What Is Insomnia and What Are Its 4 Different Types?

Living beings use sleep as a form of ultimate bodily rest to keep functioning optimally. Maintaining a regular sleep cycle is one of the pillars of good health.

Everyone experiences sleep troubles at some point in their life. This can be frustrating as it impairs our everyday function.

Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder. Getting informed about the problem and learning about its different types can be instrumental in helping you overcome your sleep issues.

What Is Insomnia?

Insomnia makes it hard or impossible for you to fall asleep, but it can also lead to early wakeups, rendering you unable to fall asleep again. A common effect of insomnia, even if you’ve managed to get some rest, is the feeling of tiredness upon waking up.

This disorder primarily impacts on a person’s energy levels and mood. However, many health issues result from insufficient rest. This heavily compromises the quality of life and work performance of the afflicted.

How Much Sleep Is Enough?

An adult person requires 7-9 hours a sleep per night. Ideally, they should have a continual and stable sleep pattern. Occasionally, it’s normal to sleep less than 7 hours or more than 9, if a person is exhausted. But as a general rule of thumb, a 7-9 hour average is advised.

Just as insomnia can negatively impact your sleep cycle, an irregular sleep cycle can cause insomnia.

Side Effects of Insomnia

Sleepiness and tiredness during the daytime aren’t the only side effects of insomnia. The patient might find it difficult to focus on tasks, pay attention, and remember things. Some negative effects of this affliction include depression, irritability, and anxiety. An increased amount of accidents and errors is to be expected.

People who have insomnia often experience ongoing worries about sleep, which can be one of the root causes of the affliction itself.

Two Main Types of Insomnia

Insomnia can be acute and chronic.

Acute Insomnia

Acute insomnia is short-term and has been known to occur in many adults. It typically lasts for a few days or weeks, or even up to a few months. Short-term insomnia typically follows a stressful event (commonly, the loss of someone close). Opioid recovery, loss of a job, a relationship change, or a worrying event can also cause this affliction type.

As time passes, and with potential help from psychotherapy/medication/exercise, the symptoms of acute insomnia pass.

However, if not timely dealt with, acute insomnia can become very persistent and turn into chronic insomnia.

Chronic Insomnia

Unlike its acute counterpart, chronic insomnia is a long-term pattern of sleeping issues. If a person keeps experiencing sleep issues for three nights a week or more and for at least three months, they are likely to be diagnosed with chronic insomnia.

This chronic sleep condition can occur in episodes over a certain period and might go away randomly. It has been known to reoccur, though.

Like acute insomnia, chronic insomnia is tied to stressful life events. Poor sleep hygiene, irregular sleep schedules, frequent and recurring nightmares, and various mental disorders can all cause or trigger chronic insomnia.

Lesser-Known Insomnia Types

In addition to acute and chronic insomnia, there are three other types that may explain a person’s sleep troubles.

Maintenance Insomnia

Just as insomnia causes depression, stress, and anxiety, these three mental ailments can cause the development of acute insomnia. Maintenance insomnia can also be caused by physical factors, such as respiratory conditions, acid reflux issues, allergies and nasal blockages, and restless leg syndrome. Chronic pain can lead to maintenance insomnia, as well.

Behavioral Insomnia of Childhood (BIC)

This insomnia is manifested in three different subtypes: BIC sleep-onset, BIC limit-setting, and BIC combined type. Sleep-onset insomnia is due to associating sleep with needing to be nursed/rocked or watching TV before falling asleep, for example. The limit-setting type is connected to a child refusing to go to sleep. The combined BIC is simply a combination of the previous two subtypes.

Sleep-onset insomnia is often listed as a completely separate issue, but it falls under BIC.

Insomnia Treatment

Insomnia can be treated using different methods. Some include sedative-hypnotic drugs, others boil down to cognitive therapy, and some involve using sleeping pills. If an episode of insomnia lasts for too long, it’s essential that you visit your doctor. Postponing the doctor’s visit and delaying treatments for insomnia can result in an acute affliction turning into a chronic one.

It’s essential that you educate yourself about the different insomnia types. But you should never self-diagnose or refrain from paying a visit to your GP.