The Ten Most Common Insomnia Symptoms

Insomnia is a very common condition that affects one in three of us at some point over the course of our lives. Insomnia symptoms are characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep and/or staying asleep, or sleep of poor quality. Insomnia symptoms are typically followed by a reduced ability to function while awake. The condition is generally diagnosed after insomnia symptoms are experienced for more than one month.

Insomnia symptoms can have a significant impact on a person’s quality of life. There are two types of insomnia symptoms”primary and secondary.

Primary insomnia involves insomnia symptoms not directly associated with any other health condition or problem. Secondary insomnia symptoms occur when sleep problems are the result of some other health condition (like asthma, depression, anxiety, arthritis, cancer, or heartburn), pain, prescribed medication or a substance one is using. The causality of insomnia symptoms is essential for proper diagnosis and treatment.

Because the identification of insomnia symptoms can be helpful in treating them and the underlying causes of the sleep issues, it would be useful to review the most common signs of insomnia:

General insomnia symptoms

Obviously, the most common symptom of insomnia is the inability to sleep. Insomnia symptoms are different for everybody, but usually manifest themselves in one of three forms:

1. Difficulty falling asleep when going to bed
2. Awakening during the night
3. Awakening earlier than desired

The next set of insomnia symptoms relate to the effects that typically occur the day after a night of poor or restless sleep:

4. Daytime Sleepiness. An obvious after-effect of a lack of sleep, the body and the mind need rest to function properly. Without that sleep, you will likely not have the energy to perform at normal levels during the day.
5. Related to the above, insomnia symptoms tend to lead to problems with concentration. The lack of good sleep at night frequently causes difficulty paying attention or focusing on tasks during the next day.
6. Memory Difficulties.  Cognition is impaired with sleep deprivation, and this affects working memory as well as the ability to focus, which can make many daytime tasks potentially hazardous.

Some of the common insomnia symptoms can also be linked to other, non-insomnia related conditions. The effects of a lack of sleep can be cumulative, and many of these symptoms may be experienced at different periods during which an individual is having trouble getting quality sleep:

7. While the immediate response to sleep deprivation is the irritability associated with œgrouchiness, which can have negative effects interpersonally and occupationally, with prolonged uncontrolled insomnia there is an increased risk of developing clinical depression or an anxiety disorder.
8. Bouts of poor physical coordination, which are generally displayed as an increase in errors or accidents. A stumble up the stairs is one thing, but a mistake made while behind the wheel of automobile may have very severe repercussions.
9. Tension headaches are commonly experienced during periods of poor sleep.
10. Lastly, worrying about sleep is a symptom in and of itself. The awareness of insomnia symptoms often give way to anxiety about sleep, which can lead to worsening insomnia.

If you feel that you may be experiencing insomnia symptoms related to depression, West Coast TMS Institute, located in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, is available to help you. Please contact us if you feel you may be experiencing symptoms of depression or insomnia symptoms, and would like to set up a consultation.

If you found this post on insomnia symptoms interesting and want to learn more about other behavioral health issues, please check out our next post on types of depression.

The Top Five Causes of Insomnia

Time to Sleep

Getting a good nights sleep on a regular basis is as important to overall health as a proper diet and regular exercise. Sleep is a necessary process that allows us to function, both intellectually and physically, at a level we expect during our waking hours. People who struggle with the various causes of insomnia, defined as the inability to obtain an adequate amount or quality of sleep, report a lower quality of life compared to people who do not have any sleep issues.

The lack of quality sleep can affect people in many different ways. Both physical and mental abilities are impaired, which often affects ones ability to achieve in school and in the workplace. Insomnia has also been linked to obesity and an increase in weight. There are other medical repercussions as well, such as reduced immune function and increased likelihood of long-term diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes.

There are several risk factors for the condition, all of which can be causes of insomnia, and some of these factors cannot be controlled. Women, individuals over 60 and those with a mental health disorder are all more likely to experience insomnia.

