Insomnia is a sleep disorder that is characterized by having difficulty in falling asleep as well as difficulty in staying asleep.

If you are an insomniac you are not alone, there are millions of people worldwide that suffer from and it’s a condition that tends to be worse in older people than in younger.

The three types of are:

1- Transient – this is a temporary that you may suffer from for a night or for a week or so.
2- Acute – this is where you are unable to sleep well for a period lasting between three weeks and six months.
3- Chronic – this is the most serious type of and persists nightly for a long period of time.

Insomnia may be caused by:

1- Stress, fear, anxiety, any sort of mental tension
2- Stimulants such as drugs, alcohol, caffeine and smoking
3- Hormonal changes
4- Depression or any type of mental disorder
5- Medical conditions such as sleep apnoea, hypothyroidism and others
6- Overuse of medication can cause a rebound effect and then cause insomnia
7- Parasomnia – which may include nightmares and sleepwalking

If your is getting to the point that it is affecting your daily life due to extreme exhaustion, then you do need to seek help and get to the bottom of the cause.

To treat you need to treat the cause. Taking medication will not fix the cause and can possibly lead to more problems.

By relying on sleeping tablets to get rest, you are exposing yourself to possibly becoming physically dependent on the medication resulting in withdrawal symptoms if you try to stop taking the medication.

Psychologically also, taking sleeping tablets may cause a dependence where you will begin to rely on the medication and not accept that you can sleep without the drugs.

There are natural remedies that you can use to help you sleep that are not addictive but you could still end up with the psychological problem of not being able to accept that you can sleep without the medication.

Taking the natural medication for a short period of time may help to break the habit of as long as you are sure to accept that you will be able to sleep without them when you stop taking them.

As stress is a big factor in causing it is important to try to deal with stress in a better way. There are many stress management books and courses available and if you can get on top of the stress in your life then it will make a big difference to how you sleep.

When you go to bed stressed, your mind will not be able to rest. You will lie in bed thinking about the stressful situation over and over which will prevent you from sleeping. When you do fall asleep your mind will still be active and so you won’t be able to reach a deep sleep.

It is important to relax your mind before sleeping to enable a deep level of sleeping.

You can help to relax your mind by practicing relaxation techniques, such as yoga, which will also help you to deal with your stress more effectively.