League City, Texas - December 6, 2008 - 60 million Americans suffer from some kind of chronic insomnia each year. 60 million. That’s an amazing number.
There are many causes, but recently, the economic climate and world events has led to an increase, as well the overall imbalance with our day to day lives…
Factors like too much work, not enough exercise and “downtime”.
While medications are one way to treat insomnia, there are other alternatives.
Let me outline these in this article and explain more about insomnia.
Insomnia is the sensation of daytime fatigue and impaired performance caused by insufficient sleep. In general, people with insomnia experience an inability to sleep despite being tired; a light, fitful sleep that leaves them fatigued upon awakening; or waking up too early.
Insomniacs often complain of being unable to close their eyes or rest their minds for any period of time. This author certainly knows what it’s like to have your mind racing at bedtime. In our stress-filled world, we are often plagued with unfinished to-do lists in our heads. When it’s quiet and time for sleep, many people have problems pushing those to-do lists aside in favor of dreamland.
The worst part of insomnia is wanting to sleep but being unable to. The mind races and is unable to rest and that makes you overly tired and barely able to function the next day. Sometimes insomnia lasts longer than just a few nights.
So what causes insomnia?
While there’s no one cut and dried reason why some people can’t sleep, most experts agree that insomnia is brought on by stress, anxiety, medications, and/or caffeine – among other things. Transient and short-term insomnia has many causes.
In one study, 20% of adults reported that light, noise, and uncomfortable temperatures caused their sleeplessness. Depending on the time of day too much or too little light can disrupt sleep.
Caffeine most commonly disrupts sleep. Nicotine can cause wakefulness. Quitting smoking can also cause transient insomnia.
Your partner’s sleep habits can also cause you to have insomnia. In one 1999 survey, 17% of women and 5% of men reported that their partner's sleep habits impaired their own sleep. Snoring can certainly be a factor in a partner's insomnia. In fact, in the same survey 44% of men and 36% of women reported snoring a few nights a week and of those who snored, 19% could be heard through a closed door.
Herbal remedies such as valerian root, kava kava, chamomile, lemon balm, St. John’s Wort, and passionflower have been used for insomnia for many years. However, the effectiveness and safety of these products has not been documented. Studies done on herbal remedies are often hard to interpret because they are inconsistent with standards of studies for regulated substances like prescription drugs.
According to the National Institute of Health, although the results of some studies suggest that valerian may be useful for insomnia and other sleep disorders, results of other studies do not. Interpretation of these studies is complicated by the fact the studies had small sample sizes, used different amounts and sources of valerian, measured different outcomes, or did not consider potential bias resulting from high participant withdrawal rates. Overall, the evidence from these trials for the sleep-promoting effects of valerian is inconclusive.
Even if studies report positive benefits from herbal remedies, the compounds used in such studies are, in most cases, not what are being marketed to the public. There have been a number of reported cases of serious and even lethal side effects from herbal products. In addition, some so-called natural remedies were found to contain standard prescription medication.
Using Stress Management and Relaxation…
Learning to be physically and mentally relaxed before going to bed will help you fall asleep more quickly. Additionally, many relaxation techniques can be put to use when you wake up in the middle of the night and need to get back to sleep.
Quieting your mind and body is not something that can be done immediately, so you should try to start winding down at least an hour before bed. Some people find that reading a book, taking a bath, playing solitaire or working a crossword puzzle are good ways to slow down from activity of the day.
Self-help strategies are usually effective and aren’t addictive. Using these alternatives to over-the-counter or prescription medication are less expensive than pharmacological treatment, have fewer side effects, and can provide longer lasting relief particularly when behavioral treatments are used as well.
Consider, too, altering your sleep environment. Put a board under your mattress if it sags or try putting your bed in a different position. Make sure your bedding is clean and that you are warm enough but not too hot.
If light troubles you, use thicker curtains or put a scarf or sleep mask over your eyes. If you feel more comfortable with a little light, leave the curtains open a little or use a night light.
A common cause of sleeplessness is noise. Use earplugs if it’s noise you can’t do anything about. Change your attitude toward the noise, too. People can sleep through high levels of noise. It’s not so much the level of the noise as it is how you feel about it that keeps you awake.
Use relaxation exercises to calm yourself and take your mind off of it. Take some diplomatic action to combat the noise that’s disrupting your sleep. If your family is being noisy while you’re trying to sleep, talk to them calmly about your need to sleep and ask them to please curtail the noise during bedtime hours.
Keep a radio or tape player by your bed and use it to mask other noise. Try playing a relaxation tape or CD such as nature noises that can put you in a calmer mood and make you better able to cope with distractions.
If you continue to have trouble getting to sleep for more than a few nights, you should speak to someone about it. Your local doctor or therapist can help, and provide you with a range of solutions.
Contact:
Delee D’Arcy, MA, LPC, LMFT
Delee@deleedarcytherapy.com
3027 Marina Bay Drive, Suite 110
League City, Texas 77573
713-302-6698
###
There are many causes, but recently, the economic climate and world events has led to an increase, as well the overall imbalance with our day to day lives…
Factors like too much work, not enough exercise and “downtime”.
While medications are one way to treat insomnia, there are other alternatives.
Let me outline these in this article and explain more about insomnia.
Insomnia is the sensation of daytime fatigue and impaired performance caused by insufficient sleep. In general, people with insomnia experience an inability to sleep despite being tired; a light, fitful sleep that leaves them fatigued upon awakening; or waking up too early.
