Is Your Life Deteriorating Because of Chronic Insomnia?

Chronic Insomnia

When the normal sleep pattern continues to elude and sleeplessness continues to trouble a person persistently, night after night (at least 3-4 nights per week), for as long as a month or more, the condition is referred to as chronic insomnia.

Causes of chronic insomnia

Chronic insomnia could occur due to a whole range of conditions such as psychiatric (e.g., depression, anxiety, paranoia), psychological (e.g., hyperactive personality), drug addiction, chronic pain, chronic stress due to an illness like HIV, or any discomfort-producing illness (e.g., arthritis, asthma, allergies, respiratory disorders) that can impair sleep.

A majority of the chronic insomnia cases have been found to have a strong psychological or psychiatric basis. The most common mental disorders causing chronic insomnia are chronic depression, chronic anxiety, schizophrenia, and maniac depression. As many as 70% of the patients suffering from such mental disorders complain of insomnia. That is probably because these patients have abnormally high levels of stress hormones and low levels of sleep-inducing hormone melatonin.

Sometimes a complete medical checkup may reveal no underlying medical condition. In that case the chronic insomnia is said to be of primary type. For example, in women fluctuations in the female hormone progesterone can give rise to primary insomnia.

Primary type of chronic insomnia could also arise from behavioral and lifestyle factors, such as overuse of caffeine, nicotine, alcohol or other stimulating substances, drug abuse, disrupted sleep-wake cycles due to irregular work schedules or too much socializing/late-nights partying, irregular habits, chronic stress due to financial insecurity or due to problems in the family or at work, etc.

Dangers of chronic insomnia

Although insomnia may start as seemingly harmless, intermittent sleepless nights that one can make up for later on, primary type of chronic insomnia can lead to serious health consequences as well as deterioration of the quality of life in general. For example:

· Lack of sleep and the consequent fatigue for prolonged periods can reduce one's immunity to diseases, making the person more susceptible to viral and/or bacterial attacks.

· Continued sleeplessness can impair one's ability to judge situations clearly, putting an insomniac at increased risk for accidents, be they at home or at workplace or on the road. Statistics have shown that many drivers involved in road accidents had been suffering from lack of sleep.

· Insomniacs, due to their poor lifestyle and sleep habits, tend to influence their children negatively, making them too prone to sleep disturbances and occasional insomnia. This can drastically affect not only their performance in school but also their behavior in general, leading to further psychological problems.

· Chronic insomnia can result in a decline of performance at workplace and eventually, maybe, even loss of job. The financial insecurity caused by loss of job can further worsen the stress and insomnia.

· Chronic insomnia can make a person irritable and high-strung, causing marital discord and unpleasant ambiance at home that further aggravate insomnia. One can even end up losing good friends.

Treatment of chronic insomnia

The initial, short-term treatment of any kind of insomnia that does not respond to natural methods and behavioral therapy is more or less the same, involving the use of sedative/hypnotic/antidepressant drugs. Most of these drugs are habit-forming and become less effective as time progresses; that's why they are recommended for a brief period only.

After that it is best to make a conscious effort to make positive lifestyle and behavioral changes, and resort to relaxation techniques like meditation as well as other natural sleep-promoting methods to cure chronic insomnia.

Cure of chronic insomnia due to an underlying medical condition would depend additionally on the treatment of the contributory disease.

Stopping insomnia