Insomnia can be described best as the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep, despite having the opportunity to sleep — it is described by many professionals as the most common type of sleep disorders and it is estimated that it affects over 12 million people in the United States.
The condition doesn’t seem much when in text form but when you consider the economic toll it takes on patient in terms of lost productivity as well as cost of medication and clinical visits, you will understand that it is a serious disorder. It’s also a risk factor for other important health conditions including cardiovascular, hypertension, and even mortality.
My experience with insomnia had me feeling out of control and frustrated. I didn’t understand how hard I found it to do something that is loved by kings and servants alike. My struggle with insomnia saw me blow up important appointments and meetings. My type of insomnia was kind of funny and heartbreaking. I couldn’t find sleep when I wanted to sleep, but when I am needed to work, I would get these sleep lapses when working and it almost cost me my recent job like it had with my two previous jobs
Where in the Brain Is Insomnia? How in the World Should We Treat It?
Sleep research suggests that insomnia isn’t merely a disorder of not getting enough sleep. The common view of sleep as an either-or activity may see insomnia get passed as a problem with the sleep switch – being on the “wake” position too often – but another theory suggests that rather than having one main sleep-wake switch, “we have lots of sleep-wake switches throughout our brain and our experience of sleep may depend on the number of those switches that are at a particular point in time. This simple theory about sleep has led researchers to have a new view of insomnia as a sleep-wake regulation that is characterized by increased activation of some specific neuronal structures that during sleep are in the wake-like position.
Insomnia treatment
Usually we think insomnia treatment as focusing on sleep disruption only. The modern treatments of insomnia that have been proven to work are actually treatments that may be targeted as well to network dysregulation or a combination of sleep problems and network dysregulation. These two together has been proven to improve insomnia symptoms.
There are so many speculative treatments available for insomnia. Some employ magnetism; transcranial magnetic stimulation, TMS, is believed to help suppress self-referential thoughts, which are common in insomnia patients. Other treatments will focus only on getting the individual to sleep. If we leave these more speculative treatments aside and focus on what we actually know will work, in many ways we already know how to treat insomnia.
1. Cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia – it is referred as CBT-I in short. It has been found effective in treating insomnia without the use of medication. This treatment stresses good sleeping routines centered on four basic principles:
- Reduce your time in bed.
- Get up at the same time every day of the week, no matter how much you slept the night before.
- Don’t go to bed unless you’re sleepy.
- Don’t stay in bed unless you’re asleep.
These methods call for discipline and consistency. You will have to have a strict routine for it to be effective.
2. Somulin– this is a natural supplement that is made to help people with difficulties in sleeping. Unlike most sleeping pills that are used to help with sleep problems, Somulin natural sleep supplement doesn’t make the user feel drowsy upon waking. Somulin is proven to have unique abilities to help in relaxation, reduce anxiety and stress, improve sleep and encourages healthy sleep patterns, awaken feeling invigorated, and provides no unpleasant side effects. I used this supplement when I was fighting my sleep condition and truth be told, it helped me more than any of the sleep therapies I took.
