Home > Disorders > Insomnia

Insomnia

Insomnia is a symptom of a sleeping disorder characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, even though having the opportunity to. Insomnia is a symptom. It is not a stand-alone diagnosis or a disease.

Back to Top

Definition of Insomnia

  • inability to obtain sufficient sleep, esp. when chronic; difficulty in falling or staying asleep; sleeplessness.
  • "difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or both" and it may be due to inadequate quality or quantity of sleep; typically followed by functional impairment while awake.

Insomniacs have been known to complain about being unable to close their eyes or being unable to rest their minds for more than a few minutes at a time. Both organic and non-organic insomnia constitute a sleep disorder.

In 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, approximately 64 million Americans suffer from insomnia on a regular basis each year. Commonly, Insomnia occurs 1.4 times more in women than in men.

Back to Top

Different Types of insomnia

Three types of insomnia have been clearly identified: transient, acute, and chronic. However, there are several different degrees of insomnia

  • Transient Insomnia - Transient insomnia lasts from days to weeks. It can be caused by another disorder, changes in sleep environment, the timing of sleep, severe depression, or by stress. Its consequences - sleepiness and impaired psychomotor performance - are similar to those of sleep deprivation.
  • Acute Insomnia - Acute insomnia is the inability to consistently sleep well through a period of between three weeks to six months.
  • Chronic insomnia - Chronic insomni lasts for years at a time. It can be caused by another disorder, or it can be a primary disorder. Its effects can vary according to its causes. They might include sleepiness, hallucinations, muscular fatigue, and/or mental fatigue. However, people with chronic insomnia often show increased alertness. Some people that live with this disorder see things as though they were happening in slow motion, whereas moving objects seem to blend together and can cause double vision.

Back to Top

References

ALL INSURANCE ACCEPTED
Problems With Your Health Insurance Company?

Is your insurance company not paying properly? Are they not paying your legitimate claim? We have provided this link for your convenience!

Dr. Lucy Maria Cooper, MS, DAOM, OMD, LAc
Dr. Lucy Maria Cooper

Call for an appointment at 818-775-1183

We are located in Northridge, CA. Serving the San Fernando Valley.

Call for an appointment at 818-775-1183

Please do not send text messages. Patients are only seen with an appointment.

Holistic Health:

An approach to how treatment should be applied.

Cleansing, detoxification and drainage of the key organs will promote immunity, circulation, weight loss and rejuvenation of the body.

Translation Tool
Interoperable Web page

Valid W3C XHTML 1.0 Strict Valid W3C CSS!