A Major Sleep Disorder: Insomnia

For u who likes to stand doing activities in midnight, think that u've to know what kind of disadvantages or problems u may have.
Here i'd like to discuss about insomnia, the definition and causes of insomnia.
If it's chronic enough, the treatment will help as well.
So what are u waiting for, click the link below...



Insomnia, like obesity, is a term familiar to many students simply because this particular sleep problem is so common.

Insomnia often occurs in those who have other emotional problems, such as moderate to severe depression or anxiety, it is also becoming quite clear that some ppl report having only a sleep problem.

Sleep disorders can be extremely frustrating since there are likely to be some carry-over effects, such as drowsiness, into daytime activities.

Insomnia can actually occur in three different forms:

(1) difficulty in initially falling asleep, which is often called 'sleep-onset disorder';

(2) a tendency to wake up repeatedly throughout the night; or

(3) a tendency to wake up very early in the morning and not be able to fall asleep again.

There are both biological and psychological causes of insomnia. Probably the most important and common biological cause is the use of various medications that are supposed to help ppl to sleep!
There are also a number of potential psychological causes of insomnia. Here the most likely cause is a high level of physiological arousal which could be caused by previous or anticipated stressful events. Many patients will report excessive amounts of tension or constant worries when they try to go sleep.
However, it is not certain whether the emotional changes are causes of the insomnia or the effects of the sleep disorder.
For most ppl the bed is associated primarily w sleeping, but for the insomniac it becomes a place to worry. Some psychological treatment techniques try to undo this type of conditioning whereas others try to teach ppl how to reduce their tension.


Our focus here is on psychological treatments for sleep-onset disorders since these have received the most attention from researchers.
There have been two relatively successful treatment programs: relaxation training procedures and stimulus control techniques. However, as Borkovec (1977) suggested, these procedures are not likely to work if there is a biological cause for a particular person's sleep problem.
Borkovec and his colleagues have conducted much of this research which suggests that progressive muscle relaxation training is more effective than placebo conditions.
Haynes, Sides, and Lockwood (1977) found that biofeedback for muscle tension in the frontalis muscle on the forehead and a relaxation program were equally effective. From these studies it appears that procedures to reduce the overall level of physiological tension will improve an individual's sleep disorder.


A stimulus-control procedure was developed by Bootzin (1973) to condition insomniacs to fall asleep soon after getting in bed.
Borkovec (1977) described Bootzin's program as follows:
1. The person only goes to bed when he or she is sleepy
2. The person must 'not' read, study, eat, or watch television while in the bed. The bed is to be associated primarily w going to sleep.
3. If the person does not fall asleep in ten minutes, he or she must get up and get out of the bedroom. Returning to the bed should be avoided until the person feels sleepy again.
4. Step 3 is repeated until the person falls asleep rapidly
5. The person should also try to get up at the same time every day regardless of the amount of sleep obtained the previous night
6. Daytime naps should be avoided
Bootzin found that over 60% of the ppl treated w this program over 4 weeks were able to get their sleep-onset time to less than 20 minutes which is considered within normal limits. Since both relaxation training and stimulus-control procedures appear to be relatively successful, may behavior therapists will use both procedures since they can easily be combained. When relaxation training is used, the person is often asked to practice this as soon as he or she gets intobed to go to sleep.

Source : ABNORMAL PSYCHOLOGY Patterns, Issues, Interventions by Frank Costin and Juris G. Draguns

Sincerely,

sick-psycho