Chronic Insomnia Facts And Statistics

Chronic insomnia is the most serious form of insomnia where the person has the difficulty to fall asleep, maintaining sleep for at least three nights in a week for one month or longer. The sufferer is constantly in a distressed state of mind, affecting his or her performance due to sleep loss.

Generally, there are 2 types of insomnia, the primary and secondary insomnia, depending on the cause:

1. Primary Chronic Insomnia

This occurs when insomnia is the sole complaint of a patient.

2. Secondary Chronic Insomnia

This is caused by medical or psychiatric conditions, drugs, or emotional disorders.

Some common types of secondary chronic insomnia include:


Sleep apnea

This is a sleep disorder caused by difficulty breathing during sleep. Persistent, loud snoring and frequent long pauses in breathing during sleep, followed by choking or gasping for breath are the main symptoms of sleep apnea. For more information on sleep apnea, please visit http://www.sleepapnea.org.

Restless Legs Syndrome

This is a sleep disorder which the sufferer experiences unpleasant sensations such as creeping, burning, itching or pulling in the legs or feet during the night. Moving the legs around tends to provide relief temporarily. For more information, visit http://www.rls.org.


Sleep-wake schedule / Circadian Rhythm Disorders

This type of sleep disorder is caused by having sleep-wake hours which do not match the natural sleep schedule. This commonly happens to people who work night shift. Besides that, teenagers who fall asleep very late at night or wee hours in the morning might suffer from this condition before they sleep normally thereafter. Elderly people tend to suffer from this condition as well when they wake up very early in the morning and then become excessively sleepy during the day.

It helps to understand the patterns of sleep in order to understand insomnia. Sleep consists of two distinct states that alternate in cycles and reflects differing levels of brain nerve cell activity. During a normal night’s sleep, one progresses through these stages about five or six times:

Non-Rapid Eye Movement Sleep (Non-REM) sleep is also termed quiet sleep. Non-REM is further subdivided into three stages of progression:
Stage 1 (light sleep).
Stage 2 (so-called true sleep).
Stage 3 to 4 (deep “slow-wave” or delta sleep).

With each descending stage, awakening becomes more difficult. It is not known what governs Non-REM sleep in the brain. A balance between certain hormones, particularly growth and stress hormones may be important for deep sleep.

Rapid Eye-Movement Sleep (REM) sleep is termed active sleep and most vivid dreams occur during this stage. REM-sleep brain activity is comparable to that in waking, but the muscles are virtually paralyzed, possibly preventing people from acting out their dreams.

In fact, except for vital organs like lungs and heart, the only muscles not paralyzed during REM are the eye muscles. REM sleep may be critical for learning and for day-to-day mood regulation. When people are sleep-deprived, their brains must work harder than when they are well rested.

The cycle between quiet (NREM) and active (REM) sleep generally follows the same pattern. After about 90 minutes of Non-REM sleep, eyes move rapidly behind closed lids, giving rise to REM sleep. As sleep progresses the Non-REM/REM cycle repeats. With each cycle, Non-REM sleep becomes progressively lighter, and REM sleep becomes progressively longer, lasting from a few minutes early in sleep to perhaps an hour at the end of the sleep episode.

Seems pretty simple and basic, doesn’t it? After all, we don’t have to learn how to sleep – it’s something we automatically know how to do, but some people still have problems. Why? InsomniaCauses.info offers insights on various insomnia causes and the best solution to the problem.