Insomnia: Causes, Side Effects, Treatment

Insomnia is indeed the most prevalent sleep disorder in the world. Nearly one-third of all adults have a background of some type of insomnia and nearly ten percent have persistent sleepless nights. The disease can be defined by its time duration and is categorized by three types of sleepless nights: transient, short-term, and chronic.

Different Types of Insomnia

Transient or short-term sleepless nights originate from similar factors, while short-term sleepless nights generally require a considerable disturbance. Transient sleepless nights can be suggestive of a sleepless night that lasts from only one night to several weeks and is most likely related to alterations in the sleep schedule, such as traveling or sleeping in unusual surroundings. Short-term sleepless nights last a relatively longer period of time, usually from two to three weeks in time and can be linked to emotional influences such as anxiety or stress.

Chronic sleepless nights, the most severe type of sleeplessness, occur essentially every night and can last a month or more.

Side Effects of Sleepless Nights

Recent reports show that sleepless nights are more than a nuisance. In fact, insomnia can lead to serious health problems such as high blood pressure. Indeed, people who sleep fewer than five hours a night are more than five times more at risk at developing hypertension than people who sleep well.

Dr. Alexandros Vgontzas, a lead researcher who studied sleepless nights at Penn State College of Medicine, which is located in Hershey, Pennsylvania, studied the possible relationship between stress hormones and high blood pressure. The results of the study confirmed the theory that patients who suffer from decreased sleep efficiency more possibly might suffer from hypertension as well.

Dr. Vgontzas studied the tie between sleep problems and increased blood pressure in over fifteen hundred people who were randomly selected volunteer participants. The volunteers classified themselves as being either normal sleepers, those who had some difficulty sleeping or as being afflicted with sleepless nights.

The study members were separated in accordance with their sleep productivity, which was determined by surveying the sum of the hours they slept per night. The results suggested that a mixture of low aggregate sleep duration and sleepless nights including waking up in the night or even having difficulty getting to sleep on a lasting basis - were actually linked to hypertension.

Sleeplessness Related Hypertension Also Linked to Teens

Teenagers who slept less than six and a half hours nightly experienced more than twice the likelihood of developing high blood pressure, according to a research study conducted at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. The study was published in the American Heart Association Journal Circulation, and the researchers discovered a pattern that was not withstanding sex, weight and socioeconomic status.

The study broke ground by showing the relationship between low quality sleep and the risk of hypertension development as well as other health issues, said Dr. Susan Redline, a pediatrician researcher who led the study. Dr. Redline also noted that poor sleep might be more consistently related with pre-hypertension than a shorter sleep period.

For further reading, refer to the Health Science News article Insomnia Increases Chances of Diabetes in Young.

Risks of High Blood Pressure

High blood pressure is a serious illness that can lead to damage to the arteries and kidneys and can cause stroke, kidney disease and various other illnesses.

High Blood Pressure Medication Can Cause Insomnia

Widespread causes for sleepless nights exist. Occasionally the cause is apparent. There are certain medical causes for sleeplessness, plus some mental health illnesses that include depression, anxiety or chronic stress. Additionally, as patients are treated with high blood pressure medicine for their hypertension, the result could be something that is counterproductive to their lack of sleep problems as well. Some medications for high blood pressure, decongestants and antidepressants are well known to cause sleepless nights, which can result in a snowball effect to the patient's insomnia-related hypertension.

Treatment of Insomnia

The most commonly thought of treatment for sleepless nights is sleeping pills, but there are indeed non-medical therapies that are comparatively better in the long term and work more efficiently than sleeping pills. Sleeplessness treatment is sometimes classified into two different groups: treatment with or without medication.

Sleepless Night - Treatment with Medication

There are many self-prescribed sleep aids such as alcohol that actually increase the sleepless symptoms and have limited benefit. A pretty small extent of alcohol can be relaxing and result in sleepiness early in the evening, but can result in a re-bound effect that can occur later in the evening as illustrated with difficulty sleeping. And, extended alcohol abuse can result in tolerance as well as dependence, which may lead to other medical problems.

Lifestyle Changes to Reduce Sleepless Nights

Caffeine, nicotine, alcohol and "recreational" drugs are well-known causes of sleepless nights. A healthy lifestyle, which includes a consistent workout regimen, a well-rounded diet, as well as a less stressful lifestyle are recommended to reduce the nagging effects of sleepless nights. As with any health issue, it is recommended that you consult a professional health care provider if you are experiencing sleepless nights and are concerned about the causes of sleepless nights, the side effects and treatment of insomnia.