Treating Chronic Insomnia

Introduction
Healthcare professionals have employed many techniques to tackle the ever-growing problem of insomnia that many patients are suffering from. Treatments include: sleep hygiene changes, cognitive belief rehabilitation, medication therapy, and behavioral modification techniques. There are positives and negatives to all treatments for insomnia and hope for a brighter future for those still suffering.
Definition
Insomnia is the inability to fall or stay asleep. Sometimes this can be caused by the loss of a family member, loss of a job, stress over finances, and problems at work. There are many other causes that can come up, but understanding the reason that you are experiencing insomnia can help determine what treatment is best for you. Mental illness can be another cause of insomnia and there can be chronic insomnia that runs in the family bloodline. Treating chronic insomnia is by far the most difficult to treat and often requires a combination of methods to make an impact on the success of getting a patient to see results in better sleep. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center “Insomnia can be a short-term
or chronic condition, but it always involves problems with falling asleep or staying asleep. Short-term (transient) insomnia can be caused by illness, stress, travel, or environmental factors. Long-term (chronic) insomnia may be due to underlying psychological or physical conditions.”
Sleep hygiene
Many people have different schedules that they live by.
Work, Exercise, Eating, and family can make differences in a person’s schedule throughout a day. According to The University of Maryland Medical Center Website, “changing these schedules can drastically improve a person’s ability to sleep better. Such as, going to bed at an earlier time and getting up at an earlier time in the morning and making this a routine. Finding a sleep schedule that works for you is something that can take time and is sometimes difficult with the added stressors of life.” However, this is what makes up our sleep hygiene. Yet, some people that are suffering from insomnia might not be able to fall asleep for hours on end, and they may find themselves needing to sleep later than say, “7am in the morning”. This makes sleep hygiene a tough aspect to
correct.
A different technique for sleep hygiene is to use quiet time and relaxing sounds such as, water droplets on a stereo very quietly. This is something that will relax the mind and allow a person to fall asleep much faster. Changing routines like, watching the television before you go to bed can drastically improve your chances of falling asleep faster. Again, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center Website, “use the bed for sleep and sexual relations only, not for reading, watching television, or working. Excessive time in bed disrupts sleep. “As long as we focus on the bedroom as being our sanctuary as a place for sleep, we can keep our sleep hygiene as a priority in our lives. It is extremely important to understand our own sleep hygiene in order to, correct aspects of it to get a better nights rest. If we can make these changes, then sleep hygiene is a great area to start in to improve insomnia. However, those that still struggle with sleeping will have to move to the next level of therapy.