Seeking Treatment for Insomnia? Here’s What You Should Know
Insomnia makes falling asleep and staying asleep a nightly challenge. According to the CDC, one in 10 Americans suffer from chronic insomnia symptoms, including 75% of adults 65 years and older. Is there a treatment for insomnia?
Over time, insomnia significantly impacts a person’s overall health and well-being. Lack of deep sleep and restorative rest interferes with critical brain functions and may lead to health problems, weight gain, and poor performance at work or school.
Insomnia Symptoms
Along with struggles falling and staying asleep, insomnia creates daytime problems with drowsiness, focus, and memory.
Other symptoms typical of insomnia include:
- Awakening to early
- Inability to fall back asleep
- Irritability
- Moodiness
- Lack of motivation
- Failure to be fully present
Different Types of Insomnia
Insomnia is a frequent health concern among adults, whether short-term or chronic. Still, we are all different, and insomnia can affect each of us differently.
Short-term or acute insomnia is a brief period of difficulty sleeping, sometimes called “Adjustment Insomnia.” Significant life changes like losing a loved one, a major health diagnosis or other stressful life events often cause short-term insomnia.
Typically lasting less than three months, acute insomnia and its symptoms will often diminish and resolve over time once the stress is gone.
However, should this short-term insomnia linger, it can evolve into chronic insomnia. The inability to fall or stay asleep at least three nights per week for three months or more indicates chronic insomnia.
Treating Insomnia
There are numerous methods and strategies for dealing with insomnia, and they can be as straightforward as improving your sleep environment, establishing a healthy bedtime routine, or adopting other sleep hygiene best practices.
Those enduring short-term insomnia may only require these lifestyle modifications to overcome their sleep challenges.
Sleep Aids
Sometimes, using a prescription or over-the-counter sleep aid temporarily can help reset your sleep-wake cycle. Numerous medications and supplements, such as melatonin, are readily available and safe. But you should be careful to check with your doctor regarding their use, as many of these products can become habit-forming.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT is the primary treatment for insomnia, according to the American College of Physicians, and aids you in identifying and altering the negative thoughts that foster your sleep challenges. It can help you change behaviors, perceptions, and habits that hinder your sleep.
Identifying, understanding, and addressing your unhealthy and unrealistic perceptions and beliefs allows you to adopt new, more appropriate viewpoints and habits while you set aside those from your past.
More Treatment Strategies
Relaxation therapies like deep breathing, meditation, yoga, progressive muscle relaxation, and visualizations can aid in managing anxieties to help you decompress and improve your sleep quality.
Sleep Hygiene Education (SHE) can expose opportunities to alter the behaviors barring you from sleep, like minimizing caffeine and alcohol consumption, limiting screen time, eating before bed, and other habits harmful to your rest.
Other possibilities include:
- Stimulus Control Therapy (SRT)
- Biofeedback
- Acupuncture
- Light Therapy
- Hypnosis
- Aromatherapy
The Right Treatment for You
We are all different. Your insomnia is unique to you, and the best treatment to resolve your sleepless nights will be the one you can embrace fully. You may try several treatments and strategies before determining the best fit for your needs.
The critical thing to remember is that conquering your insomnia is not an impossible task, it is entirely doable, and the rewards are significant. Don’t give in to insomnia and settle for a lifetime of drowsy, unproductive days and sleepless nights.
At Sleep Science Academy, we help individuals just like you to move past the scourge of insomnia to live a more healthy and happy life.
Final Thoughts
Insomnia can be a big mountain to climb by yourself. Having support in your efforts can make all the difference and help to keep your focus on the prize. The team at Sleep Science Academy knows how true this is, and our professional sleep coaches have the experience and knowledge to make your battle with insomnia successful.
If you want that help, contact us today and schedule your complimentary sleep consultation with one of our sleep coaches and rest easy about your insomnia. In this article, you can learn more about our uniquely successful program and Dynamic Sleep Recalibration (DSR).