Chronic Insomnia: Treatment, Causes, Symptoms, and More (2023)

FAQs

What are the side effects of insomnia treatment? ›

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) can help you control or eliminate negative thoughts and actions that keep you awake and is generally recommended as the first line of treatment for people with insomnia. Typically, CBT-I is equally or more effective than sleep medications.

Melatonin: Melatonin is considered one of the safest over-the-counter sleep aids, with few side effects. A prescription drug called ramelteon is designed to mimic the effects of melatonin. Like melatonin, it is not considered habit-forming and it does not affect balance.

Insomnia is rarely an isolated medical or mental illness but rather a symptom of another illness to be investigated by a person and their medical doctors. In other people, insomnia can be a result of a person's lifestyle or work schedule.

In addition to anxiety over the stressors of life, there are several other reasons for insomnia. Some medical conditions such as chronic pain, hyperthyroidism, allergies or sinus issues, asthma, gastrointestinal problems such as reflux and neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease can make it hard to sleep.

Most people can recover from sleep deprivation with only a few — or even just one — nights where they get enough quality sleep. However, some people may need several nights of quality sleep to recover from long-term sleep deprivation.

Anxiety, stress, and depression are some of the most common causes of chronic insomnia. Having difficulty sleeping can also make anxiety, stress, and depression symptoms worse. Other common emotional and psychological causes include anger, worry, grief, bipolar disorder, and trauma.

In particular, vitamins B6, B12, C, D, and E can improve or lower your sleep quality and duration. Vitamin C deficiency and both lack and an excess of vitamin B6 in the body might affect your sleep or cause insomnia.

In January 2022, the FDA approved Quviviq (daridorexant) to treat insomnia in adults. This medication can be helpful both for falling and staying asleep. Studies suggest it's both safe and effective. Most people tolerated daridorexant well in studies.

What is the first line treatment for chronic insomnia? ›

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the preferred first-line treatment for chronic insomnia in adults and has been endorsed as first-line therapy by multiple societies and guideline panels [1-5]. Overall, the evidence base is stronger for CBT-I than for medications.

Drowsiness can last into the day after you've taken them. Confusion and memory problems are also a known side effect. For older adults, this could result in falls, broken hips, and car accidents. Other symptoms of some over-the-counter sleep medications can be especially hard for older adults to handle.

They feel drowsy, have muddled thinking and experience dizziness or balance problems. These daytime effects can negatively impact your ability to drive, work, go to school and complete daily tasks. Over-the-counter and prescription sleeping pills (and supplements) can cause these side effects: Constipation or diarrhea.

Zolpidem (Ambien, Ambien CR, Edluar, Intermezzo, Zolpimist)

A sedative-hypnotic of the imidazopyridine class, zolpidem has a rapid onset and short duration of action. It is a good first choice for treatment of sleep-onset insomnia and produces no significant residual sedation in the morning.

To improve deep sleep, you need to improve your overall restful sleep by following a healthy lifestyle and practicing good sleep hygiene habits. Certain ingredients and nutrients help support better sleep, including Melatonin, Typtophan, B Complex Vitamins, Omega-3, Vitamin D, and Magnesium.

Insomnia is considered chronic if a person has trouble falling asleep or staying asleep at least three nights per week for three months or longer. Some people with chronic insomnia have a long history of difficulty sleeping.

Insomnia is not classified as a disability because it's often a symptom of another condition. If your lack of restful sleep stems from illness, injury, or a mental health condition such as anxiety, depression, or chronic stress, you may qualify for disability benefits.

Insomnia is often considered a disorder of excessive activation of the arousal systems of the brain (ie, hyperarousal).

If your insomnia is severe or chronic enough that it's affecting your quality of life, it's time to call a doctor. Your primary care provider may be able to treat your problem. However, a sleep-medicine specialist can likely dig deeper into the causes of your insomnia and offer more ways to resolve it.

Who suffers from insomnia the most? ›

Who gets insomnia? Anyone can get insomnia, but it affects more women than men. More than one in four women in the United States experience insomnia, compared with fewer than one in five men.

Chronic insomnia lasts at least 3 months, with possible causes ranging from respiratory conditions to menopause to sleep habits. Therapy, medications, or lifestyle changes may help ease the symptoms. Insomnia is a common sleep disorder in which you may have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or both.

Sleep deprivation significantly impairs a range of cognitive and brain function, particularly episodic memory and the underlying hippocampal function. However, it remains controversial whether one or two nights of recovery sleep following sleep deprivation fully restores brain and cognitive function.

It's all in your head: The brains of insomniacs are different than those of sound sleepers, says a new study from Johns Hopkins University. Researchers found insomniacs have brains with more plasticity, or a greater ability to react to change. Normally that's a good thing, says lead study author Rachel Salas, Ph.

Melatonin plays an important role in regulating human sleep.

Supplementing vitamin B6 may improve sleep quality and duration. A 2019 study also found that taking a supplement of magnesium, melatonin, and vitamin B complex for 3 months improved sleep and helped treat insomnia.

Neurological Treatment Can Help Sleeping Disorders

Instead of simply masking the problem, neurologists can treat the neurological condition responsible for causing the sleep disorder, which will likely improve your quality of sleep as well.

Studying a group of 192 patients with focal brain lesions, we show a significant association between insomnia and left dorsomedial prefrontal damage.

Can a brain scan show insomnia? ›

MRI imaging can offer insights into insomnia brain connectivity abnormalities and how they correlate with cognitive impairments.

The newest drugs for insomnia are classified as DORAs. Orexin-A and orexin-B are neuropeptides involved in, among other actions, arousal behavior and inducing wakefulness.

Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) is the gold-standard treatment for chronic insomnia.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: The Gold Standard Treatment for Insomnia.

A lack of sleep can cause a bunch of health issues, such as higher blood sugar levels, liver problems, weight gain and severe depression. Chronic insomnia can increase the likelihood of some serious diseases and illnesses, including: Heart attack. Stroke.

Can My Insomnia Be Cured? Absolutely. It may not be easy though, as curing insomnia often means improving your sleep hygiene and establishing habits that are more conducive to good sleep. And habits, especially routines you follow every day, can be tough to break.

Called fatal familial insomnia, or FFI, it's an extremely rare genetic disease that causes progressively worsening sleeplessness. Difficulty sleeping soon turns into total insomnia, causing rapid physical and mental deterioration and, inevitably, death—within a year, usually sooner.

Lack of concentration is a major insomnia effect. An exhausted brain can't adequately focus on the important tasks and priorities at hand—especially not for extended periods of time. Critical thinking and problem-solving skills are also negatively impacted by prolonged sleep deprivation.

The benzodiazepine medications approved for insomnia treatment in the United States are estazolam, flurazepam, quazepam, temazepam, and triazolam (table 6).

How do you break an insomnia cycle? ›

Results from multiple studies indicate that valerian — a tall, flowering grassland plant — may reduce the amount of time it takes to fall asleep and help you sleep better. Of the many valerian species, only the carefully processed roots of the Valeriana officinalis have been widely studied.

Insomnia is rarely an isolated medical or mental illness but rather a symptom of another illness to be investigated by a person and their medical doctors. In other people, insomnia can be a result of a person's lifestyle or work schedule.

Eating a well balanced diet, getting regular exercise, staying mentally active, and keeping your blood pressure and cholesterol levels in check will improve sleep as well. You can also tackle any sleep problems by training your brain for better sleep.