Insomnia

It is a disorder where a person, despite having adequate time and a suitable bed, cannot fall asleep, wakes up frequently during the night, or wakes up very early in the morning and cannot go back to sleep.

Insomnia lasting for a few days or weeks due to momentary stress, such as an exam, job loss, or the death of a relative, is acute insomnia. Persistent conditions occurring at least 3 nights a week and lasting longer than 3 months are called chronic insomnia.

Extreme stress, anxiety, depression, excessive caffeine/alcohol consumption in the evenings, irregular shift work schedules, an overactive thyroid, and restless legs syndrome are the most common causes.

Poor sleep quality weakens the immune system. Constant daytime fatigue, traffic/work accidents due to lack of attention, memory problems, and irritability (aggression) reduce a person's quality of life to zero.

Clinical evaluation by a sleep specialist and sleep diaries filled out by the patient are the fundamentals. If there is a suspicion of an underlying physical disease like sleep apnea, a test is performed in a Sleep Laboratory (Polysomnography).

Sleep medications (sedatives) are short-term solutions and can be addictive. The real permanent treatment is the application of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I), which overcomes the fear of sleep, staying away from blue light, and using the bed only for sleep (sleep hygiene).