What is insomnia?
Insomnia can be a disease, or most often, it is a symptom of another underlying disease. People who suffer from insomnia have trouble falling asleep, wake frequently during the night, have difficulty returning to sleep, wake too early in the morning and find sleep unrefreshing. Sleep experts consider stress the most common cause of short-term sleeping difficulties. Forty-eight percent of Americans report occasional insomnia, while 22 percent experience insomnia every night or almost every night. Women are 1.3 times more likely to report insomnia than men. People over age 65 are 1.5 times more likely to complain of insomnia than younger people. Divorced, widowed and separated people, on average, report more episodes of insomnia than married or single people. Certain factors make individuals more susceptible to insomnia. These factors include advanced age (60 years or older), female gender and a history of depression. Other factors such as stress, side effects of medicine, and anxiety co
Insomnia is too little or poor-quality sleep caused by one or more of the following: • Trouble falling asleep • Waking up a lot during the night with trouble returning to sleep • Waking up too early in the morning • Having un-refreshing sleep (not feeling well rested), even after sleeping 7 to 8 hours at night Insomnia can cause problems during the day, such as excessive sleepiness, fatigue, trouble thinking clearly or staying focused, or feeling depressed or irritable. It is not defined by the number of hours you sleep every night. Although the amount of sleep a person needs varies, most people need between 7 and 8 hours of sleep a night.
