What are the Different Types of Insomnia?
Any person who experiences frequent sleep disorder is basically experiencing Insomnia. This health ailment makes it difficult to get sleep or stay asleep. In other words, to experience insomnia, one does not need to stay up late. A sleep disturbance is indicated by difficulties getting asleep, remaining asleep, or waking up too early.
Without appropriate quantity and quality of sleep, you may not be able to operate normally. Not only your capacity to think but also recall information or actions can be affected. Also, your health and disease risk may be impacted because of it.
However, not everyone who experiences insomnia deals with the same problems. There are different types of Insomnia which lead to different causes and issues. Here is what you need to know about the types and how they can affect you.
Different Types of Insomnia You Must Know About
You may come across more than 3 types of insomnia and some of them are given below which you must know of.
General Insomnia
General Insomnia comes first in the list of the different types of insomnia. In this, the person might find it troubling to fall asleep, stay asleep, wake up too early, or combine any of those circumstances. These kinds of insomnia are either short-term or chronic and usually fall under primary or secondary categories. For example, anxiety may cause you to lose sleep, and insomnia can cause or worsen anxiety which can become dually challenging.
What Leads to This Insomnia?
Stress
Losing a loved one
Jet lag
Shift work
Poor sleeping environment.
Chronic Insomnia
If you are having any problems sleeping at least three days a week or once a month, then this insomnia is said to be chronic. Among the two types of insomnia, this could come under both primary as well as secondary chronic insomnia and is also known as Idiopathic insomnia. It lacks a clear-cut cause and underlying medical problems. Whereas, more people experience secondary insomnia which is known as comorbid insomnia. These types of insomnia disorders usually coexist with one another.
What Leads to This Insomnia?
Depression
Anxiety
Diabetes
Parkinson's disease
Hyperthyroidism
ADHD and more.
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Read Article: Why Does Insomnia Suck? |
Paradoxical Insomnia
Here comes another three types of insomnia that belong to the primary category. In this type of Insomnia, a person reports experiencing extreme sleep disturbances and trouble functioning throughout the day. A person will have difficulties sleeping for one or more nights with this type of Insomnia. In addition to this, one may feel a sharp awareness of either of their worlds is consistent with being awake.
What Leads to This Insomnia?
Schizophrenia
Alcohol dependency
Bipolar disorder
Maintenance Insomnia
Maintenance insomnia is among the 5 types of insomnia where a person finds it unable to fall asleep, stay asleep, wake up too early, or struggle to fall back asleep. Anyone who experiences this worst type of insomnia will worry about not being able to fall asleep or not receiving enough sleep. This creates a vicious cycle by disturbing sleep even more.
What Leads to This Insomnia?
Depression
Sleep apnea
Asthma
Restless leg syndrome and more.
What are the Risks of Insomnia?
There are many types of sleep problems that one may face. But it does not end with just sleep, there are health issues that one may undergo after experiencing insomnia. Some of the health risks that are associated with insomnia are listed below
Lower performance at work or school
Higher risk of accidents
Risk of depression
Increased risk of chronic medical health problems like heart disease
Can lead to obesity
Anger or mood swings
Risk of mental health problems
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Read Article: 8 Easy Ways to Treat Insomnia at Home |
How Can You Treat Insomnia?
Now that you know the types of sleep disturbances, you must know that there are treatments available. The cause of insomnia will determine the type of treatment needed. There are over-the-counter sleep medicines available which can control stress and manage acute insomnia at home.
You can take care of any underlying conditions that may be contributing to chronic insomnia and treat them. One such effective way to treat it is through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBI-I) which is known to be very helpful.
