7 TYPES of INSOMNIA: characteristics and treatment

You toss and turn in bed and you can't sleep… A situation that can happen occasionally, but if that persists for days then you may suffer from insomnia. In that case, it is normal for you to wonder what is the cause of not being able to sleep. Did you know that there are several types of insomnia? One of the causes of insomnia can be depression. In this Psychology-Online article, we are going to talk about all 7 types of insomnia, better understand its characteristics and what is the treatment of insomnia.

Index

1. What can cause insomnia?
2. Chronic (or long-lasting) insomnia
3. Acute (or short-lived) insomnia
4. Conciliation insomnia
5. Maintenance insomnia
6. Insomnia from early awakening
7. Mixed insomnia
8. Global insomnia

Insomnia is characterized by a unsatisfying dreamBoth in terms of its duration, in which the individual sleeps little, and in the restorative capacity, in which the individual feels tired.

What is the cause of not being able to sleep? There are many reasons that can cause insomnia:

• Among the causes of insomnia are physical illnesses: when an individual feels pain at night you will hardly be able to sleep.
• We can also mention the psychological illnesses, as the anxiety, depression, post traumatic stress disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, Bipolar disorder and others. In post-traumatic stress disorder, not only insomnia can occur but also nightmares, which are common and recurrent in these cases.
• Pay attention to the Addictive substances, as these also cause insomnia. It is known that the most consumed substances are caffeine and tobacco and both make it difficult to initiate and maintain sleep. It is worth remembering that caffeine is present not only in coffee, but also in teas, energy drinks and cola drinks.
• There are drugs which also produces insomnia, are drugs used for the treatment of thyroid hormones, drugs used for blood pressure, diuretics, corticosteroids. Some drugs used to treat ADHD and even some antidepressants, when taken in the afternoon or evening.
• The habits of the individual also influence insomnia. For example, the person who works shifts with different hours, the individual who sleeps at different times of the day, very long naps, Stimulating activities before bedtime and even a sedentary lifestyle, all these factors directly affect sleep, negatively influencing the quality of life.

How many types of insomnia are there? Next, we are going to see what are the types of insomnia:

1. Chronic (or long-lasting) insomnia
2. Acute (or short-lived) insomnia
3. Conciliation insomnia
4. Maintenance insomnia
5. Insomnia from early awakening
6. Mixed insomnia
7. Global insomnia

Chronic insomnia, also called long-term insomnia, consists of insomnia that persists for more than three months. Occurs minimally three days a week. What are the symptoms of chronic insomnia? The individual usually feels tired, poor concentration and irritability.

What is good for chronic insomnia? The treatment of insomnia can be psychological or pharmacological. Although the use of drugs should be done in the last case. The cognitive behavioral psychotherapy for producing positive effects in those cases.

Acute insomnia, which we can also refer to as short-term insomnia, is that insomnia that occurs with a duration less than three months. Generally, it is caused by anxiety symptoms, a person can have insomnia by going through some problem. In the same way that acute insomnia can be caused by cconsumption of some substance that has that effect.

As a treatment, the individual is expected to change their lifestyle habits, especially if they consume any substance that is causing the problem. In addition, the psychological treatment which can also be indicated for the relief of anxiety.

In this article, we explain How to overcome insomnia from anxiety.

To explain conciliation insomnia, we first have to understand what sleep latency means. Sleep latency refers to the time it takes for one to fall asleep and go back to sleep after waking up.

It is considered normal to take thirty minutes to fall asleep, counting from the moment you go to bed. So conciliation insomnia is when that difficulty in the onset of sleep.

The treatment can be psychological because in this way it will cause a change in the individual's way of thinking in addition to treating the anxiety caused by said situation. If you want to know what are the non-pharmacological means to promote sleep, in the following article we explain How to sleep fast and deep.

Maintenance insomnia occurs when the difficulty of maintaining sleep throughout the night arises. It may be because of the waking up frequently of the individual or by the inability to return to sleep after awakening. It is important to mention that in this case the deep sleep state of the individual is decreased.

A psychological treatment may be indicated because in the psychotherapy techniques are used that objectify a psychological and behavioral change on the part of the individual, since These will act on the negative thoughts and beliefs that usually appear after days without getting to sleep.

When we talk about the insomnia of early awakening we are referring to that individual who he wakes up before his due time. On the other hand, it should be mentioned that there are many people who have the habit of getting up in the morning without using the alarm clock. Then, it would be a case of insomnia of early awakening when the person feels tired for the day.

As a form of treatment, the cognitive behavioral psychotherapy It will cause the individual to modify her behavior in relation to said situation.

Mixed insomnia refers to the insomnia condition appearing together, that is, the individual may suffer a combination of insomnia mentioned above, for example, conciliation insomnia and early awakening insomnia.

What can be done to combat insomnia? As mentioned above, the treatment can be psychological or pharmacological, since in that case the situation leads the individual to feel anxiety about not getting to sleep. In this article, you will find The best infusions to sleep.

The global insomnia that occurs when the three types of insomnia already mentioned appear: conciliation insomnia, maintenance insomnia and early awakening insomnia. Generally, the individual cannot sleep at the beginning of the night, it takes a long time to reconcile, wakes up within a few hours of sleep and does not go back to sleep throughout the night. It is considered the most serious insomnia because it affects sleeping hours a lot and these are insufficient.

Treatment can be done with psychotherapy and occasionally the use of a drug, and is also expected by part of the individual is a change in their lifestyle looking for new habits that favor the quality of sleep. In this article on What to do when you can't sleep, we offer 15 effective sleep guidelines.

This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

If you want to read more articles similar to Types of insomnia, characteristics and treatment, we recommend that you enter our category of Clinical psychology.

• Blanken, M., Benjamins, J., Borsboom, D., Vermunt, J., Paquola, C., Ramautar, J. (2919). Insomnia disorder subtypes derived from live history and traits of affect and personality. Recovered from: http://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(18)3064-4
• Insomnia - Diagnosis and treatment - Mayo Clinic. (2021). Recovered from: https://www.mayoclinic.org/es-es/diseases-conditions/insomnia/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20355173