Health Tips & Info : Vitamins and Supplements to Help Insomnia.

Insomnia is a disorder that most people suffer from at point or another. For some people insomnia is caused by a hectic period or at work or a time of personal stress and goes away after work dies down or the stress is resolved. But for other people insomnia is a chronic condition that can have serious effects on their health. 

Going without sleep for a long period of time can cause a loss of mental function, clumsiness, impaired judgment, and other problems. That’s why if you have had trouble sleeping for more than a week you should really try taking something to help you sleep. Most people are afraid to try prescription sleep medicine because they don’t want to get addicted. Even over the counter medicines that are made to help people sleep are avoided by people that don’t want to become dependent on a sleeping pill. 

There are herbs and supplements that you can take to help you sleep if you are routinely having trouble sleeping. Because they are all natural they are not habit forming and you won’t have to worry about any side effects or about becoming addicted to them. Herbal sleeping remedies are usually cheaper than prescription medications and easier to get too. 

The best herbal supplements to cure insomnia are kava kava, melatonin, and valerian root. Kava kava and valerian root can be taken in a tea form or in a pill form. All three of these supplements should be taken about an hour before you want to actually sleep so that they have time to be processed and broken down by your body. You will usually start to feel sleepy within a half an hour of taking the recommended dose of these herbs.

Health Tips & Info : Insomnia Causes and co-morbidities.

Symptoms of insomnia can be caused by or can be co-morbid with:

• Use of psychoactive drugs (such as stimulants), including certain medications, herbs, caffeine, nicotine, cocaine, amphetamines, methylphenidate, aripiprazole, MDMA, modafinil, or excessive alcohol intake.

• Use of fluoroquinolone antibiotic drugs, see fluoroquinolone toxicity, associated with more severe and chronic types of insomnia.

• Restless Legs Syndrome, which can cause sleep onset insomnia due to the discomforting sensations felt and the need to move the legs or other body parts to relieve these sensations.

• Periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD), which occurs during sleep and can cause arousals that the sleeper is unaware of.

• Pain An injury or condition that causes pain can preclude an individual from finding a comfortable position in which to fall asleep, and can in addition cause awakening.

• Hormone shifts such as those that precede menstruation and those during menopause.

• Life events such as fear, stress, anxiety, emotional or mental tension, work problems, financial stress, birth of a child and bereavement.

• Mental disorders such as bipolar disorder, clinical depression, generalized anxiety disorder, post traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, or dementia.

• Disturbances of the circadian rhythm, such as shift work and jet lag, can cause an inability to sleep at some times of the day and excessive sleepiness at other times of the day. Chronic circadian rhythm disorders are characterized by similar symptoms.

• Certain neurological disorders, brain lesions, or a history of traumatic brain injury.

• Medical conditions such as hyperthyroidism ( Hyperthyroidism is the term for overactive tissue within the thyroid gland causing an overproduction of thyroid hormones ) and rheumatoid arthritis (Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs, but principally attacks synovial joints [ A Synovial joint, also known as a diarthrosis, is the most common and most movable type of joint [ A joint is the location at which two or more bones make contact. ] in the body of a mammal.] ) .

• Abuse of over-the counter or prescription sleep aids (sedative or depressant drugs) can produce rebound insomnia.

• Poor sleep hygiene ( Sleep hygiene defined as the controlling of "all behavioural and environmental factors that precede sleep and may interfere with sleep." ), e.g., noise.

• Parasomnias, which include such disruptive sleep events as nightmares, sleepwalking, night terrors, violent behavior while sleeping, and REM behavior disorder, in which the physical body moves in response to events within dreams.

• A rare genetic condition can cause a prion-based (Prion is is an infectious agent [virus/bacteria/fungus/parasite] composed of protein in a misfolded form [misfolded or Protein folding is the process by which a protein structure assumes its functional shape or conformation.]  ), permanent and eventually fatal form of insomnia called fatal familial insomnia.

• Physical exercise. Exercise-induced insomnia is common in athletes, causing prolonged sleep onset latency ( Sleep onset latency is the length of time that it takes to accomplish the transition from full wakefulness to sleep, normally to the lightest of the non-REM [ Non-Rapid Eye Movement ] sleep stages.).

Sleep studies using polysomnography have suggested that people who have sleep disruption have elevated nighttime levels of circulating cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone.

They also have an elevated metabolic rate, which does not occur in people who do not have insomnia but whose sleep is intentionally disrupted during a sleep study. Studies of brain metabolism using positron emission tomography (PET) scans indicate that people with insomnia have higher metabolic rates by night and by day. The question remains whether these changes are the causes or consequences of long-term insomnia.

A common misperception is that the amount of sleep required decreases as a person ages. The ability to sleep for long periods, rather than the need for sleep, appears to be lost as people get older. Some elderly insomniacs toss and turn in bed and occasionally fall off the bed at night, diminishing the amount of sleep they receive.

From Wikipedia

Health Tips & Info : What Is Insomnia ?

Insomnia (or sleeplessness) is most often defined by an individual's report of sleeping difficulties. While the term is sometimes used in sleep literature to describe a disorder demonstrated by polysomnographic (a multi-parametric test used in the study of sleep and as a diagnostic tool in sleep medicine ) evidence of disturbed sleep, insomnia is often defined as a positive response to either of two questions: "Do you experience difficulty sleeping?" or "Do you have difficulty falling or staying asleep?"

Thus, insomnia is most often thought of as both a sign and a symptom that can accompany several sleep, medical, and psychiatric disorders, characterized by persistent difficulty falling asleep and/or staying asleep or sleep of poor quality. Insomnia is typically followed by functional impairment while awake. One definition of insomnia is difficulties initiating and/or maintaining sleep, or nonrestorative sleep, associated with impairments of daytime functioning or marked distress for more than 1 month."

Insomnia can be grouped into primary and secondary, or comorbid, insomnia. Primary insomnia is a sleep disorder not attributable to a medical, psychiatric, or environmental cause. A complete diagnosis will differentiate between:

• insomnia as secondary to another condition,
• primary insomnia co-morbid with one or more conditions, or
• free-standing primary insomnia.

From Wikipedia