insomnia-Sleep disorder

Why can’t you fall asleep tonight?
If you’re lying awake, staring at the ceiling while your mind races, you’re not alone—over 30% of adults struggle with insomnia regularly. Insomnia is usually not dangerous, and there are many ways to treat it, including psychological counseling, physical therapy, rational medication and Traditional Natural Herbal Formula Treatments, etc., to help you improve your sleep quality, prolong your sleep time, and eventually restore your normal daytime life. In this article,I’ll share Causes & Symptoms of Insomnia and Treatments & Remedies

Causes & Symptoms of Insomnia

What are the triggers of insomnia?

There are many factors that induce insomnia, including psychological fluctuations, changes in physical state, environmental influences, drug effects, living habits, personal characteristics, mental illness and physical illness, etc. These factors often affect each other like dominoes.

Fsycholoical factors

Major events in life, such as work pressure, family conflicts, or exam anxiety, can lead to emotional agitation, emotional anxiety, or continuous mental tension, which can all lead to insomnia. This continuous mental tension is like installing an alarm in the brain that cannot be turned off, making it difficult for people to fall asleep. What’s more troublesome is that some people will become more anxious because they are worried about not being able to sleep, which makes the insomnia problem more stubborn.

Physiological factors

Our physical condition is like a precise clock. A slight deviation in the “gears” of aging, gender differences, hunger, overeating, and physical fatigue may disrupt the sleep rhythm. Women often experience sudden fever and sweating at night during menstruation and menopause, “special periods of hormone fluctuations that affect sleep.” During pregnancy, as the body changes, many expectant mothers also have difficulty falling asleep.

Environmental factors

Sudden changes in the sleeping environment, strong light, noise, etc. may affect sleep. For example, when staying in a hotel on a business trip, it is common to be unable to fall asleep in the bed, or the street lights outside the window are too bright to affect sleep.

Drug factors

For example, thyroxine tablets for treating thyroid problems, or atropine for relieving gastrointestinal cramps, these drugs can keep people awake and disrupt normal sleep rhythms.

Behavioral factors

Drinking strong tea in the afternoon, drinking coffee (or caffeinated drinks) in the evening, watching TV and playing with mobile phones before going to bed, irregular bedtimes, and staying up late to work may disrupt normal work and rest and cause insomnia.

Personality factors

Overly meticulous personality traits (such as being particularly concerned about physical health, wanting to be perfect in everything, or tending to think the worst when encountering things, etc.) also play a certain role in the occurrence of insomnia. Insomniacs usually keep thinking about various details in their minds, which affects their sleep.

Mental illness

Anxiety disorder Patients are often troubled by various worries and have difficulty falling asleep.Depression “may have symptoms of early awakening. Bipolar disorderThere will be different sleep problems in different mood cycles.Schizophrenia Patients may also have sleep disorders.

Other systemic diseases

Physical discomfort may also cause insomnia. Hypertensive patients may have dizziness affecting their sleep, chronic gastritis patients are prone to stomach pain or acid reflux, and various chronic pains will directly interrupt sleep. These physical problems need timely treatment to improve sleep quality. Family history (genetics): Sleep characteristics and conditions (including insomnia) seem to run in families.

What are the symptoms of insomnia?

1. I toss and turn in bed but can’t fall asleep. It usually takes more than half an hour to fall asleep;
2. I wake up more than twice at night, and it takes a long time to fall asleep again after each wake-up;
3. I wake up naturally in the early morning, and I wake up too early in the morning and can’t fall asleep again.
4. Even if I sleep well, I still feel tired when I get up the next day, as if I haven’t rested.

Normal daytime activities are affected

• Poor mental state during the day, prone to feeling sleepy and tired, always looking for opportunities to catch up on sleep;
• Difficulty concentrating at work, prone to making mistakes, and memory deteriorating;
• Emotions become sensitive and fragile, and may experience panic, anxiety, inexplicable irritability, or depression;
• Social activities, housework, work and study efficiency in daily life will be significantly reduced.

Insomnia Treatment & Remedies

Treatment methods for insomnia?Can insomnia be cured?

Insomnia is generally not incurable for a lifetime. Patients need to find out the cause of insomnia and treat it symptomatically. After the disease is cured, the patient’s insomnia symptoms will naturally be relieved or sleep will be restored. Whether insomnia can be completely cured depends on the specific cause and intervention method. Most insomnia can be significantly improved and completely recovered through correct treatment and lifestyle adjustments, but a very small number of chronic or disease-related insomnia may recur due to the disease

How to treat acute insomnia?

The key to treating short-term insomnia (formerly known as acute insomnia) is to promptly identify the specific causes of insomnia, such as work pressure, environmental changes, or sudden illness. By addressing these causes in a targeted manner, short-term insomnia can be effectively prevented from developing into a long-term problem.

What medicines can help you fall asleep or stay asleep?

Many different types of medications can help you fall asleep or stay asleep. Many of these are sedatives or hypnotics (both prescription and over-the-counter), as well as mental health medications, certain herbs and supplements, and Natural Herbal sleep supplements.

