TYPES AND PATTERNS OF INSOMNIA
Experts agree that insomnia has different degrees. Although for identifying purposes, three types have been commonly used and adapted. The first type of insomnia, transient insomnia, can be attributed to changes in the sleeping environment. These changes include the timing of the sleep, severe depression or even stress. Days to weeks is the usual length of persistence of transient insomnia.
The second type is acute insomnia. A person who suffers from acute insomnia would find it difficult to maintain a consistently good quality of sleep for a period as short as three weeks to as long as six months. Lasting for years, the last type is the chronic insomnia. Chronic insomnia can be attributed to another disorder or can just be a primary disorder in itself. The effects of chronic insomnia are also of various sorts and are greatly shaped by the root causes or triggering factors of the condition.
Drowsiness, muscular pain, hallucinations and even mental problems are included in the potential effects brought about by chronic insomnia. However, increased alertness have also been observed in people who suffer from this sleeping disorder. Patients also report occurring problems in their vision such that moving objects look like they are blending together and a slow motion tales place. This condition can also lead to double vision or diplopia, where a single object appears simultaneously. In double vision, horizontal, vertical or diagonal displacement of an object takes place in relation to each other.
The patterns of insomnia are based on their causes, using etiology or the study of causation. According to recent studies, 1 out of every 3 people complains for suffering from insomnia. Men has a greater tendency to develop insomnia compared to women. In the first pattern, onset insomnia, a person encounters a problem initiating sleep at the beginning of the night.
Anxiety disorders such as panic, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, and separation anxiety are usually associated with this. The second pattern, middle-of-the-night insomnia, manifests in difficulty going back to sleep after the sleep has been interrupted in the middle of the night or after waking up in the morning earlier than the intended time.
The term 'nocturnal awakenings' is also used to refer to this. This pattern includes middle and terminal insomnia subpatterns. In middle insomnia, a person wakes up in the middle of the night and encounters problems staying asleep. Pain disorders and medical illnesses are the causes usually associated with this pattern. The last pattern is usually considered a manifestation of clinical depression. In this pattern, a person wakes up in the morning too early than the usual or than the intention.