Have you ever experienced trouble falling or staying asleep, or even wake up feeling unrefreshed and unable to get a good night‘s rest? If you answered yes to any of these, then you may be suffering from insomnia. Insomnia is a symptom. It may be caused by stress, anxiety, depression, disease, pain, medications, sleep disorders or poor sleep habits. Your health habits and sleeping environment may also play a role in your sleep problems. In April 2006, the prestigious National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine released a report saying that sleep loss and sleep disorders were an "immense" public health burden in the United States.
NATIONAL SLEEP FOUNDATION INSOMNIA POLL DATA:
- Forty-eight percent of Americans report insomnia occasionally, while 22 percent experience insomnia every or almost every night.
- Women are 1.3 times more likely to report insomnia than men.
- People over age 65 are 1.5 times more likely to complain of insomnia than younger people.
- Divorced, widowed and separated people report more insomnia.
Some medications can lead to insomnia as well, including those taken for:
- colds and allergies (some antihistamines & decongestants)
- high blood pressure (antihypertensive)
- heart disease (betablockers)
- thyroid disease
- birth control (hormones)
- asthma
- pain medications (containing caffeine)
- depression (especially SSRI antidepressants)
According to the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, a number of other conditions can also cause insomnia, such as:
- Conditions that cause chronic pain, such as arthritis and headache disorders
- Conditions that make it hard to breathe, such as asthma and heart failure
- Overactive thyroid
- Gastrointestinal disorders, such as heartburn
- Stroke
- Sleep disorders, such as restless legs syndrome and sleep-related breathing problems
- Menopause and hot flashes
Sleep is as essential to a person’s health and wellbeing as diet and exercise. Inadequate sleep can result in fatigue, depression, concentration problems, and can contribute to health problems such as weight gain, high blood pressure, and a decrease in the immune system’s power which may lead to illness and injury. Treating insomnia with medication is the most common treatment for these sleep problems. Twenty-five percent of Americans take some type of medication every year to help them sleep.
INSOMNIA CONVERSATION WITH COACH McGUIRK
Related Links:
http://www.hci.utah.edu/patientdocs/hci/drug_side_effects/insomnia.html
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/insomnia/article_em.htm
http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec06/ch081/ch081b.html
http://www.askdocweb.com/insomnia.html
References:
Gillin J.C., Roehrs T.,Roth T. (2009) Sleep Aids and Insomnia. National Sleep Foundation waking America to the importance of sleep. Retrieved on 1st October, 2009 from http://www.sleepfoundation.org/article/sleep-related-problems/sleep-aids-and-insomnia
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Institutes of Health. National Heat lung and blood institute Disease and conditions index. What causes Insomnia? Retrieved on 1st October, 2009 from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/About/index.html
Insomnia Overview Medications. (2008). New York Times. Retrieved from http://health.nytimes.com/health/guides/disease/primary-insomnia/medications.html?print=1
Michael,W., Smith. (2008, September, 14). What is Insomnia? Good Sleeping habits for beating insomnia Retrieved on 11th October, 2009 from http://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/insomnia?page=2
It does seem that insomnia is common among friends and family. Its interesting to see that it is a common problem for people in the US as a result of stress and anxiety.
ReplyDeleteSomedays I felt like Coach McGuirk. I've tried countless sleeping and found that just good regular sleep habits work the best for me. I think now days, it is difficult for the average American to have good sleep habits.
ReplyDeleteGabriel....I have been diagnosed with insomina in the past and go off and on with the sleeping disorder for several years. I've taken 2 different types of sleeping medications. Ambien and Lunesta. Ambien was the 1st medication I tried which was horrible for me. The side efects that occurred for me were sleep walking and working. Often family would find me typing on the computer or trying to clean the house while asleep. It would make you feel like your drunk or high after taking the medication. Losing your ability to function. The other effect that I did not like was it gave you a bad hangover feeling. Like you were there but not there a zombie feeling and could not function. Luesta was much better no side effects and once I woke up it was out of my system and I could funtion normally. Recently I've tried melatoin a over the counter herbal sleep aid which works temporaily for me. My body becomes so use to the product after a short period of time. This even occurred with perscribed medications as well.
ReplyDeleteI am living proof that video games can cause bad sleep habits and even insomnia. Through out my high school career I got less than half the sleep i should have simply because i was addicted too playing video games. One summer, I went six days without sleep because i was too into the game too realize that i was loosing grip of reality. When I finally came out of the dream state that I was in, I fell asleep for almost 25 hours. Then I relized that if i did not get this under control, it could turn into a serious insomnia problem. Since that time I have tried not too get sucked into video games too much out of fear of getting insomnia.
ReplyDeleteI have experienced taking Ambien in the past for insomnia and I must say weird things happened when I took it. My wife usually gives me my haircuts. I once woke up in the morning and noticed I had been given a hair cut and did not even know I had it done. I could not rememeber asking my wife to do so. It's quite amazing the things that happen while using ambien. I still don't remember the car incident to this day. I enjoyed the blog very much, lots of good information very detailed.