Insomniacs often complain of being unable to close their eyes or rest their minds for any period of time. This author certainly knows what it’s like to have your mind racing at bedtime. In our stress-filled world, we are often plagued with unfinished to-do lists in our heads. When it’s quiet and time for sleep, many people have problems pushing those to-do lists aside in favor of dreamland.
The worst part of insomnia is wanting to sleep but being unable to. The mind races and is unable to rest and that makes you overly tired and barely able to function the next day. Sometimes insomnia lasts longer than just a few nights.
So what causes insomnia?
While there’s no one cut and dried reason why some people can’t sleep, most experts agree that insomnia is brought on by stress, anxiety, medications, and/or caffeine – among other things. Transient and short-term insomnia has many causes.
In one study, 20% of adults reported that light, noise, and uncomfortable temperatures caused their sleeplessness. Depending on the time of day too much or too little light can disrupt sleep.
Caffeine most commonly disrupts sleep. Nicotine can cause wakefulness. Quitting smoking can also cause transient insomnia.
Your partner’s sleep habits can also cause you to have insomnia. In one 1999 survey, 17% of women and 5% of men reported that their partner's sleep habits impaired their own sleep. Snoring can certainly be a factor in a partner's insomnia. In fact, in the same survey 44% of men and 36% of women reported snoring a few nights a week and of those who snored, 19% could be heard through a closed door.
Herbal remedies such as valerian root, kava kava, chamomile, lemon balm, St. John’s Wort, and passionflower have been used for insomnia for many years. However, the effectiveness and safety of these products has not been documented. Studies done on herbal remedies are often hard to interpret because they are inconsistent with standards of studies for regulated substances like prescription drugs.
According to the National Institute of Health, although the results of some studies suggest that valerian may be useful for insomnia and other sleep disorders, results of other studies do not. Interpretation of these studies is complicated by the fact the studies had small sample sizes, used different amounts and sources of valerian, measured different outcomes, or did not consider potential bias resulting from high participant withdrawal rates. Overall, the evidence from these trials for the sleep-promoting effects of valerian is inconclusive.
Even if studies report positive benefits from herbal remedies, the compounds used in such studies are, in most cases, not what are being marketed to the public. There have been a number of reported cases of serious and even lethal side effects from herbal products. In addition, some so-called natural remedies were found to contain standard prescription medication.
Using Stress Management and Relaxation…
Learning to be physically and mentally relaxed before going to bed will help you fall asleep more quickly. Additionally, many relaxation techniques can be put to use when you wake up in the middle of the night and need to get back to sleep.
Quieting your mind and body is not something that can be done immediately, so you should try to start winding down at least an hour before bed. Some people find that reading a book, taking a bath, playing solitaire or working a crossword puzzle are good ways to slow down from activity of the day.
Self-help strategies are usually effective and aren’t addictive. Using these alternatives to over-the-counter or prescription medication are less expensive than pharmacological treatment, have fewer side effects, and can provide longer lasting relief particularly when behavioral treatments are used as well.
Consider, too, altering your sleep environment. Put a board under your mattress if it sags or try putting your bed in a different position. Make sure your bedding is clean and that you are warm enough but not too hot.
If light troubles you, use thicker curtains or put a scarf or sleep mask over your eyes. If you feel more comfortable with a little light, leave the curtains open a little or use a night light.
A common cause of sleeplessness is noise. Use earplugs if it’s noise you can’t do anything about. Change your attitude toward the noise, too. People can sleep through high levels of noise. It’s not so much the level of the noise as it is how you feel about it that keeps you awake.
Use relaxation exercises to calm yourself and take your mind off of it. Take some diplomatic action to combat the noise that’s disrupting your sleep. If your family is being noisy while you’re trying to sleep, talk to them calmly about your need to sleep and ask them to please curtail the noise during bedtime hours.
Keep a radio or tape player by your bed and use it to mask other noise. Try playing a relaxation tape or CD such as nature noises that can put you in a calmer mood and make you better able to cope with distractions.
If you continue to have trouble getting to sleep for more than a few nights, you should speak to someone about it. Your local doctor or therapist can help, and provide you with a range of solutions.
Contact:
Delee D’Arcy, MA, LPC, LMFT
Delee@deleedarcytherapy.com
3027 Marina Bay Drive, Suite 110
League City, Texas 77573
713-302-6698
###
“Dream” CD - $19.95
To get your own copy of “Dream” including 4 meditations and 4 amazing and relaxing pieces of music, please call me or download directly from my calming mall.
Posts
2 comments:
Great post. A couple of other ideas that I use with kids (I'm a child psychologist), but I think they are helpful to adults too.
wind down-- kids watch tv and play on the computer right up until bedtime and then can't unwind.... we can have the same problem. Unplug earlier and read, listen to quiet music, have a cup of chamomile tea
go to bed earlier-- like kids we often miss our window of fatigue and get the second wind-- then it is harder to fall asleep
clean your room-- if your room is full of stuff it isn't peaceful. Take 15 mins and de-clutter so your room creates an environment more conducive to sleep.
Here's to better sleep all around.
Tamar Chansky
www.freeingyourchild.com
Thanks - I appreciate the feedback and you are absolutely correct abou the other helpful ideas - I also use them in sessions and should have spoken about them here. Happy holidays!
Post a Comment