Other factors are more subjective and temporary in nature. Stress is one of the most common causes of insomnia. Working nights or changing shift times can lead to problems sleeping, and long-distance travel and/or jet lag often leads to bouts of insomnia.

Treating the disorder is most often a matter of identifying the causes of insomnia and altering the behaviors or actions taken during waking hours.

Top five causes of insomnia

1) Food and drink (including alcohol): Ones diet has a profound effect on his or her ability to get a good nights sleep. This is especially true of anything consumed after mid-afternoon. Large amounts of food, particularly protein and processed sugar-rich foods, require more time to digest and can cause disruptions in sleep patterns. In addition, individuals should avoid drinking caffeine late in the day.

2) Activity level: A healthy lifestyle, complete with regular exercise, is one of the best ways to ensure a restful nights sleep and prevent causes of insomnia. Twenty to thirty minutes of vigorous exercise a day is an important part of the sleep/wake cycle. It should be noted, however, that exercise has a stimulating effect in the short term and should be completed 2-3 hours before bed to allow the body to return to a restful status.

3) Bedroom/sleeping environment: For most people, the ideal sleeping environment is reasonably cool, dark, and quiet. If you are having trouble sleeping, it is worthwhile to experiment with these and other variables, as well as with bedding and pillows to determine what works best for you. This can also assist in preventing some of the causes of insomnia.

4) Medications: Unfortunately, the type of medication you are taking may be one of the causes of insomnia. Trouble sleeping is a side effect of several medications, both prescription and over-the-counter. Consult with your prescribing doctor to ascertain if your prescription could be one of the causes of insomnia.

5) Stress and anxiety: Thoughts of stress and/or anxiety related to work, school, health and family have a tendency to surface at night, either while trying to get to sleep or later, and can be one of the causes of insomnia. Anxiety can also contribute to feelings of more serious depression.

After reading this post on the causes of insomnia, if you feel that you may be experiencing insomnia symptoms that are possibly related to depression or anxiety, feel free to contact West Coast TMS Institute.

It is possible to sleep well again

Insomnia:  A Sleeping Disorder Commonly Seen With Depression

Do you frequently suffer through long, sleepless nights and have difficulties falling or staying asleep?  Or do you commonly awaken too early in the morning?   Do you often wake up in the morning feeling like you’ve had a restless night, wanting more rest, and still exhausted?  If you experience any of these sleep difficulties and feel like your ability to function in your work or personal life has been negatively effected, it is important to consider getting evaluated for a sleeping disorder.

If you suffer from insomnia, you are not alone.  What is insomnia?  It is a sleeping disorder that affects about 30% of the general population.  While 25% of insomnia is not associated with a medical or psychiatric condition (primary insomnia), 75% of insomnia is secondary to other illnesses, most commonly major depressive disorder, anxiety, drugs or alcohol, and chronic pain.  Insomnia sleeping disorder can also be caused by medical conditions such as obstructive sleep apnea, restless legs, congestive heart failure and emphysema. Even medications can cause a sleeping disorder like insomnia.

In some instances, insomnia may be a minor sleeping disorder as a result of temporary external factors or an inconsistent sleep routine. For example, someone that goes to sleep and awakens at different times each day, exercises or watches television late into the evening, or is ingesting a lot of caffeine is more likely to trigger a sleeping disorder.  Sometimes sleeping disorder, or insomnia, is due to mild work or personal stress that is passing.  Basic lifestyle changes, called “Healthy Sleep Hygiene” may be all that is needed to reverse such sleeping disorder.  However, with more serious insomnia, more comprehensive support and treatments may be required, such as cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia and/or sleep medications.

Untreated, persistent insomnia is a major risk factor for clinical depression, the occurrence of motor vehicle or work-related accidents, work absenteeism, and interpersonal and occupational dysfunction.

Populations at Risk for Insomnia-related Sleeping Disorder

Insomnia is more common in women, the elderly, people who are unemployed, widowed or divorced.  Lower socioeconomic status is also associated with insomnia.  Further, patients suffering from psychiatric illnesses are much more likely to experience insomnia.