ReplyDeleteI guess I am one of the 23% people as I have experienced some days where I have had trouble sleeping which is definitely due to stress from SON! ;)
ReplyDeletethe statistics are interesting...didn't know there were 22% of people who experienced insomnia this often!
the video was good...I have encountered some people who have behaved like that :(
It's strange how women report more than men...you guys think it's probably because women think more than men? Fortunately, I don't have any experience of insomnia. It must be horrible to have that fatigue/sleepiness feeling in the morning if ones do have insomnia!
ReplyDeleteThank you gabriel for sharing your experience.. and making it clear with your real life example about how adverse the side effects of these drugs could be.
ReplyDeleteThank you Mark and others for sharing your experiencewith differnt insomnia medications that you have taken.
ReplyDeleteSleep is definitely essential in a person's well-being. I have had issues with not being able to fall asleep for quite a few years. This past week has been horrible. I've had a migraine all day and felt completely useless at work because of lack of sleep. I notice if I don't get at least 7 hours a night, my immune system is shot. I wish I could be like my husband and sleep like a baby every night!! How wonderful that would be
ReplyDeleteDo you know if there are any studies out there regarding insomniacs during the daytime? I work nights so I try to sleep during the day. What are some of the statistics regarding that population?
ReplyDeleteAnd do you think that nightworkers are more prone to being insomniacs? I've noticed that I sleep alot less now than I used to when I worked the dayshift.
Sandra said...
ReplyDeleteInsomniacs during the day...is a really good point. Many night workers are prone to insomnia. I also work nights from 7pm to 7am, then get home completely exhausted, but can't fall asleep! Thanks to my work schedule my family, friends and coworkers jokingly refer to me as a vampire. They tell me the sun is up and out, what are you still doing walking about during the day. They may be right though, while I'm at work I don't have any windows around me to visually see that it's pitch black outside. It's when I step outside to drive home that I find the sun is blaring light into my face, that's when my eyes/brain preceives it morning time. I guess the surroundings of morning light outside conveys to my brain that it is daytime so I should be awake. That's what is natural for most, to sleep at night and be up during the day. When I'm off that's what I do, but after work nights when I crawl into bed my body and mind don't think it's time for sleep. There is substantial evidence that the prevalence of sleep disorders is an important occupational health problem, especially among health care professionals on night or on rotating work shifts. Night work is associated with disturbed sleep and impaired alertness. The impact of sleep is the result of the circadian interference with sleep during daylight hours and circadian suppression of pineal gland by light at night. According to one website article listed below, more than 6 million Americans work night shifts on a regular rotating basis, and shift work sleep disorders is common in this group. It was reported that 16.8% of full-time workers in the United States are shift workers define as any schedule that requires work outside the conventional work hours from 6 am to 6 pm. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine defines shift work sleep disorder (SWSD) as the presence of either (1) insomnia during day sleep or (2) a complaint of excessive sleepiness during night work hours in individuals working the night shift, which cannot be reasonably attributed to coexisting psychiatric or medical disease, or to a primary sleep disorder. Using this definition, they reported a 14.1% prevalence of SWSD among night workers and 8.1% among workers on rotating shift schedules. Moreover, shift workers with SWSD were at greater risk for accidents, ulcer disease, and depression than workers on the same schedule without SWSD. Below are the webpages if your interested in learning more about these studies. Please copy and paste as they do not hyperlink under comment postings.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2584099/
http://cme.medscape.com/viewarticle/505411?src=sr
http://books.google.com/books?id=Xx7iNGdV25IC&lpg=RA3-PA1246&ots=Us92Du6fHz&dq=complaints%20of%20insomnia%20in%20the%20day%20time%20with%20night%20shift%20workers&pg=RA3-PA1246#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Shocking study on which age groups have symptoms of insomnia. I fortunately have no symptoms, however I just started working a night shift and after reading other comments many night shift people are prone to have or develop insomnia... soo since I haven't had a problems falling asleep in the morning and can get back to regular sleep pattern durning my week, should I continue what I'm doing to prevent it? or am I doom to suffer such a disorder?
ReplyDeleteSANDRA said...
ReplyDeleteNo, just because you have switched to working a night shift does not mean you will develop and suffer from insomnia. Working at night or frequently changing shifts may however increase your risk of insomnia. People who work night shifts may have difficulty adjusting their bodies' circadian rhythm, or internal clock, to sleeping during the day. Disruptions in daily schedules, working a late or early shift and travel can disrupt your body's circadian rhythms, making it difficult to sleep and resulting in symptoms of insomnia. Some people are not affected at all they by changes in their sleep patterns and times, while others may be unable to adjust and are severely affected.
Your circadian rhythms act as internal clocks, guiding such things as your wake-sleep cycle, metabolism and body temperature. If you work days and change to nights your body rhythm is accustomed to sleeping at night and the deviation from your normal sleeping patterns could provoke insomnia. It could take a while for your body to acclimate to its new schedule and you may be fine. For some however, when they are off and revert back to a normal sleeping pattern and then go back to work on the night shift, the confusion the body is registering could be associated with insomnia.
Keeping to your routine and current habits helps train your body to sleep when you decide to and will greatly reduce any chance of increasing your odds to the possibility of insomnia. Habits that help promote good sleep are called sleep hygiene. You can maintaining good sleep hygiene by keeping a regular sleep schedule, avoiding stimulating activities before bed such as watching TV or computer activity, having a comfortable sleep environment and using your bed for only activities of sleep or sex.