What is Insomnia?

Insomnia, falling asleep and the difficulty in maintaining sleep. In sleeplessness, it is complained that sleep is not sufficiently restful. Insomnia, also known as insomnia, occurs between 10 and 15 percent of adults. Insomnia, which is more prevalent especially in the elderly and women, may lead to a decrease in cognitive and psychomotor performance, deterioration in quality of life and mood and anxiety disorders.

Insomnia may cause tiredness in the morning, restless awakening, tendency to irritability, anger and fighting, and weakening of memory with cognitive problems. One of the most feared consequences of insomnia is weight gain. Women with low or poor sleep are more likely to experience weight problems than men. However, women have insomnia during periods of menopause and pregnancy. Insomnia is more common in women than men.

The time of sleep and the duration of sleep are determined by the biological clock. If the system that regulates sleep is disturbed, the immune system is disturbed. Insomnia, which invites to cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular and liver diseases, may lead to impaired consciousness. However, the Dutch Dr. According to a study led by Derk-Jan Dijk, it was determined that significant changes and deteriorations occurred in the 711 gene of subjects who were deprived of sleep for a week.

Insomnia is divided into acute and chronic:

Acute insomnia: This type of insomnia sometimes lasts up to 1 day and sometimes up to 3 weeks. Persons sleeping in a different place from their own home and bed, stress, anxiety, acute illness and pains, shift working hours, factors such as caffeine, alcohol, trigger acute insomnia. If it doesn’t turn into a feeling of misconduct and sleep anxiety, it will improve over time. For the treatment, the underlying cause must first be revealed. If insomnia persists for more than a few days, consult a physician and initiate medical treatment. In addition, the use of stress-reducing methods also helps pass acute insomnia. Chronic insomnia: Chronic insomnia is divided into 3 types. Cognitive and behavioral techniques applied by experts for the treatment of all types were found to be the most effective techniques in the long term.

Psychophysiological insomnia: It develops depending on conditioning. In this type of insomnia, fear of insomnia and its consequences may be seen. This fear is an anxiety disorder. Polysomnographic insomnia: The patient incorrectly detects sleep. There is an inconsistency between the recorded sleep and the sleep perceived by the patient.



Idiopathic insomnia: This is the lifelong type of insomnia that is diagnosed by exclusion of other causes.

In insomnia, the following groups are considered as risk groups and are advised to pay more attention to their sleep:

Frequent travelers, especially those who travel between time zones

Shift employees

elders

pregnant women

Menopausal period, menopausal period

Those who have to use medication

Alcohol addicts



The main causes of insomnia

Life style

The main cause of insomnia, sleep disorders is the lifestyle you choose. Lifestyle nutrition, smoking and alcohol consumption, work life, stress control, caffeine and tein consumption, nighttime work, you need to spend hours at the computer as you spend many items can be counted. All of this can affect your body’s natural time, causing disruption of your sleep pattern, difficulty in sleeping and other sleep disorders. You can get more quality and regular sleep by changing your lifestyle. You can keep a sleep log to better understand the effects of your life changes on your sleep. For example, a night you cannot sleep, list what you are doing, what kind of events you have, what you eat, and the reasons of insomnia.

disturbance

Some diseases and disease symptoms can cause disruption of sleep patterns. These diseases, such as asthma, physical or mental disorders such as depression can be. If you cannot find a specific answer to the insomnia or disturbance of sleep patterns, this may be a harbinger of other problems in your body. If this is the case, you should contact your doctor and find out what the cause is.

Clinical Sleep Disorders

If you do not have a specific condition that causes insomnia, the problem you may have may be a clinical sleep disorder. Clinical sleep disorders such as insomnia and narcolepsy, which are acute insomnia, may be the underlying causes of insomnia. It decreases the quality of sleep in other problems, such as sleep apnea, which makes breathing difficult during sleep due to thickening of fat tissue in the larynx. Because sleep apnea prevents deep sleep, you feel constantly tired and sleepy for the day.

Psychological Factors

It is known that more than 50 percent of chronic insomnia is psychological. These psychological disorders include anxiety, depression, stress, schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. People who have psychological problems feel tension in their muscles. Neck, shoulders, legs can not be relaxed, can not relax and muscular stiffness is experienced. Persons cannot enter sleep mode, as sleep is needed to relax. Treatment is only possible with the detection and improvement of the underlying psychiatric disorder.

