Transient Insomnia

Also be called intermittent insomnia. This type of sleep-deprivation only lasts a few days. It’s usually caused by factors that are easily identifiable, such as changes in a person’s sleeping environment, medications, jet lag, pain or illness, or stress that is either acute or reoccurring. The type of stress that can cause transient insomnia can be caused by work, health, relationships, and other problems.

This type of insomnia is relatively easy to treat. It typically only requires a few changes in a person’s life or environment. If a medication is causing the insomnia, the individual can stop taking it or replace it with something else. Stress can be overcome, either through therapy, building endurance, or removing the stress, the sleeping environment can be changed to be more comfortable, physical illnesses can be addressed, and so forth.

Chronic Insomnia

Chronic insomnia, on the other hand, is more complicated. It is usually defined as inadequate quality or quality of sleep for at least one month. If you have trouble sleeping and think you might have chronic insomnia, see your doctor as soon as possible.

There are two types of chronic insomnia: difficulty staying asleep and difficulty falling asleep. A person might have difficulty staying asleep and wake up repeatedly in the middle of the night because of medications, drug or alcohol use, psychiatric disorders like anxiety and depression, or sleep apnea. Difficulty falling asleep can be caused by poor sleeping habits, poor sleep environment, restless leg syndrome, circadian rhythm disorder, advanced sleep-phase syndrome, or delayed sleep-phase syndrome.

Insomnia that lasts over a month can be caused by multiple factors at a time, making it more difficult to address its cause. This also makes it difficult to self-diagnose the cause, so if you have trouble sleeping, it’s always best to speak with a doctor. If you aren’t sure whether your sleeping problems warrant a doctor’s visit, there are certain things you can try to improve your sleep. If these tricks don’t work, a doctor’s visit is necessary:

- Refrain from consuming nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol, especially before bed.
- Exercise daily, but do so hours before going to bed.
- Don’t do anything in bed except sleep and be intimate.
- Don’t nap.
- Don’t eat heavy meals before bed.
- Go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day.
- Relax for half an hour before bed.
- Don’t let yourself stay awake in bed. If you’ve been in bed for 15 minutes and you’re    still not asleep, get up and do something for about 20 minutes, or until you get            tired.