Insomnia is largely influenced by mental disorder. I believe that in many cases this can be cured by ourselves.
But, sometimes we need special cares. So, in this page, I introduce helpful treatments.
Medication
Sleep medications are recognized as effective and safe treatments for insomnia. These are known to improve sleep by reducing the amount of time to fall asleep, increasing sleep duration, and reducing the number of awakenings during sleep. Acually not a few people sufferinf fron insomnia say that these medications improve sleep quality. Zolpidem (Ambien) and zaleplon (Sonata) are the newest prescription medications for insomnia. Comparing with older medications (the benzodiazepines), these medications are now considered "first line" therapies and are not associated with problems of tolerance, dependence, and next-day impairment.
But I emphasize that the use of sleep medicines is not the only treatments. Sometimes sleep medications can be dangerous. Before medications is undertaken, insomnia patients should check their condition.
Prescription
Benzodiazepines, such as temazepam (Restoril), newer medications that are known as benzodiazepine receptor agonists, such as zolpidem (Ambien) and zaleplon (Sonata), and some other sedating drugs, such as trazodone (Desyrel) need prescription. Some may be short-acting and work best for trouble initially falling asleep. Others may be long-acting and work best for maintaining sleep in the middle of the night.
Over-the-counter
Over-the-counter medications are available for the treatment of insomnia. These are zolpidem (Ambien) and zaleplon (Sonata) as i wrote above. These medications are mainly sedating antihistamines. Such medications certainly may be useful for some individuals, but others say that they are not effective. and are associated with unwanted side effects or lose their effectiveness over time.
Behavioral Treatments
Misconceptions and worry about sleep, as well as many sleep-disruptive habits, serve important roles can be treated by behavioral therapies. There are several behavioral treatments that are effective and commonly used to treat insomnia.
Relaxation Therapies:
Progressive muscle relaxation training, autogenic training, imagery training, biofeedback, and hypnosis have all been used to treat insomnia. Learning some relaxation skills, patients can reduce anxiety and excessive tension at bedtime.
Stimulus Control:
The goal of this treatment is to re-associate the bed and bedroom with successful sleep attempts. By curtailing sleep-incompatible activities in the bed and bedroom and by establishing a consistent sleep-wake schedule, patients reduce sleep disorder. In practice, stimulus control requires that insomnia sufferers:
a. go to bed only when sleepy
b. establish a standard wake-up time
c. get out of bed whenever awake for more than 15-20 minutes
d. avoid reading, watching TV, eating, worrying and other sleep-incompatible
behaviors in the bed and bedroom
e. refrain from daytime napping
Sleep Restriction:
Sleep restriction therapy (SRT) is a treatment that aims to shrink the margin between bedtime and morning wake time so that the sleep period follows your own biological sleep requirement. Typically this treatment begins by having the insomnia sufferer maintain a sleep log to record each night of sleep. After the insomnia sufferer has maintained sleep record for about two weeks, the average total sleep time (ATST) is calculated from the information recorded. Subsequently, an initial time-in-bed (TIB) prescription may be set at a value no greater than the ATST +30 minutes. The TIB prescription is increased by 15-20 minute increments following weeks during which the insomnia sufferer sleeps relatively well but continues to report daytime sleepiness. Conversely, TIB is usually reduced by similar increments following weeks during which the individual continues to have difficulty sleeping. Since TIB adjustments are usually necessary, SRT typically requires an initial office visit to introduce treatment instructions and follow-up visits to alter TIB prescriptions.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy:
This treatment strategy might best be regarded as a second generation behavioral insomnia treatment, which evolved from the above described strategies. Cognitive-Behavioral Insomnia Therapy, or CBT, typically consists of some form of therapy to eliminate the misconceptions and faulty beliefs about sleep that many insomnia sufferers have. For example, it would not be useful for a person who needs only 6�� hours of sleep each night to believe that everyone should try to get 8 hours of sleep on a nightly basis. For such an individual, cognitive therapy designed to challenge this faulty belief often proves useful. In CBT, such cognitive therapy strategies are used in combination with both stimulus control and sleep restriction therapies. One presumed advantage of this treatment is that it includes treatment components which address the range of cognitive and behavioral factors that perpetuate insomnia. As a result, this treatment may be more universally effective across insomnia sufferers regardless of their presenting complaints (e.g., sleep onset complaints vs. sleep maintenance difficulty). Admittedly, CBT is a multi-component and seemingly more complex treatment than those previously described. Nonetheless, in practice, this intervention usually requires no more therapist or patient treatment time than do the less complex first generation treatments reviewed above. Often, CBT's cognitive therapy and behavioral instructions can be provided in no more than eight sessions, and some forms of CBT require as few as 2 to 4 sessions.