Restless Leg Syndrome

Known as numbness and discomfort in the legs, this syndrome is alleviated as it moves. Women are twice as much as men. It can be seen both in the daytime and in the evening, but in the evening or at night it feels worse than in the day. The underlying causes of the restless legs syndrome are insufficiently known. Restless leg syndrome, which is thought to arise from biochemical and anotomic causes, may lead to chronic renal failure, iron deficiency and rheumatoid arthritis. Especially in antidepressant users and pregnant women is more common.

Circadian Rhythm Disorders

In this case, the biological clock of the body is incompatible with the actual clock. It may cause difficulty in sleeping or sleepiness at inappropriate times. It is more common with the seizure system, night shift workers, or those traveling with time shifts.

Caffeine and Alcohol Use, Drugs, Medical and Neurological Disorders

Excessive caffeine and alcohol consumption causes insomnia. However, pain, shortness of breath, frequent urination, such as factors can cause insomnia. Patients with Parkinson’s disease, those with Alzheimer’s disease, and those with disorders such as multiinfarct dementia can be seen. However, antidepressant drugs, decongestants and corticosteroids may also cause insomnia. For treatment, the underlying cause must first be eliminated.

In addition, the following factors and diseases may cause insomnia.

Hormonal diseases

Chronic and painful syndromes

Chronic fatigue syndrome

Congestive heart failure

Chest pain caused by heart disease

Acid reflux disease

disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases

Recurrent asthma attacks at night

Obstructive sleep apnea

What should be considered for a healthy sleep?

People who suffer from sleep problems can benefit greatly if they pay attention to the quality of their sleep. The following points should be observed for a good quality and healthy sleep:

Before bedtime, it should not be hungry or satiated.

Do not drink large amounts of caffeine, alcoholic beverages, cola, tea and cigarettes before and during bedtime.

Do not take diuretic drugs late at night.

Flu and dietary drugs should be used in a controlled manner.

Activities that create more excitement during the evening should be avoided.

Determining a time, boarding and boarding in the morning at any time should be removed from the bed. In this way, the biorhythm will be regulated.

Sleep should not enter the bed before coming.

When the sleep escapes, no effort should be made to sleep, should be removed from bed and spent time in another room. The bed should only be returned if the sleep is again.

Pillows and beds should be preferred.

There should be no TV or radio in the bedroom.

The light and sound insulation of the bedroom should be ensured.

Do not sleep during the day.

Regular and adequate exercise should be done during the day.

According to a statement from the United States National Sleep Foundation , determining the ideal sleeping time of a person is directly related to that person’s age. According to the work of the Foundation, the average ideal hours of sleep offered by age are as follows:

Newborn baby (0-3 months old): A newborn baby should sleep between 14 and 17 hours daily. These figures may be between 12 and 18 according to the conditions.

4-11 months old baby: These babies need to sleep between 12 and 15 hours a day.

Children from 1 to 2 years: 11 to 14 hours of sleep per day is adequate for these children.

Children aged 3-5 years: These children who have not started school yet need to sleep 10 to 13 hours a day.

6-13 age group: It is considered healthy for children to sleep between 9 and 11 hours a day.

14 -17 age group: It is recommended to sleep between 8 and 10 hours per day for this group of adolescents.

18-64 age group: Young adults and adults sleep 7 to 9 hours a day, sleep is considered to have completed the ideal sleep time.

65 years and over: 65 of those who sleep, 7 to 8 hours a day to sleep.

When to get professional help for insomnia?

As insomnia is effective on your entire life, it is a problem that you need to find a solution in a short time. If you make changes to your lifestyle, change medications you use, reduce sleep-catching factors like caffeine and take care of your diet, you may need professional help if you are insomnia.

According to the answers to the following questions, you can go to a sleep clinic to learn about the alternatives to your problem and start the treatment process.

If you have insomnia three or more nights a week for several weeks

If you are extremely snoring, if you sleep in your sleep, you are experiencing short-term breaths while you sleep

If you wake up after a few hours without a specific reason for a night when you think you will sleep all night and this situation lasts for weeks

Breathlessness and chest pains

If you have difficulty doing daily routine activities as a result of insomnia

Insomnia is an important problem that affects millions of people around the world and reduces the quality of life. Most insomnia complaints are temporary and easy to solve problems. However, in some cases, insomnia can cause significant changes in your body, which may result in your loss of health. So listen to your body and decide which stage the problem is and get professional help.

Warning !

It is a proposal and Information article that has been compiled from different sources. There is no definitive diagnosis and treatment. Ask your doctor about any health problems. Remember, the treatment methods applied in health problems may vary according to the biology of individuals, hereditary characteristics, age, height, weight differences, allergic aspects and dozens of such conditions. Only your doctor can help you in the treatment of your health problems.