Insomnia is America’s number one sleep complaint and many people will go to great lengths to fall asleep easy and stay asleep throughout the night. One women’s quest for a good night’s sleep ended up in a new book, Wide Awake, A Memoir of Insomnia that describes her three year journey to conquer her sleeplessness. She tried sleeping pills, psychotherapy, prayer, sleep music, ear plugs and even had her sleep evaluated in a sleep lab. Read more »
Causes of Insomnia Part 9 Sleep Better with COPD
COPD definition is a chronic obstructive lung disease associated with chronic bronchitis (long-term wet cough) and emphysema (breakdown of lungs over time) causing the lungs airways to narrow. This leads to a limitation of the flow of air to and from the lungs resulting in shortness of breath (dyspnea). This limitation is nonreversible and usually worsens over time. If you suffer from COPD sleeping is difficult and other health conditions like acid reflux, sleep apnea and even pregnancy can worsen the condition. Symptoms of COPD such as coughing, wheezing, chest pain or tightness make it hard to fall asleep easy and stay asleep during the night which results in insomnia. Read more »
Causes of Insomnia Part 8 Sleep Noise Pollution
What is sleep noise pollution? Noise pollution can be defined as any noise that disrupts your sleep whether it is inside or outside your bedroom. Inside noise pollution can be better controlled unlike outside noises like traffic, loud neighbors or barking dogs. Not getting enough sleep from noise disruptions can have a negative impact on your health and cause insomnia. What are the causes of sleep noise pollution? Read more »
Causes of Insomnia Part 7 Perimenopause or Pre Menopause Symptoms
Perimenopause, or pre menopause is the time in a women’s life when her ovaries start to produce less estrogen. Pre menopause lasts until menopause when the ovaries stop releasing eggs. In the last one or two years of pre menopause the decline of estrogen increases and many women experience menopausal symptoms. When does pre menopause start? It usually starts in a women’s 40, but can start as early as a women’s 30’s. How long does pre menopause last? It varies with each individual. The average is four year, but for some it may last a few months or continue for 10 years. Pre menopause officially ends after the first year a women has gone without having her period. Menopause on average occurs when women are 50-51 years of age, so the duration of pre menopause depends on when a women starts showing signs or menopausal symptoms. Read more »
Causes of Insomnia Part 6 Obstructive Sleep Apnea OSA
Keeping up with today’s schedules, workloads and family life there seems to be little time to relax and take care of the most important person in your life…YOU. We tend to stay up too late at night to get all of our to-dos done before the next day. We lay in bed tossing and turning each night wondering if we haven’t forgotten anything we have to do. As time ticks by we get less and less sleep and many of us resort to some kind of sleep aid in an effort to avoid insomnia. Causes of insomnia can vary from the mild to the extreme, but there is one cause that gets overlooked and that is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Why, because we tend to ignore the symptoms of OSA such as snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness because we don’t realize the connection between the two and/or the impact OSA has on one’s health. Also, OSA has joined type 2 diabetes as a condition largely associated with the national epidemic of obesity. Read more »
Causes of Insomnia Part 5 De-Stress to Rest
Some of the causes of insomnia for a majority of the population is primarily stress and/or a sleep disruptors like uncontrollable noise, adjusting to a new babies sleep schedule, jet lag, night shift work that affect a person’s sleep sleep/wake cycle. If a person suffers from insomnia more than a month the symptoms become more serious see Causes of Insomnia Part 4 Symptoms of Major Depression for more information. However, short term insomnia's (under a month) number one cause is stress and not being able to sleep only makes your stress worse. Secondly, you need to look at your diet as many foods like those that contain caffeine such as tea, coffee, sodas and chocolate can contribute to the feeling of stress and sleepless nights. Changes in your diet can help you to overcome anxiety that will help you sleep better and is the first step to successful weight loss. Read more »
Causes of Insomnia Part 4 Major Depression Symptoms
What is depression? Depression is a medical illness that involves both the mind and body. Depression can be called major depressive disorder, clinical depression and major depression as it affects how we act, think and feel. Depression can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems that can affect your daily lives or be severe enough to feel that life just isn’t worth living. From time to time many of us suffer from feelings of melancholy but we usually snap out of it and move on with our lives. Depression is a chronic illness that requires long-term medical treatment involving medication and counseling. What are the major depression symptoms? Read more »
