What is Insomnia?
Insomnia is a very common health problem. It's when you have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, or have such such poor quality of sleep that it's affecting your day-to-day life for more than four weeks. Both quality and quantity are key factors that impact your overall sleep function. If either of these suffer, you might experience irritability, mood disturbances, impact on the ability to function in your day-to-day life, poor interpersonal relationships, chronic fatigue and lethargy.
Some of the most common causes of insomnia include:
- Poor sleeping habits
- Lack of sleep routing
- Substances like nicotine, caffeine, alcohol and amphetamines
- Certain medications
- Stress and mental health problems
- Environmental factors like loud noises and temperature
- Circadian rhythm disruption from things like jet lag or shift work
- Medical issues like menopause, sinus disease, reflux, hyperthyroidism and chronic pain conditions
Sleep hygiene refers to modifying your behaviours to assist with sleep. You might try to avoid:
- Stimulants like caffeine and nicotine close to bedtime
- Drug use
- Daytime naps more than 30 minutes
- Meals close to bedtime
- Electronic device use at night
Other lifestyle changes to help improve sleep hygiene can include:
- Getting regular exercise
- Getting adequate sunlight during the day
- Having a regular bedtime routine
- Using ear plugs and eye masks
- Ensuring you have a comfortable sleeping environment to induce sleepiness
Both quality and quantity are key factors that impact your overall sleep function. If either of these suffer, you might experience irritability, mood disturbances, impact on the ability to function in your day-to-day life, poor interpersonal relationships, chronic fatigue and lethargy. Learn more about insomnia and its symptoms, causes and treatments in our guide.
If insomnia makes it hard for you to function during the day, see your doctor to identify the cause of your sleep problem and how it can be treated.
It's important to address the underlying cause of your sleep disturbance for longer term management and to try lifestyle changes and natural remedies to improve sleep. If you aren't finding success with these options, Rosemary's Australian online doctors can help identify an insomnia treatment plan for you. We don't prescribe habit-forming sleeping pills like benzodiazepines and hypnotics on Rosemary as they can cause adverse side effects, but we do offer effective sleep medications that are personalised to your needs.
Treatment warnings for prescription sleep medication include: fatigue, tiredness, drowsiness, nightmares, hallucinations, sleep paralysis, mild cataplexy, sleep walking, headaches, abdominal upset, aches and pains, nasal irritation, cough, anxiety, agitation, irritability, appetite stimulation, abnormal muscular movements, tremors, palpitations, insomnia, skin rashes and itching.
Medications for sleep disturbance can cause drowsiness, reduced awareness and slower reaction times to your surroundings.
Medications are not to be consumed with alcohol. No driving or operating heavy machinery with pharmacological management.
Medications for sleep disturbance can cause drowsiness, reduced awareness and slower reaction times to your surroundings. Medications are not to be consumed with alcohol. No driving or operating heavy machinery with pharmacological management. Do not combine multiple sleep agents.
