Insomnia increases with age. It affects about 40 percent of women and 30 percent of men. Insomnia includes:
- difficulty in falling asleep – called as sleep-onset insomnia
- waking up too early and not being able to fall back asleep – sleep maintenance insomnia
- frequent awakenings
- waking up feeling un-refreshed.
Symptoms of insomnia include sleepiness, fatigue, besides decreased alertness, poor concentration, as well as decreased performance, depression during the day and night, and muscle aches besides an overly emotional state. Temporary insomnia can be brought on by stress, illness, pain, diet, or medications as well as disruptions to circadian rhythms. When symptoms occur more than a few times a week and also affect daily functioning, the person should consult a health care provider. Chronic insomnia has a much greater mortality risk than smoking, high blood pressure as well as heart disease.
Treatment for sleep maintenance insomnia can include medication and behavioral strategies. Depending on how severe the case is, doctors may prescribe non-benzodiazepine hypnotics, antidepressants as well as hypnotics. The behavioral strategies include:
- Sleep restriction — use the bed only for sleeping and staying in bed only when sleeping
- Stimulus control — reserving the bedroom for sleep as well as sex only;
Relaxation techniques;
Avoid caffeine as well as alcohol;
Cognitive behavioral therapy with the aid of a psychologist.
Sleep maintenance insomnia leads to frequent and prolonged nocturnal awakenings, mainly in the second half of the night. Many new sleep medications introduced recently address sleep maintenance insomnia more than falling asleep.
Sleep onset insomnia is more prevalent in young adults whereas sleep maintenance insomnia is common in the elderly. Delayed sleep phase syndrome is common in adolescence, thus t makes sense that young adults are more susceptible to sleep onset insomnia. Hence there are many different medications available to treat these kinds of insomnia.