If you have been injured in an accident and you want to make a compensation claim for personal injury and loss just complete the contact form, email our lawyers offices or use the solicitors helpline. Our insomnia solicitors offer advice at no cost and without further obligation. If our insomnia solicitors deal with your claim it will be on a no win no fee basis, compensation is paid in full and you do not have to fund or finance your accident compensation claim.
Insomnia is common and affects about 30-50 percent of people at any given period of time. About ten percent have chronic insomnia. Insomnia is not a disease but is a symptom of another disease. Insomnia is difficulty getting to sleep, staying to sleep or both. It is also the perception of having poor sleep. It is not defined by how many hours of sleep you get.
Insomnia lasting a week or shorter is called transient insomnia. If the symptoms last 1-3 weeks, it is called short term insomnia and if it lasts longer than three weeks, it is called chronic insomnia. It affects all age groups and affects women more than men. The incidence tends to increase with age and be more common in people who are poor, people who are alcoholics and mental health patients. Stress can make insomnia worse and it can become chronic if not addressed swiftly. There seems to be an association between depression and anxiety, and insomnia problems.
There are very many causes of insomnia which may involve medical conditions, psychological symptoms or situational conditions. Causes of transient or short term insomnia involve things like jet lag, excessive noise, shift work changes, uncomfortable temperature in the room, stress in life, medical or surgical illness in the hospital, withdrawal from alcohol, stimulant, sedative or other drugs, or insomnia related to high alcohol.
You can also have physical symptoms such as pain, fever, nasal congestion, breathing problems, cough, diarrhoea and other conditions can cause someone to develop insomnia. If you control the underlying conditions, you often get resolution of the insomnia symptoms.
Long term insomnia is usually related to a psychiatric condition or a medical condition. The psychological conditions related to insomnia include anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, stress, or mania in bipolar disorder. Insomnia can be the first sign of depression or in the first phase of any mental illness. As mentioned before, insomnia is strongly related to depression and anxiety. Out of all psychological disorders related to insomnia, depression is the most commonly related disorder.
The physiological causes of pain include disturbances of the circadian rhythm problems (biological clock problems), imbalance between sleep and wakefulness, chronic pain symptoms, chronic fatigue syndrome, chest pain from heart disease (night-time angina) and congestive heart failure. Other conditions, such as acid reflux interfere with insomnia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), nocturnal asthma and obstructive sleep apnea can contribute to insomnia. Diseases of older age, such as Alzheimers dementia and Parkinsons disease have insomnia as part of the disease as it progresses.
Those who are at higher risk for insomnia include travelers, who often cross time zones and have nights without sleep, shift workers, who often change shifts, older individuals, young adults or adolescents, pregnant women, people who abuse drugs or alcoholics.
Certain medications can contribute to insomnia. These include certain asthma drugs or over the counter cold prescriptions, stimulants, some high blood pressure medications and medications patients use to treat depression, schizophrenia or anxiety.
Other causes of insomnia include caffeine and nicotine, commonly used drugs. You shouldn't smoke or drink right before bedtime. People often use alcohol to get to sleep. It may work to get a person to sleep but the sleep is interrupted and is poor sleep. Having a partner who snores or has periodic limb movements might impair your ability to get a good nights sleep.
Treatment of insomnia includes having good sleep habits like going to bed at the same time, not having excessive noise around you, not sleeping with the TV on, and not exercising right before going to sleep. If you have a severe sleep problem, your doctor will do a complete physical and history and will try to determine the underlying cause of sleep. Regular exercise in the daytime hours can help and reassurance by the doctor can help. Biofeedback can make a difference in allowing you to sleep. Some people choose psychotherapy in order to get a good nights sleep and medical intervention for underlying problems can make a difference. As a last resort, sleeping medications are prescribed to help you get to sleep and maintain a good nights sleep.
If you have suffered physically, mentally or financially, you should consider making an accident compensation claim. For telephone advice at no cost from expert personal injury solicitors just call the helpline. Our insomnia solicitors will assess the strength of your claim and will advise you on your potential award of compensation without any further obligation.
LAWYER HELPLINE: ☎ 1800 339 958The author of the substantive medical writing on this website is Dr. Christine Traxler MD whose biography can be read here