Mental Health

5 Interesting Facts about Insomnia

By Cheri Cheng | Update Date: Sep 09, 2014 02:49 PM EDT

If you are having a lot of difficulties sleeping or staying asleep, you could be suffering from the sleeping disorder insomnia. Since insomnia can lead to severe sleep deprivation, which would impact health, it is important to discuss any of your symptoms with your doctors. Leaving insomnia untreated can lead to potentially dangerous health risks.

Here are Five interesting facts about Insomnia:

1. Insomnia could be Predisposed

Some experts have suggested that insomnia could be predisposed. Even after factoring certain variables, some people are simply just better at shutting off their brains at night than others are. For people with difficulties, causes could range from underlying biological conditions to poor sleeping habits that were developed and reinforced during childhood. Regardless of the cause, treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy could help train the brain and teach it how to relax and fall asleep.

2. Precipitating and Perpetuating Factors

For people who start to have sleeping problems, focusing on precipitating and perpetuating factors can help. Precipitating factors are causes that might have triggered sleeping problems, such as an increase level of stress. Perpetuating factors are the habits that people do that might be preventing the sleeping problems from getting any better. By identifying these factors, people can hopefully change their behaviors and enjoy more nights of good rest.

3. Insomnia is linked to Depression

One of the reasons why treating insomnia is important is because several experts have linked it to depression. Depression can either be the cause of the insomnia or the result of it. Regardless, getting treated for one or both of the conditions could potentially relieve symptoms.

4. Pills Might not Help

Many people with sleeping problems might turn to sleeping pills. However, these pills are not always the answer, especially if the sleep problems are chronic. Instead, people should try to make their bedrooms optimal for sleeping. Investing in good curtains, pillows and a mattress could all help. Changing up one's sleeping routine can also help. Avoid consuming caffeine for at least 12 hours before sleeping and try to sleep at the same time everyday to create a rhythm.

5. Paying Attention can Worsen Symptoms

Some doctors will ask patients to keep sleep diaries so that the doctors can identify potential triggers that are disrupting sleep. Even though this form of treatment could help, it can also worsen sleeping problems. Some people might put a lot of attention on their sleeping patterns and habits, preventing them from being able to relax and actually fall asleep.

Sleeping problems will not get better overnight. Since sleep deprivation is bad for overall health, it is important that people are open to different treatment methods that could potentially help them.

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