Solutions to Insomnia-related Sleeping Disorder

If you suffer from disruptive or chronic form of insomnia, consider seeking a qualified physician, such as a primary care doctor, psychiatrist or a sleep specialist, who can distinguish between primary and secondary forms of insomnia and direct you towards the appropriate treatment.

PRIMARY INSOMNIA

Often, improving sleep hygiene and the sleep environment can treat primary insomnia.  This includes addressing this sleeping disorder as follows:

(1) Waking up and going to bed at the same time daily

(2) Exercising regularly during the first half of the day, not after 5:00PM

(3) Avoiding caffeine and cigarettes any time after 3:00pm

(4) Avoiding naps during the daytime

(5) Drinking alcohol in moderation; and avoiding alcohol for 4-5 hours prior to bedtime

(6) When having trouble falling asleep, do not lay awake and watch the clock.  Get out of the bedroom and do a quiet activity until you are tired (the bedroom needs to be associated with sleep, not anxiety).

(7) Keeping the bedroom cool, dark, and quiet.

(8) Avoiding eating, reading or watching TV in bed; bed should only be associated with sex and sleep;

Primary insomnia can also be effectively treated with cognitive behavioral therapy and biofeedback, and can also be addressed with hypnotic medications, such as Ambien or Ativan, or sedating antidepressants, such as trazodone, doxepin, or mirtazapine.

SECONDARY INSOMNIA AND HYPERSOMNIA SLEEPING DISORDER

If the insomnia is a symptom of another medical condition, it is important to seek medical care to fully identify and treat the illness causing the sleeping disorder.  The best place to start your insomnia work-up is with your general physician, who can get the appropriate laboratory tests and conduct a full medical history and physical to narrow down the possible causes of insomnia.  Sometimes medical conditions, such as cardiac illness, sleep apnea, and peri-menopausal hot flushes are suspected causes of insomnia. Alcohol or drug dependence may also be a factor contributing to insomnia; if so, your doctor will provide you with the appropriate recommendations.

Psychiatric Causes of Insomnia-related Sleeping Disorder

35% of patients suffering from insomnia have been found to also experience psychiatric problems, such as anxiety and depression.  Post-traumatic Disorder can cause recurrent nightmares and anxiety that trigger insomnia.  Generalized anxiety, panic disorders, and OCD are also associated with insomnia. Clinical depression is the most common psychiatric condition linked to insomnia, and patients suffering from insomnia secondary to depression are often referred for psychotherapy and/or psychiatric care.

Depression and Sleeping Disorder

People with pre-existing insomnia alone are more likely to experience a depressive episode over the ensuing year.  Alternatively, Insomnia is also a symptom of clinical depression; sleeping disorder occurs in about 40% to 60% of depressed patients.  Often simply treating the depression to remission causes the sleeping disorder of insomnia to completely resolve.  However, many depressed patients only partially respond to antidepressant medication, with insomnia as one of the residual symptoms of depression.  Research shows that lingering insomnia is a predictor of depressive relapse, and should be addressed as soon as possible to prevent worsening of symptoms.  Ironically, however, while antidepressant medications can treat insomnia both directly and indirectly, it is not uncommon for antidepressant drugs to actually cause insomnia, resulting in patients requiring an additional medication.

Sometimes the sleeping disorder associated with depression is hypersomnia, or excessive sleeping.  Paradoxically, hypersomnia is a sleeping disorder that can actually co-occur with insomnia.  For example, a depressed person may take hours to fall asleep (“early insomnia”) and once asleep, sleeps for more than 10 hours daily (hypersomnia).

