03 Aug 2018

Definition

Insomnia (insomnia) is a disorder associated with difficulties in initiating and / or maintaining sleep. Insomnia is a quantitative and / or qualitative disorder of sleep with a concomitant deterioration in overall well-being and quality of life.

Causes

Stress, neurosis, mental, neurological, somatic diseases, the use of psychotropic drugs, alcohol abuse, toxic factors, endocrine-metabolic diseases, adverse external conditions (noise, humidity), shift work, jet lag, sleep hygiene. Causes of insomnia associated with the violation of the "sleep-wake" cycle, leading to a violation of melatonin secretion: psychophysiological factors (psycho-emotional and physical overstrain), endogenous factors of various diseases, exogenous factors (noise, time zone change).

Risk factors

Duration of sleep less than 5 hours, adverse heredity, difficulty breathing, overweight, circadian rhythm disorders, immaturity of the brain systems responsible for sleep and wakefulness regulation, stress, use of stimulants (caffeine, alcohol, tobacco) in children and adolescents, winter season.



Symptoms

Nocturnal symptoms:

- difficulty in falling asleep and / or sleeping;

- intermittent sleep (more than 3 awakenings per night);

- short duration of sleep (less than 6.5 hours), early awakening with the inability to fall asleep again;

- lack of a sense of freshness, recovery from sleep.

Daytime Symptoms:

- fatigue;

- drowsiness;

- increased excitability, irritability;

- anxiety.

Prevention and treatment

Prevention

Establish a daily schedule and observe the time of going to bed and waking up, waking up every day at the same time, regardless of when the sleep occurred, reduce the time spent in bed without sleep;



- avoid daytime sleep;

- increase the load in the afternoon, after lunch, and stop them 3-4 hours before going to bed;

- avoid taking foods containing caffeine and nicotine for 6 hours before going to bed;

- avoid excess fluid intake before going to bed;

- Ensure silence and comfortable temperature in the bedroom;

- remove the clock from the bedroom;

- use hypnotics only in rare cases.



Biologically active additives - Mystic, Yantavit, FET-X (chromium picolinate), Morpheus, etc.