What is insomnia?

This condition affects the patient´s sleep, making it difficult to fall asleep and sleep continuously for several hours, drastically reducing the quantity and quality of sleep, which does not allow adequate rest and recovery. So, if you suffer from insomnia you wake up tired and without energy, which affects your quality of life and your professional and personal performance.

The adequate sleep time for an adult is 6 to 8 hours per night, so sleeping for fewer hours impacts health, and if this happens for a long time it can cause serious complications.

Sometimes insomnia appears as a single disorder, but other times it can be part of a set of conditions that act together.

Although we have all experienced acute insomnia due to stressful situations or worries, which lasts from one day to two weeks, when the disorder lasts more than a month, it is chronic insomnia, which appears by permanent stress, a hectic lifestyle, or adherence to habits and behaviors that affect sleep.

Chronic insomnia appears for the following reasons:

• Continuous stressful situations.
• Excess alcohol, tobacco, and coffee: by having a stimulating effect, they alter your sleep cycle.
• Anti-sleep behaviors: eating excessively, going to bed late, taking naps during the day, watching too many devices, video games, or television before going to sleep.
• Diseases that prevent sleep: sleep apnea, cardiovascular diseases, hyperthyroidism, cancer, diabetes, and gastroesophageal reflux, among others.
• Anxiety and depression.
• Drugs that affect sleep.

• Need to make an effort to fall asleep.
• Shallow sleep that is interrupted several times.
• Waking up several hours before the appointed time and being unable to sleep again.
• Waking up tired and without energy.
• Apathy and desire to sleep during the day.
• Anxiety, anger, and depressive episodes.
• Lack of concentration and memory problems.

How to prevent insomnia:

• Reduce your consumption of alcohol, coffee, and tobacco, or better yet, avoid them.
• Have a light dinner.
• Establish an appropriate schedule of hours of sleep and stick to it daily.
• Exercise daily.
• Stop napping.

The diagnostic process must be adjusted on a case-by-case basis, but typically includes the following:

• Review of symptoms and clinical history.
• Physical examination.
• Laboratory tests: blood tests to detect underlying conditions that may cause insomnia.
• Sleep pattern test: through a questionnaire, your doctor will identify possible behaviors or habits that cause insomnia.
• Specialized sleep test: if your doctor deems it necessary, they will refer you to a sleep disorders clinic so that they perform a series of studies while you sleep and thus be able to determine the causes.

The treatment will depend on your specific case, but in general, it will indicate a total change in your patterns and behaviors so as not to affect your sleep, it may also suggest cognitive or psychological therapy, sleep drugs, or a combination to relax and help you fall asleep.

At the Neurology Center, a select group of highly trained and certified doctors in various neurological specialties is ready to assist you with the quality and warmth that characterizes us.

Our mission is to provide you with comprehensive and multidisciplinary care programs for preventing, diagnosing, treating, and rehabilitating nervous system diseases, always focusing on your safety.

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