Causes of Insomnia Part 3 New Year’s Resolution
Getting through the holiday season can be stressful with office parties, family dinners, dealing with crowded stores and finding those perfect gifts. Have you ever asked yourself how the holiday season is affecting your sleep? Stress is the number one nonmedical reason people suffer from insomnia. Now is the time of year many people make a New Year’s Resolution. How many of you have decided this year is the year I will drop a few pounds? STOP the stress about dieting and losing weight and make your New Year’s Resolution GET MORE SLEEP! Here are some reasons getting a good night’s sleep is essential for your mind and body. Read more »
Causes of Insomnia Part 2 Clinophobia The Fear of Going to Bed
Clinophobia (derived from the Greek “klinein” as to bend, slope or incline during sleep and “phobos” meaning fear) is an abnormal and persistent fear of going to bed. Unlike somniphobia the fear of going to sleep that is a symptom of an anxiety disorder usually caused by an apprehension about not being able to wake up or frightened of not being aware of what goes on around them as they sleep. Even though clinophobia sufferers realize that going to bed is normal and is not a threat to their well-being, they worry about having uncontrollable nightmares, not being able to fall asleep easy or wetting the bed. If they do fall asleep, they wake often and overtime this phobia causes insomnia. Read more »
Causes of Insomnia Part 1 Grief Cycle
Last Monday I had to lay my father to rest. Dad was 82 and even though some consider that he lived a full life no one understands the pain of losing a parent. 12 million Americans lose a parent annually and adult children often feel abandonment and panic when caught by a sudden death which can lead to depression and insomnia. We may live many years, but we will always be a child in relation to our parents. Our lives are full with our careers, family, friends but we naturally expect our parents to be there for us. When they die our world becomes a different place. No matter what age or how their death happened, the pain for the surviving adult children can be very hard. Read more »
Insomnia Meaning and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy CBT
Insomnia meaning, according to WebMD, is a sleep disorder characterized by the difficulty falling asleep easy, staying asleep during the night, waking up too early in the morning and not feeling refreshed in the morning. There are two types of insomnia; primary insomnia is not caused by another health condition and secondary insomnia is having sleep problems due to other psychological or physical disorders such as asthma, depression, arthritis, cancer, alcohol abuse or chronic pain. Insomnia also varies in how long it lasts and how often it occurs. Acute insomnia can last from one night to a few weeks, while chronic insomnia lasts at least three nights or longer. Read more »
Grief Depression and Insomnia
Hundreds of mourners gathered Monday, August, 15, 2012, at the Indiana State Fairgrounds to remember five people killed when high winds caused an outdoor stage to collapse onto an audience awaiting the start of a country music concert. Four of the victims died at the scene: Alina Bigjohny, 23, of Fort Wayne; Christina Santiago, 29, of Chicago; Tammy Vandam, 42, of Wanatah; and 49-year-old Glenn Goodrich of Indianapolis. Nathan Byrd, a 51-year-old stagehand from Indianapolis who was atop the rigging when it fell, died overnight. Read more »
Symptom of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (CRPS/RSD) Insomnia
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is also known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (RSD) which is a chronic neurological disease causing a malfunction of part of the nervous system and the immune system as it responds to tissue damage resulting from trauma due to an accidental injury or medical procedure. It is estimated that 1.5 to 6 million Americans are affected by this disease. The large gap in the estimate is a result of a reported misdiagnosis or unreported cases. The International Association for the Study of Pain has defined two types of CRPS. CRPS Type I (RSD) is defined by the presence of an initiating event or injury with a continuous pain resulting from stimuli that normally doesn’t cause pain, such as a light breeze or clothing. Signs of CRPS Type I include swelling, change in blood flow, variations in skin color, higher skin temperature and abnormal sweating around the area of pain. CRPS Type II (Causalgia) is the presence of continued pain like CRPS Type I but also associated with pain due to hyperalgesia after nerve injury. Symptoms of both are pain, muscle spasm, loss of motion, swelling, circulatory changes and skin changes. As result of these symptoms the person makes lifestyle changes which cause an additional symptom of reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome (CRPS/RSD) insomnia. Read more »
