Sleep Deprivation: Chronic Insomnia

The amount of sleep required by each person is dependent on the individual. While 71/2 hours is considered the average, many do very well with far less than that, while others seem to need 9-10 hours. Almost everybody experiences sleeplessness some time or the other. The occasional night of tossing and turning, and the inability to get that shuteye despite trying everything is a phenomenon that most of us are familiar with. It is usually caused by stress, indigestion, or consuming too much alcohol or caffeine.

It is when sleeplessness continues to be persistent and the normal patterns of sleep keeps being elusive, night after night, say, for three to four nights each week, which lasts for a month and even more, that the condition is regarded as chronic insomnia.

What are the effects of chronic insomnia?

When chronic insomnia is diagnosed, the sleeplessness such people experience seems to have no ostensible reason. However, the sleep deprivation is so acute that it leads to a corresponding decrease in the energy levels of the body accompanied by mood swings, making the affected person high-strung and irritable. This can lead to marital discord and a disagreeable home environment, which, in turn, can aggravate the insomnia even further.

But, mood swings and low energy levels are not the only deleterious effects of chronic sleep deprivation. According to research, it is known that sleep is essential for reinforcing the immune system. Hence, chronic sleeplessness can have an adverse affect on the health too, by reducing immunity to diseases caused by bacterial and viral attacks.

When sleep deprivation is caused due to insomnia it often results in the lack of mental alertness and concentration, accompanied by chronic fatigue, which is cited as being one of the main causes of accidents, at home, on the road, as well as at the workplace.

Chronic insomnia can also lead to poor performance at the workplace, sometimes even resulting in the loss of the job. The financial stress that is caused by this can exacerbate the sleeplessness even further.

What are the causes of chronic sleep deprivation?

Chronic insomnia can be caused by a wide variety of conditions like: chronic stress; psychological reasons, for example a highly strung personality; psychiatric reasons such as paranoia, anxiety, or depression; and chronic illnesses such as respiratory problems, allergies, asthma, and arthritis which can cause sleep deprivation.

It has been found, however, that most of the cases of chronic insomnia have psychiatric or psychological roots. Some of the most common psychological disorders that lead to chronic sleep deprivation are: manic depression; schizophrenia; chronic anxiety; and chronic depression. It has been found that up to 70 percent of the people that suffer from psychological disorders are also afflicted by insomnia. This is because such people have abnormally low levels of melatonin, a hormone that induces sleep, as well as high levels of stress hormones.

Occasionally, it is found that there may be no medical condition that causes chronic insomnia. In such cases, the condition is referred to as primary insomnia. For instance, in women primary insomnia can be caused by the fluctuations of progesterone, a female hormone produced in the ovaries.

The primary kind of chronic insomnia can also be caused by lifestyle and behavioral elements such as the overuse of stimulating substances like caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, drug abuse, irregular habits, disruptive sleeping and waking cycles caused by continuous late-night socializing or irregular working schedules, and so on.

How is chronic insomnia treated?

If the insomnia is not responsive to behavioral therapy or other natural methods of treatment, the primary means of treating it is by using antidepressant, hypnotic, and sedative drugs. However, these drugs are usually addictive and with time lose their effectiveness; hence, they are usually used as a short-term means of treating chronic insomnia.

Subsequently, it is recommended to make positive behavioral and lifestyle changes, and also to adopt techniques of relaxation like meditation that help in inducing sleep. If the chronic insomnia is caused by a medical condition, that disease will have to be treated in order to alleviate the sleep deprivation caused by it.