Sleep: Intro to insomnia

Sleep is an important part of mental health and wellness. Sleep problems happen for a number of reasons and can range from difficulty falling sleep, staying asleep, or early morning awakening. 

What is insomnia: 

Poor quality or quantity of sleep that is causing difficulties with day time functioning. Insomnia occurs at least 3 nights a week and has lasted at least 3 months. 

What are the medical causes that can be related to sleep difficulties? 

Sleep apnea, Restless leg syndrome, periodic limb movement disorder, narcolepsy, and circadian rhythm disorders. 

These conditions need to be assessed and ruled out by a qualified medical professional as they have different treatments than insomnia. 

Do you remember learning about classic conditioning? Dog sees food and drools. Dog hears bell no response.  Dog sees food and hears bell and will drool. Dog gets to the point they just hear the bell and they start to drool. This is what can happen we have difficulties with sleep. Over time the bed becomes the only trigger we need to have a bad nights sleep. With some changes to your behaviors you can stop this cycle and learn to sleep again. 

You can use cognitive behavioral therapy alone or with medications to overcome insomnia. You don’t have to wait till have problems to implement good sleep practices. 

Want to continue learning more, follow along this series as we dig deeper into this topic and learn what you can do to improve your sleep. 

Active Healing Psychiatric Services can help using an integrated medicine approach based on your individual needs. 

www.activehealingpsych.com