INSOMNIA DISORDER
Insomnia disorders are the most common of all sleep disorder and are characterised by difficulties in getting to sleep, staying asleep or waking up early and struggling back to sleep. Insomnia disorder often occurs in comorbidity with mental disorders like bipolar disorder, generalised anxiety disorder and schizophrenia.
It must be noted that some individuals experience insomnia which impacts in their functioning but do meet the diagnostic criteria for insomnia disorder. This means that experiences of insomnia could be more than the documented 30 % of the world population. For one to be diagnosed as having insomnia disorder, they should have experienced sleep difficulties for at least three months. Furthermore, the difficulties should cause significant problems or distress either in a person’s daily functioning, workplace or school set-up.
Although insomnia can occur at any age, it is somewhat influenced by age as it most commonly starts in young adulthood. Age is also a factor in the type of insomnia as young adults often have problems getting to sleep whereas problems staying asleep are mostly attributed to adults in middle-age to those older.
A mental health professional doing an assessment on an individual with insomnia symptoms should assess whether the individual is using medications that has a sideeffect of interfering with sleep. In addition, substance use disorders can result in insomnia and hence this should be also explored in the assessment. Some medical conditions like cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease and gastrooesophageal reflux disease to name a few; can also affect sleep leading to insomnia. Insomnia in individuals who smoke can also be exacerbated by the stimulant nicotine, a chemical in tobacco. Symptoms of insomnia can also be brought on by stressful or traumatic life situations.
Insomnia can be managed by employing universal sleep hygiene measures through lifestyle changes, keeping regular sleep hours and avoid excessive use of caffeine products. Products that contain caffeine include coffee and energy drinks should be avoided as they disrupt sleep patterns. Although alcohol has been documented to aid sleep, it also prevents one to get into deeper sleep resulting in one waking up earlier; therefore, alcohol must be avoided. There is of course medical interventions and psychological help for those with insomnia disorder.