The Three Types of Insomnia
When you want to treat your sleep disorder, you should first distinguish the types of insomnia and their differences. All the types have different methods for each individual treatment. These three types of insomnia include transient (short-term), intermittent, and chronic.
Transient
Better known as short-term, transient insomnia is the condition of not being able to fall asleep or wake up feeling energized. It usually lasts for a few days up to a longer period of 4 weeks. It's normal for everyone to deal with this type at one point in their life due to some dramatic change or just something as simple as a change in your daily routine.
Transient is usually caused by stress that you feel over a short period and you take this stress with you to bed making it difficult to fall asleep. Disturbances in your bed time environment such as noise, uncomfortable temperatures, and a lot of physical activity close to bed time are all factors that can contribute to transient insomnia.
Unlike the other forms, this one generally doesn't require any type of treatment. The use of sleeping pills for dealing with the transient form is a bad idea, as it can cause your condition to worsen. The treatment option you should consider before anything else is focusing on what causes your stress and do your best to resolve the problem.
Intermittent
Usually lasting only a week or two occurring on and off, intermittent insomnia is not something you'd usually want to try and treat. If you think your performance throughout the day is less than it should be or you constantly feel fatigued, you may consider the use of sleeping pills. You should also note that the use of sleeping pills is not necessarily recommended as it can become addictive and worsen your symptoms.
Chronic
If you suffer from one of the medical conditions listed below, it might be the reason you're having a difficult time falling to sleep. Contributing conditions include:
- Kidney Disease
- Restless Legs Syndrome
- Asthma
- Heart Failure
- Arthritis
- Hyperthyroidism
- Parkinson's disease
- Sleep Apnea
There are several types of behavioral problems that can contribute to your condition rather than just medical conditions. Some of these problems include: a change in your work schedule, chronic stress, and the misuse of alcohol, drugs, or caffeine.
Unlike the other types, chronic insomnia is something you want to treat whether you do it with prescription medications or natural remedies. The first step to getting a better night's sleep is trying to find the underlying cause of your sleep condition. Your doctor will probably want to cure that instead of giving you sleeping pills because they can be addictive.
Your doctor will give you sleep medications as a last resort due to the unhealthy side effects they can have. Before it comes to this, you'll probably be asked to improve your sleeping habits and it's possible you'll be asked to undergo a few types of therapy for insomnia.
