficulty getting to, staying, or getting enough sleep despite the amount of effort trying. Lack of sleep then incapacitates the individual from doing their responsibility. Each case is different as some find it easy to fall asleep but then wake up early so they do not get enough, or maybe find it difficult to get to sleep so they stay awake later getting less sleep. [1][3]To diagnose insomnia you would have an appointment with your doctor so they could make a formal diagnosis from what they learn after asking questions like “ How long does it take you to fall asleep at night? “, “ do you take any medication, alcohol, and do you smoke? ” and “ how many times during the night do you wake up” to make a more accurate assumption to the insomnia the patient has, and how to treat it.

Most common symptoms are the difficulty to fall asleep, waking up during the night. Difficulty returning to sleep, waking up too early in the morning, not feeling refreshed when you wake up, daytime sleepiness, difficulty concentrating, and irritability. [16][15] Classified into three main groups as transient, acute, or chronic. [3] Is depending on the length of time suffered and the intensity. Transient being the weakest, it can last up to a week and is usually a repercussion of sudden change. Acute anytime up to a month, chronic insomnia could last for more than a month with no ending time limit.

The effects of each stay mainly the same: sleepiness, and impaired performance. Except the effects of Chronic Insomnia, causing hallucinations, an increase in alertness, and viewing actions as though they were happening in slow motion, some of the causes are: – A traumatic event – Female hormone fluctuations, through menstruation, pregnancy, menopause, during menstruation a hormone called progesterone promotes sleep however this drops dramatically plunge during menstruation and could induce insomnia although the opposite happens as the hormone increases in production during ovulation. Pregnancy changes progesterone levels in the first and last trimester which disrupts the usual sleep patterns. Even in the menopause in the early stages when the hormones are continuously changing [8] this is what http://www. better-sleep-better-life. com/menopause-and-insomnia.

html theory is when menopause is involved with insomnia the changing level in hormones is a large factor. Environmental factors, excessive light at night your body will take the manufactured light as natural sunlight and wake you up even more, other things like random and loud noises, and uncomfortable temperatures could make it difficult to sleep. – Drugs or medications, the nicotine in smoking and caffeine in coffee are stimulant and tends to lead to transient insomnia; medications for colds, high blood pressure or pain medication also make sleeping difficult. The abuse substances like cocaine and other drugs. Mental disorder, although it is not known here whether the link mental disorders and insomnia is or factor, the most common over lapping disorder is depression, http: www.

corporatewellnessmagazine. com/article-detail-php? issue= issue3&article= an-alarming-wake-up did an experiment which found out 50% of patients with mental health problems also had combined insomnia, this is also present in the graph [7][10] The kind of drugs used, how they work and do they work? The use of drugs as medication shows no indications for a permanent solution, but more as a temporary solution as they can cause a dependency on the drug, or over the time the drug will begin to stop working as the body begins to adjust and more of the drug is needed, accidental overdoses can happen this way if the person feels that the dosage they have already taken is not sufficient which in turn could end in more side effects occurring. [6] As a result, issues with using the drugs are side effects, which are varied and could end up being severe; these could include drowsiness during the day time, confusion, forgetfulness, and a dry mouth. This will help the problem as it will then help cure a disorder, even if the drugs only suppress it for a short time, the individuals then can either get over what it was preventing them getting to sleep if it was transient. [6] Sleeping tablets, used to encourage sleep within your body, but your symptoms must be pretty severe or if the natural treatments have had no affects.

Although most are reluctant to prescribe these as they do not actually cure it but they ease the symptom and if you have had this disorder for some time it isn’t likely to help, so it’s prescribed on the smallest dose and for the shortest time possible as they can. Some of the drugs used are: – Benzodiazepines are tranquillizers designed to reduce anxiety and replace it with calmness, and sleep, and are usually only given out when the insomnia is severe, Not highly recommended as the person can develop a dependancy on them and are usually only given in short term fixs like with temazepam, loprazolam, and lormetazepam. This works by benzodiazepines binding with the GABA receptor in your brain to increase the amoiunt of chemical released that encourages drowsiness. This is counted as one of the oldest class of sleep medications still in use. They can loose their sleep quality over time, so they are not effective over long periods of time, on the other hand in short term fixes they can be beneficial, these short periods are recommended to be two to three weeks at any one time making it on of the least effective, but also the effectiveness is usually greater at easing the symptoms for first time users.