TMS Therapy Can Help with Depression-Associated Sleeping Disorder

Patients with depression insufficiently responsive to psychotherapy or antidepressant medication treatment can now look towards transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, as a viable treatment option for depression, since effective treatment of depression can often resolve the associated sleeping disorder, such as insomnia or hypersomnia. TMS is a relatively new treatment that uses a pulsed magnetic field designed to affect brain cell activity in very specific regions of the brain associated with mood regulation.  Patients receive TMS treatments while awake without sedation. TMS is FDA approved, relatively safe with few side effects, and is made available by the West Coast TMS Institute.  About half of depressed patients who have failed to respond to 1 prior medication trial experience significant improvement of their depressive symptoms with TMS therapy; and approximately one third of these medication-refractory patients go into complete remission. This compares favorably with antidepressant medication treatment, with far less potential side effects.  TMS can treat depression and thereby affect the secondary insomnia or hypersomnia sleeping disorder.

To maximize your chances of effectively addressing insomnia, it is important to make sure your insomnia is diagnosed correctly as either a primary or a secondary condition; then, the appropriate treatment can be pursued for the sleeping disorder.

If you found this post on sleeping disorder interesting then you may be interested in our post on the causes of insomnia.

Insomnia Can Be Treated

What is Insomnia

Insomnia is a very common disorder in which someone has trouble falling and/or staying asleep. It is estimated that 1 in 3 people have some form of insomnia at some point in their lives. It can have a very disruptive effect on one’s daily habits, as a lack of sleep can cause poor performance at work and irritability that strains personal relationships, and it is one of the major causes of depression.

So what is insomnia?

This sleeping disorder can be considered either chronic (regularly occurring) or acute (short-term). Chronic insomnia is defined as having symptoms at least three nights a week for more than a month, while acute insomnia is more sporadic.

What is Insomnia?: Types of Insomnia

There are two categories of insomnia: primary insomnia and secondary insomnia. Primary insomnia is when a person is having sleep problems that are not directly associated with any other health condition or problem. Secondary insomnia occurs when sleep problems are the result of some other health condition, pain, prescribed medication or a substance a person is using.

Clearly, the determination of causality for insomnia is essential to a proper diagnosis and treatment. Secondary insomnia is the more common of the two types, as more than 8 out of 10 people who have insomnia are believed to have it.

What is insomnia:  What are the most likely causes?

The causes of insomnia may originate from a variety of places. Some of these include:

• Significant life stress (job loss or change, death of a loved one, divorce, moving)
• Depression and/or anxiety
• Environmental factors like noise, light or extreme temperatures (hot or cold)
• Commonly prescribed medications (for example those used to treat colds, allergies, depression, high blood pressure and asthma)
• Caffeine and other stimulants
• Tobacco or other nicotine products
• Alcohol or other sedatives
• Emotional disorders such as depression, anxiety and PTSD
• Neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease
• Conditions that cause chronic pain, such as arthritis and headache disorders
• Menopause and hot flashes

What is insomnia and its treatment?

Once a person experiences insomnia, it is important to identify the underlying causes of the disorder before selecting a method of treatment. Secondary insomnia, in particular, is often resolved or improved without treatment. In these cases, once the source of insomnia is identified, the problem can be corrected soon after it starts. For example, if caffeine is causing your insomnia, stopping or limiting your consumption may eradicate the symptoms. Recognizing the factors listed above that may interfere with sleep is an important first step in receiving treatment for what is insomnia.

Other methods of treating insomnia include:

• Stimulus control therapy is an option for patients that have conditioned themselves to associate their bed, or sleep in general, with a negative response. As part of treatment, different aspects of the sleep process, such as bedtime or removing TVs and reading from bedroom, are altered.

•  Cognitive behavioral therapy: As part of this therapy, patients are taught improved sleep habits and relieved of counter-productive assumptions about sleep. The primary goal of this type of treatment is to remove anxiety from the sleep process.

• Prescription drugs: There are a variety of prescription drugs that have been shown to treat insomnia available through a physician.

What is Insomnia and its Affect on Your Life?

If you feel that you may be experiencing insomnia due to depression, West Coast TMS Institute  of Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, has medical professionals who are available to help you. Please contact us if you feel you may be experiencing symptoms of depression or have questions about what is insomnia.

* If you were interested in our “What is Insomnia” post, you might be interested in our post on Insomnia, A Sleeping Disorder Commonly Seen With Depression.