If you haven’t been getting enough sleep lately and you feel drowsy or de-energized throughout the day,
you are probably suffering from Insomnia.
What is Insomnia?
Insomnia is one of the most common healthcare problems across the world, affecting men and women of all ages. The definition of Insomnia is rather simple. It refers to the inability to stay asleep or fall asleep. People are prone to suffering from various types of insomnia. The most common type is short-term or Acute Insomnia that tends to recede within a few days itself or with some over-the-counter medications or minor changes in lifestyle.
Insomnia that is ongoing for a long time and is seriously affecting the quality of your life is the more serious, chronic type that needs a proper, professional medical approach. Chronic Insomnia is established when an individual is unable to sleep properly for at least three nights during a week, for more than 30 days. The world ‘insomniacs’ usually refers to the chronic sufferers.
Classical symptoms of Insomnia include:
1. Staying Awake Instead of Sleeping
The most basic symptom of insomnia is the inability to fall asleep. Most insomniacs keep trying various kinds of self-remedies to help them fall asleep. It is fairly common to hear insomniacs opine that a quick shot of alcohol in any form “helps them sleep at night”. Some insomniacs have trouble going to sleep and some tend to wake up too early and others tend to sleep in small bouts, each lasting a few minutes. The most troublesome form of insomnia is among insomniacs who are almost devoid of sleep for days.
2. Waking-up Exhausted
It is a medically-established fact that without a proper night’s sleep, most people cannot feel refreshed. In the absence of sufficient sleep, the entire range of metabolic processes within the body suffers. This leads to a typical kind of feeling upon waking-up that is quite similar to having a hangover or light-headedness.
3. Daytime Laziness
The most visible symptom of insomnia is an overall sense of lethargy. This condition is something similar to the feeling of malaise when we are sick. This daytime sleepiness or a feeling of drowsiness can take a serious toll on the workplace and social performance of the individual. The sufferer is bound to feel sluggish, unable to think clearly and perform simple physical tasks with alertness. This is often referred to as “feeling feverish” or “being tired all the time”.
4. Increased Irritability & Mood Swings
With the most basic amount of sleep missing from daily schedule, an individual is likely to become more irritable. Such folks are highly vulnerable to bouts of anger, anxiety and depression. Their behavior can become rather abnormal. They might develop a serious deficit in their ability to recall or pay attention.
5. Chronic Insomnia Symptoms
When insomnia symptoms are not diagnosed and treated early, they lead to serious complications. These symptoms are far worse than the ones discussed above. For instance, the patient might become permanently depressed. This doesn’t refer to seasonal or primary, short-term depression but a medical condition where the uptake of neurotransmitters in the brain is impaired.
This kind of depression can be resolved via medical treatment including psychological counseling, psychiatric help or cognitive therapy only. An insomniac is prone to having lower energy levels throughout the day which in turn leads to lower metabolic rate. This in turn fuels the body’s weight-gaining tendencies, leading to obesity, particularly abdominal weight gain.
Without proper sleep, the body’s biological cycle is disrupted that leads to compromised immunity, making the individual more prone to falling prey to seasonal infections and taking very long to recuperate from the smallest of medical problems.
