Getting Help for Insomnia

May is better sleep month, and this will be the final article about sleep for a while. In the previous two newsletters, we discussed ways that you can help yourself get better sleep and how to optimize your mattress. But what if you've tried all of these tips and nothing seems to help? How do you know if you have insomnia? When should you seek professional help? What can you do short of professional help?
Insomnia is a very common problem. It affects approx. 1 in 8 Americans, or about 32 million. So what is insomnia? Some of the indications of insomnia are the following; waking up feeling tired, waking up early and being unable to fall back asleep, waking up several times a night, and taking more than 30 to 45 minutes to fall asleep.
Many people will experience bouts of acute insomnia from time to time. Causes of this include stress, illness, discomfort, environmental factors, medications, and/or getting off of your normal sleep schedule. Acute insomnia usually lasts a night or two and can be easily corrected by avoiding the causative factor. It rarely requires professional help.
Chronic insomnia occurs when a person has at least 3 nights a week of insomnia for at least a month. Causes of chronic insomnia include depression, anxiety, stress, and pain/discomfort at night. If trying to treat the underlying causes does not resolve the insomnia, professional help is often helpful. Behavioral therapy, utilizing techniques such as relaxation exercises, sleep restriction therapy, and reconditioning, is often successful.
Many supplements are also potentially helpful. These include valerian, which may be more appropriate for longterm use than sleep medications, because it does not seem to impair vigilance the morning after use (further study is required to assess effectiveness and optimum dose). German chamomile, hops, lavender, lemon balm, passionflower and wild lettuce also have been noted to have mild sedative properties. Again, further study is required to confirm this. Melatonin is another supplement that has been shown to be helpful. The safety of long term use of melatonin is not clear. If you are pregnant, younger than three, or consume alcohol or sedative drugs, you should absolutely consult your doctor before trying any of these.
Insomnia is a very common problem that ranges from acute and easily resolved to chronic and difficult to treat. There are many options and strategies for dealing with this problem. If you have any questions about insomnia, please feel free to give us a call (303) 774-1311, we'd be happy to help. Have a happy better sleep month!