Symptoms of Insomnia in Teenagers
Did you know that one in four teenagers show symptoms of insomnia every day for a month? A study published in the journal Sleep examined adolescents between the ages of 11 to 17 for the following symptoms of insomnia; non-restorative sleep, trouble falling asleep easy, nighttime waking and having trouble falling back to sleep and early morning awakenings. The result found symptoms of insomnia in teenagers is common among those with mood and anxiety disorders, as well as substance abuse. Read more »
Insomnia Sleep Music Mp3
Are you too stressed and anxious to fall asleep easy? You can’t seem to relax because your heart is racing and your mind is thinking about how you are going to pay your bills or keeping track of all the things you need to do. How can you wind down to fall asleep? One way is to listen to an insomnia sleep music mp3 as it will allow you to focus on the sounds of ocean waves, a thunderstorm, binaural beats or even hypnotic subliminal relaxation suggestions through instrumental music. You will be able to fall asleep naturally as your mind listens to the sleep music instead of thinking about what is making you stressed. Read more »
Insomnia is a Heart Attack Symptom
There are many symptoms that you can watch for that may lead to a heart attack. They can be different for men and women and still different in older adults. In fact, 95% of women who had heart attacks reported symptoms up to a month before an attack, but these symptoms weren’t chest pains, so they went unrecognized. Many often remember experiencing an unexplained inability to fall asleep easy or stay asleep during the month or weeks that lead up to their heart attack. Patients often report the feeling of being keyed up, tense and lying in bed with racing thoughts and sometimes with a rapid heart rate. Women reported a sense of impending doom as if disaster was about to happen. If you don’t normally have trouble sleeping, remember that insomnia is a heart attack symptom and you should speak to your physician. Read more »
Prednisone Insomnia
Prednisone is used as an immunosuppressant that acts on almost the entire immune system and is very useful in treating autoimmune diseases, inflammatory diseases, poison ivy, dermatitis, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, sarcoidosis and Crohn’s disease. Side effects of prednisone include adrenal suppression which is the body’s inability to synthesize natural corticosteroids, resulting in a dependency on prednisone. When taking prednisone for over seven days it is recommended to reduce the dose gradually over a few days as stopping abruptly can cause life-threatening Addison’s disease in which the body can no longer produce adrenal steroid hormones. Using this drug over any period of days can cause prednisone insomnia, fatigue, abdominal pain, blurred vision, peptic ulcers, infections, osteoporosis, weight gain, stretch marks, swelling, nervousness, increased appetite and hyperactivity. Read more »
Sleeping Pill Addiction and Insomnia
Prescription sleeping pills are generally used for a short duration to treat insomnia. The definition of a sleeping pill addiction is an addiction or dependency that is present in an individual who shows three or more of the following symptoms; preoccupation with the drug, using more of the drug than prescribed, developing a tolerance to the drug, suffers from withdrawal symptoms if not taken, can’t stop taking the drug, development of other emotional or physical problems related to the drug use and seeks alternative drugs to seek the same effects. Read more »
Insomnia Sleep Easy Information
Insomnia Sleep Easy Information: What is insomnia? Basically insomnia is when you can’t fall asleep easy or stay asleep during the night. Sleep deprivation causes you to be less productive and restless during the day. Insomnia symptoms include: it takes more than 30 minutes for you to fall asleep, your sleep is sporadic, you wake up during the night and can’t fall back to sleep and/or you wake up too early in the morning. There are three types of insomnia; transient, short-term and long term or chronic. Read more »
Insomnia Symptoms
Chronic insomnia symptoms are usually a result of another medical or mental condition. Some people complain they can’t fall asleep easy or find themselves waking up during the night causing them to suffer from poor concentration, loss of memory, impaired motor coordination, irritability and restlessness during their day. To counteract these conditions many attempt to use self-treatment methods such as alcohol or antihistamines which may only compound their sleep deprivation. Insomnia is a sleep disorder which can be intermittent or chronic caused by a medical condition or not. If you have difficulty falling asleep, staying asleep, waking up too early and/or feeling tired upon waking you may be showing signs of insomnia. Read more »