Every once in a while we all get a bad night’s sleep. Maybe due to something we ate, maybe we drank too much, or maybe the weather was too hot. As you know, a bad night’s sleep usually follows through to a bad next day; as we feel groggy and are not as energised as we usually would be.
What is Insomnia?
Coming from the Latin word to be in ‘somnus’ (without sleep), insomnia is the term given to the disorder where people are experiencing problems sleeping on a regular basis as opposed to just a one-off here sand there. Insomnia is more evident in older people and tends to affect more women than men.
The sleep interruption is experienced in one or more of the following ways:
- Having trouble getting to sleep until well into the night (onset insomnia)
- Sleeping but waking up periodically during the night (interrupted insomnia)
- Waking up in the middle of the night, and unable to return to sleep (maintenance insomnia)
- Unable to get to sleep at all (total insomnia)
What problems does Insomnia cause?
Sleep is an extremely important part of our life. During sleep time we undergo any necessary repairs, replenish our immune system and energy levels to our brain and body. Generally we require 3 different stages of routine to operate healthily:
– Work (active)
– Relax/Play (semi-active)
– Sleep (non-active)
There are various recommendations as to how many hours of sleep is required for optimum health, and of course it does vary person to person, but the general consensus is that we should be getting around 6-8 hours of good quality sleep per night.
When somebody suffers from insomnia, they do not get the required sleep and thus their daily performance is disabled from operating ‘on all cylinders’ as the lack of sleep affects them in various ways. The longer this goes on for, the more the quality of life is adversely affected. Some of the effects of insomnia are as follows:
- Daytime fatigue
- Irritability & depressed moods
- Lessened ability in co-ordination, concentration & memory
- Changes in eating habits (less healthy – leading to weight gain)
- Indigestion problems
- Increased inflammation (pains)
- (Increased risk of depression, heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity and diabetes).
What causes Insomnia?
There are several possible reasons for sleeplessness. Most people suffer due to one or more of the following issues:
- Environment (noise, temperature, pain, discomfort)
- Schedule (travelling, shift-work etc.)
- Dietary issues (allergies, caffeine, sugar)
- Drug and/or alcohol consumption
- Hyperactivity (exercise or work)
- Underlying stress & anxiety (worry)
- Hormonal changes
There are different types of insomnia. Acute insomnia is where a person may suffer from sleep deprivation due to another fairly obvious reason like the environment or the onset of a stressful situation, but where this situation is only temporary. Chronic insomnia is where a person suffers more persistently and the reasons may not be so obvious.
It is important to note that there is a general belief that some drugs can help with sleep, but in fact they have the opposite effect. In the case of smoking, a smoker may state that they smoke to relax, whereas the nicotine contained in cigarettes is in fact a stimulant that can interfere with sleep.
The same applies to alcohol. Whereas some people do find that consuming alcohol seems to help with falling asleep, this benefit is then reversed later into the night as the person’s body temperature will increase causing sweating and irritability. They will also be woken up due to the need to go to the toilet to excrete fluid waste.
Even in cases where people are on medication for depression etc. If they are abusing the dosage of these to just a small degree, the daytime drowsiness can then end up reversing by leaving the person more awake during the night-time hours.
Help is Here
The conventional approach to treating persistent insomnia has always been to prescribe ‘sleeping pills’ which are a form of sedative medication. However, although these appear to aid the person to sleep, the quality of the sleep is not good. These medications can also cause drowsiness the following day and interfere with the person being fully alert in terms of working, studying, child minding, driving or operating other machinery. Furthermore, whilst they can be helpful in treating acute insomnia, over longer periods of time many people seem to develop a psychological dependency upon these drugs even after the insomnia itself has been relieved.
If there is no recognised medical reason for the insomnia, then coaching can help you to explore any environmental or dietary issues, and also look at your sleeping patterns etc. Sometimes just a focussed effort on a few lifestyle changes is enough to start sleeping better again.
Over 50% of insomnia cases are diagnosed as a secondary symptom of stress disorders whereby the sufferer is experiencing psychological issues like anxiety (trauma, stress) and/or addictions (drugs, alcohol, sugar).
Success in treating insomnia is best achieved with a basket approach of all strategies. My coaching toolbox is equipped to be able to offer help and support in all of these subjects as I blend a range of different applications that have proved to be successful in these areas.
If you are suffering from insomnia and you are deciding it’s time to get some help, then please connect with me to find out more about how I can help you.