I’m sure you’ve already heard some things about it. But I can talk to you about sleep hygiene. As a psychologist and not a medical doctor, it’s not my place to talk in-depth about medications. That’s because most doctors’ go-to for treating insomnia are Ambien (and other prescription sleep medications) and sleep hygiene. In my own clinic, the average patient has had chronic insomnia for 15 years before finding their way to me because they didn’t know there were treatment options other than Ambien and sleep hygiene. But if you ask everyone visiting a primary care doctor, one in three will have it. About one in ten adults have chronic insomnia by the strictest diagnostic criteria. See the latest research on insomnia causes, possible cures involving melatonin and other. If you don’t have chronic insomnia yourself, I bet you know someone who does. Learn about insomnia, sleep deprivation and other sleep problems. It puts a damper over your everyday mood and turns sleep into a chore instead of a relief. Chronic insomnia can really disrupt your life. If you’re having a really hard time falling or staying asleep a few times per week, and this has been going on for a few months, then we’re dealing with a different animal. All you have to do is ride it out, knowing you'll be back to your normal sleep routine soon.īut for many people, insomnia becomes chronic. They just mean you're excited about something, or you have had one too many cups of coffee, or some other fluke stars aligned to make you unable to shut down for a night or two. And these occasional sleepless nights are totally fine. Even though I’m a sleep expert (and I was lucky enough to be born with good sleep genes), I still sometimes toss and turn all night. It can really drive a person crazy!Įveryone has insomnia sometimes. You stare up at the ceiling (or worse, at the red numbers on a clock), mind buzzing with random thoughts, tossing and turning while everyone else snores away blissfully. The chances are that either you, or someone very close to you, could directly benefit from this new knowledge, given how prevalent insomnia is.Insomnia is one of the most frustrating experiences in our modern existence. “Insomnia is a solvable problem,” says Colin Espie at the University of Oxford. Simply put, we are now in a much better position to work out why someone has trouble sleeping – and the best way to bring them the rest they so desperately seek. This deeper understanding of how the brain can cause this debilitating condition means we have reached a turning point in its treatment. But an explosion in sleep research over the past few years has helped to identify the neurological and mental processes underlying it. Yet, for decades, scientists had struggled to offer a good solution. It is also one that has far-reaching health and economic impacts. That may be a familiar feeling for many: insomnia is a common condition. Parker’s character experienced such angst from her unwanted wakefulness that she considered “busting over the temple with a night-light”. The more you try to create the right conditions for sleep, the more elusive it appears the very desire makes it impossible to achieve. You will almost certainly relate to this frustration if you have ever found it difficult to nod off. Patients with sleep-onset insomnia have traditionally taken sedating antihistamines (diphenhydramine and doxylamine) to hasten sleep onset, but they quickly. “Early to bed, and you’ll wish you were dead. How do people fall asleep? I’m afraid I’ve lost the knack,” muses the unnamed protagonist in Dorothy Parker’s 1933 short story The Little Hours.
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