Often, when we have trouble sleeping, we often say we suffer from insomnia, but did you know that there are different types of insomnia?There is not only one type, but several, and each requires different treatment. it will focus on explaining the different types of insomnia and the right treatment for each case.
Insomnia is one of the most common reasons for medical consultation and is also one of the symptoms shared by virtually all psychological disorders.
- As with other very common problems in our society.
- Such as anxiety or depression.
- Many people misuse the term insomnia.
- For example.
- Having trouble sleeping for a day or two is not insomnia.
- Being very stressed and not being able to sleep well cannot be classified.
- Like a sleep disorder either.
As can be seen, certain specifications are essential to understand this problem, evaluate it and prescribe the right treatment, below we will look at each of these aspects.
Insomnia is officially called primary insomnia, a sleep disorder in which the following characteristics are found:
Thus, there are three types of insomnia, depending on when the person has difficulty sleeping:
Therefore, in order to say that we have insomnia (strictly speaking) it is necessary to meet the diagnostic criteria described above, if we have another disorder, the simple treatment of insomnia will not end the problem. be diagnosed and treated to end sleep problems.
Next, we’ll explore the three types of insomnia that exist
It is the most common and best known of the three types of insomnia. It is the impossibility of falling asleep at bedtime, that is, it cannot fall asleep. Reconciliation insomnia is usually due to the maxim “We sleep like we sleep. “In other words, if we spend the day stressed or worried, it will be very difficult for the mind to disconnect and enter sleep mode.
In most cases, conciliation insomnia is a state of psychological distress, which is responsible for difficulty falling asleep, however, you may also have trouble falling asleep if you change your usual schedule or hours of sun exposure.
“Finish each day before starting the next one and put a solid sleep wall in the middle. “Ralph Waldo Emerson?
The recommended treatment for fallail insomnia involves several steps, initially the so-called sleep hygiene is used, this approach is used because, in most cases, with the development of insomnia, the person develops habits that are unhealthy and that aggravate their situation. So, at first, certain rules are developed to have correct habits and break the association: go to bed?Don’t sleep? Early anxiety of not being able to sleep.
Second, if sleep hygiene instructions are not sufficient, different techniques or tasks will be prescribed that seek to break the association between bedtime and the inability to fall asleep, as well as the discomfort that this entails. For each case and for each person, the psychologist prescribes a specific task and a series of therapeutic goals that seek to generate changes in their daily life.
However, it should be remembered that all the therapeutic approaches we have mentioned are aimed at reconciling insomnia as a primary disorder, that is, they are treatments and approaches designed for other types of insomnia or psychological disorders, such as anxiety, depression, obsession. -Compulsive disorder or bipolar disorder, which have been ruled out.
On the other hand, if the person is unable to fall asleep using psychological techniques, it may be necessary to introduce medications, the best options for conciliatory insomnia are non-benzodiapine sleep inducers, which are drugs that act quickly and briefly without anxiolytic or residual effect the next day. For example, zolpidem, zaleplon or zopiclone.
In all cases, the pharmacological treatment of insomnia should always be prescribed and supervised by a doctor, who decides which medicine is best for you and for how long it should be administered.
“Insomnia seems to be different for all of us, as well as daily life and aspirations. “F. Scott Fitzgerald?
In maintenance insomnia, there is a difficulty staying asleep at night. In other words, the person may fall asleep, but he wakes up and stays awake for a long time several times during the night. When this happens, the negative consequences are very obvious, as you feel like you don’t have a restful sleep.
If the diagnosis of maintenance insomnia is made, it is essential to rule out the organic or physiological causes responsible for the problem, for example, hormonal problems that cause the awakening of the person, night awakenings are very common in cases of thyroid dysfunction or, in the case of women, irregularities in their hormonal cycle.
First, it is necessary to treat the medical causes that explain the insomnia of maintenance or fragmented sleep, once these causes have been controlled or ruled out, the treatment of this type of insomnia will involve all the techniques used in conciliatory insomnia, but also pharmacological treatment. should be included.
In this case, the recommended medication would be a benzodiazepine that acts all night, as it is necessary to have a medication that keeps the person asleep all this time.
To date, however, there is no effective psychological treatment that allows for an immediate reduction in the number of nighttime awakenings, however, the work of a psychologist in these cases is also critical.
Most people who suffer from fragmented sleep or maintenance insomnia also experience psychological problems, such as anxiety disorders or major depressive disorder. With this, the first thing that is sought in the short term is that the person can sleep properly, so that he can then work, thanks to psychotherapy, all the psychological aspects that are at the origin of this type of insomnia.
In the third type of insomnia, the person can fall asleep, does not wake up at night, but cannot sleep every hour he needs, for example, we set the alarm at 7:00 a. m. and we woke up at 5:00 p. m. I’m not able to go back to sleep. This makes the day more tired and even with a feeling of anxiety or anxiety.
This type of insomnia is closely associated with problems such as depression or stress at work; Depression causes a series of changes in sleep cycles, which often cause the person to wake up too early and not be able to fall asleep again. In case of overwork, it is very common for people to get stressed, wake up before the hour and not be able to go back to sleep.
Late insomnia treatment consists of a combination of drug treatment to prevent the person from waking up early and psychological treatment to manage emotions that cause early awakening.
Psychological approach is similar to that used in the other two types of insomnia, but in this case it is essential to perform an intervention to control stress and emotions related to awakening.
It is also very important, even if it sounds strange, that if we wake up early and do not fall asleep we get out of bed, this is important because increasing fatigue is one of the best remedies for insomnia, and in this way we will break the association between being in bed and the feeling of anxiety caused by not being able to sleep.
Thus, while in the case of conciliatory insomnia the first choice treatment is psychological, in the case of the other two types of insomnia (maintenance or delayed), a drug should be associated with psychological treatment.