Medication wise, insomnia can be treated with sedative antihistamines, sedative antidepressants, atypical hypnotics, benzodiazepines, sedative antipsychotics, barbiturates, chloral hydrate, chlormethiazole and/or bromides.
A distressing and unpleasant medical condition, insomnia forces the patient to remain awake far longer than the body naturally would intend and affects on average 35% of people. As a condition, it can be brought on by stress, dread, drugs (even herbal remedies) anxiety or one or more of plenitude of other triggers. Both organic and non-organic strains of the disorder are classified as sleep disorders. Usually, the trick to bashing insomnia is to uncover the underlying cause - medication is not going to magically cure the condition. Clinical or medical insomnia is usually further classified as the inability to sleep for more than four hours at a time.
There are two major types of insomnia, clinical or not. Primary insomnia is an inability to sleep for no discernible reason; secondary insomnia is an inability to sleep due to external factors, for example, generalised anxiety disorder. Also note that the term "insomnia" does not encapsulate poor sleep quality, which can be defined as the inability of the individual to reach a state of delta sleep.
Insomnia is most frequently triggered by the following:
- The manic phase of a manic-depressive illness (mania or hypomania);
- Circadian rhythm sleep disorders (for example, jet lag)
- Parasomnia, essentially a greatly disrupted sleep punctuated with nightmares, violent movements and so on;
- Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease - a medical condition that causes discomfort, prompting wakefullness.
Natural tips include:
- Avoid stimulating drugs such as caffeine for several hours before you go to bed;
- Avoid external stimuli such as television, lights, noise and so on;
- Avoid stressful situations before you go to bed, meaning any work should be completed long before you retire;
- Soft background music or sounds can be conducive to sleep.
"[An] inability to sleep adequately." - Encyclopædia Britannica