Due to the large individual differences, there is no absolute best, fastest, and most effective medication. In addition to commonly used over-the-counter drugs, you should choose the most suitable drug for you under the guidance of a doctor and fully combine your personal situation.Commonly used sleep aids are divided into four main categories: benzodiazepines (such as estazolam°) and its analogs (such as zolpidem); melatonin receptor agonists that regulate biological clocks; new orexin suppressants; antidepressants with sedative effects (such astrazodone°) It should be noted that all sleep aids have certainside effects and must be used strictly according to the doctor’s instructions to avoid self-adjustment of dosages or sudden discontinuation of medication.

Many herbs, Traditional Natural Herbal formula and supplements can help treat insomnia. Although many of these herbs, supplements and supplements are common and well known, you should always consult with your healthcare provider before taking herbs and supplements. This can help you avoid possible side effects or interactions, especially if you have other medical conditions or are taking other medications.

Psychotherapy

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT-I)

It is a non-drug therapy that improves insomnia by adjusting sleep habits and correcting wrong cognitions. The core includes behavioral intervention, cognitive adjustment, and sleep hygiene optimization. It requires active participation by patients and is suitable for people with long-term insomnia. This therapy combines psychological cognitive adjustment and behavioral training, is suitable for patients of all ages, and is recognized by the international medical community as the preferred treatment for chronic insomnia. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT-I) combined with Traditional Natural Herbal Formula Therapy has been clinically proven to significantly improve the effect of chronic insomnia

Cognitive adjustment:

· Establish a reasonable cognition of sleep, do not feel frustrated because of a bad night’s sleep, do not catastrophize insomnia, and reduce excessive attention to sleep;
· Eliminate anxiety before going to bed, do not force yourself to fall asleep immediately, and avoid simply blaming life problems on insomnia.

Behavioral training:

· Establish a conditioned reflex between bed and sleep, go to bed only when you feel sleepy, avoid playing with mobile phones, watching TV and other non-sleep activities in bed;
Control the time you stay in bed. If you have not fallen asleep after lying in bed for more than 20 minutes, it is recommended to get out of bed and do some relaxing activities;
. Have a regular work and rest schedule. Even if you have insomnia the night before, you still need to get up on time the next day and avoid long hours of sleep during the day.

Sleep hygiene education

Improve sleeping environment and living habits:

Fixed work and rest schedule: go to bed and get up at the same time every day, including weekends; 2. Diet management: avoid overeating or fasting at dinner, and do not drink strong tea, coffee or other refreshing drinks 4 hours before bedtime; 3. Exercise regulation: maintain moderate daytime exercise, but avoid strenuous exercise 3-4 hours before bedtime; 4. Environmental optimization: keep the bedroom quiet and dark, and control the room temperature at 18-22℃.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment

Traditional Chinese medicine treatments include Traditional Natural Herbal formula therapy, acupuncture therapy, etc.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that insomnia is not simply “not being able to sleep”. When you have insomnia, your body will definitely send out health signals. For example, irregular heartbeat, forgetfulness, headache, tinnitus, hot palms and soles, hands and feet always want to find a cool place, etc. These are all signals your body is sending you. What we do is we eliminate those signals and your sleep will return.

These are common signals. See which ones your body sends out

Traditional Chinese medicine divides insomnia into 8 syndromes. Each type has corresponding symptoms and herbal formulas. Studies have shown that the combination of Traditional Natural Herbal formula therapy with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT-I) can significantly improve the efficacy. It is recognized as the best solution for insomnia.

What other solutions are there for insomnia?

Physical therapy

Commonly used physical therapies in clinical practice include:
·Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS): stimulates specific areas of the brain through magnetic fields;
·Cranial microcurrent stimulation (CES): uses weak currents to regulate brain electrical activity;
·Biofeedback therapy: uses equipment to help patients autonomously regulate their physiological states.
These therapies require strict control of indications and are recommended to be performed under the guidance of a doctor.

Light therapy: regulating the biological clock through light of a specific wavelength;
· Exercise therapy: regular aerobic exercise such as swimming and brisk walking;

Music therapy: listening to soothing music of a specific frequency;
· Aromatherapy: using sleep-inducing essential oils such as lavender to assist in relaxation.

What complications may insomnia have?

Long-term poor sleep quality may cause a variety of physical problems, such as metabolic diseases such as weight gain, abnormal blood sugar, and high blood pressure, as well as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases such as coronary heart disease and stroke. In terms of mental health, the risk of mental and psychological problems such as persistent anxiety and depression in people with long-term insomnia will also increase significantly, among which anxiety and depression are the two most common types.

How to prevent insomnia?

The key to preventing insomnia is to eliminate the inducing factors:
· Learn to relieve work and life pressure by meditation, listening to music, etc.;
· Keep the bedroom quiet and the mattress moderately soft and hard;
· Get rid of bad habits such as browsing the phone before going to bed and catching up on sleep during the day;
· Do aerobic exercise 3-5 times a week, such as brisk walking or swimming.
For insomnia caused by diseases, such as depression or anxiety, it is necessary to cooperate with psychological treatment or drug treatment at the same time to solve the problem from the root.