Examples of conditions linked with insomnia include chronic pain, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), overactive thyroid, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.
Common causes of insomnia include stress, an irregular sleep schedule, poor sleeping habits, mental health disorders like anxiety and depression, physical illnesses and pain, medications, neurological problems, and specific sleep disorders.
Insomnia can also be caused by underlying physical conditions, including: heart conditions – such as angina or heart failure. respiratory conditions – such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or asthma. neurological conditions – such as Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease.
Insomnia has been associated with various CNS autoimmune disorders such as in Morvan syndrome, where thalamo-limbic dysregulation is seen in association with voltage-gated potassium channel (VGKC) antibodies, and the anti-NMDA antibody syndrome with insomnia/hypersomnia.
Sleep disturbance is a common feature of chronic liver disease (CLD) with impact on health-related quality of life; 60–80% of patients with CLD report subjective poor sleep; frequent presentations of sleep disturbance include insomnia, reduced sleep efficiency, increased sleep latency, reduced time in rapid eye ...
Melatonin may improve insomnia symptoms in children with epilepsies. Patients with insomnia after stroke can be treated with benzodiazepine receptor agonists and sedating antidepressants. For patients with dementia suffering from insomnia trazodone, light therapy and physical exercise are recommended.
Depression and insomnia
We recognize insomnia as a risk factor for both depression and major depressive disorder. In fact, people with insomnia are twice as likely to develop depression as people who don't have sleep disorders.
Anxiety, stress, and depression are some of the most common causes of chronic insomnia. Having difficulty sleeping can also make anxiety, stress, and depression symptoms worse. Other common emotional and psychological causes include anger, worry, grief, bipolar disorder, and trauma.
Chronic Insomnia
Insomnia is considered chronic if a person has trouble falling asleep or staying asleep at least three nights per week for three months or longer. Some people with chronic insomnia have a long history of difficulty sleeping.
Cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) can help you control or eliminate negative thoughts and actions that keep you awake and is generally recommended as the first line of treatment for people with insomnia. Typically, CBT-I is equally or more effective than sleep medications.
MRI imaging can offer insights into insomnia brain connectivity abnormalities and how they correlate with cognitive impairments.
Your doctor may recommend prescription or nonprescription sleep medicines. Or you may take other medicines that can help you relax and fall asleep, such as benzodiazepines or antidepressants. Many sleep medicines cause side effects, such as low blood pressure, anxiety, and nausea.
Functional imaging studies suggest that patients with insomnia have smaller reductions in brain activity during NREM sleep relative to resting wake. Specifically, the frontoparietal cortex, medial temporal lobes, thalamus, anterior cingulate, precuneus, and brain stem arousal networks have been implicated.
People with brain diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease also often have sleep problems. Obesity is a risk factor for sleep apnea and stroke. Sleep problems can also be found in people after a spinal cord injury.
Is insomnia a mental health condition? According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, it is rare for insomnia to be an isolated medical or mental health condition. Insomnia is usually a symptom of another condition or a result of lifestyle or environmental factors, such as a work schedule or stress.
yellowing of the skin or whites of the eyes (jaundice) swelling in the legs, ankles and feet caused by a build-up of fluid (oedema) swelling in your abdomen caused by a build-up of fluid known as ascites. a high temperature and shivering attacks.
Serious liver problems such as cirrhosis and fatty liver disease are often linked to disrupted sleep and insomnia, but even minor upsets can bring about a noticeable change to your sleep pattern, as I explore in today's blog.