In the top image are different kinds of Benzodiazepines. [14][19][20] – Z medicines is a new type of medicine, and work in similiar ways to benodiazepines, being given in short lasting fixes but are not as addictive, but this means that if one doesnt work the other won’t work either. On the right, the middle image is an example of Z medicines. They are effective for only a short amount of time, recommended use is two to four weeks before the effectiveness begins to wear off. [6][7][20] – Antihistamines are used to cause drowsiness opun the person and to counter act the effects of histamines, a histamine is a chemical released in the brain during an immune response with the job to heal damaged tissue causing itching, swelling and redness to the damaged area, and a antihistamine blocks the actions of these histamines, they also work in the brain and the rest of the body to cause sleepiness. There are four different receptors of Histamines within the body found in cells, H1 receptor causes inflammation, H2 is the receptor that can help encourage the production of stomach acid, H3 is the receptor that stimulates the production of neurotransmitters, these messenger cells are used in the brain to transmit information and could have an effect on your emotional state and mood, and H4 prevents the immune system from attacking healthy tisse.

The most common of the antihistamine is diphenhydramine and it’s in drugs like nytol, and sominex that you can see in the image none the side. Although the sedating type of Antihistamine is the older version which was never properly tested as a sleeping drug and is only recommended as a short term solution as its side effects are sedation leaving the person feeling groggy and dopey. [12][13][15] Risk of drugsThere are many different potential risks of the treatment, although the most prominent is the side effects of the drug and the side effects are usually quite distressing, Antihistamines pose a risk to the taker, they are over the counter sleep aids the produce more of the common side effects like moderate to severe drowsiness the next day, being dizzy or forgetful, developing clumsiness or having the feeling of being unbalance, constipation and urinary retention, blurred vision, and a dry mouth and throat. ach of this could be different depending on the person and anyone who has glaucoma, trouble urinating, or breathing problems due to the emphysema or chronic bronchitis should tell their doctor before getting the pill due as they could increase the risk of side effects actually happening, and even more severely than usual which could lead to more side effects. Meir H.

Kryger notes that “ Use of these medications for weeks, months or longer is not adviced because they affect the histamine system in the body, which can cause unwanted effects including nervousness, nausea… (Kryger, M. H. (2004) “ A Woman’s Guide to Sleep Disorders” – United States of America: McGraw-Hill Companies, Pages 255 – 283 and 121 – 132) Other disadvantages would be that the sufferer may become addicted to the drugs that they were given to help the symptoms of insomnia, also if the person uses their own “ drugs” which is alcohol, this may also become addictive that they become an alcoholic.

Mental Health disorders. Anxiety, bipolar disorder and depression are a few of the prominent disorders that have caused insomnia. This is due to the emotional psychological problems, although sometimes it is unclear which condition is triggered by the other, depression could be brought on by lack of sleep, or it could be depression itself that causes sleeplessness, although insomnia itself can open itself up to many other illnesses and disorders. BenefitsIt is also important to remember that the medication may be the most effective means for sleep, like in a situation when recovering from a surgery, or traveling across a time zone, but are only usually given in severe circumstances due to the doctors worried about the dependencies upon the drug, relying on the medications to sleep and may be unable to sleep without it, and once the patient is dependant they will experience withdrawal symptoms like nausea, sweating and shaking or the insomnia can then become worse.

he wider benefits of the solutions is that the problem won’t become more of a serious problem like chronic insomnia with a wider range of serious health consequences like risk if high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and depression, with the solution is could all of been prevented, as they would feel better and be more productive. Alternative methodsThere are many other ways to help induce sleep, three you can do on your own, These being (1) Paradox Training, (2) Relaxation training, (3) Sleep restriction / Routines, Firstly “ Paradox intention” which is when you trick your body when you intentionally stay awake without any intention to go to sleep, this is used when the person has trouble getting to sleep Secondly the “ Relaxation Training” which is when you prepare your body for sleep by reducing the amount of thoughts you have before you sleep that may interfere with sleep should also help as your body is then settled and ready for sleep but if you worry then you become tense and alert, freaking out before bed would not help you sleep. Avoiding stimulant drugs throughout the end of the day like caffeine or alcohol as they would stimulate your body making getting to sleep difficult; Exercise is suggested also in your routine but hours before you sleep as it tries you out taking away any extra energy. The “ Sleep Restriction” and routines which is when you limit the time spent in bed to the amount of time spent sleeping, you restrict this time so much that you become sleep deprived and sleep when you get into bed, and slowly you sleep would improve and settle into this routine.

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