Don’t you always feel sleepy? Even after sleeping at night, people usually start feeling tired and sleepy during the day. Imagine, you can work continuously for hours without feeling sleepy, sounds cool? But actually, it's not, there are people who are unable to sleep even if they try, and that condition is not good for the person.
This sleeplessness is medically termed insomnia.
What is Insomnia?
A medical disorder in which a person is unable to sleep. It is a very common disorder which was earlier observed in old people but now can be seen in young people as well.
The person suffering from insomnia faces difficulty in falling asleep, can’t sleep for a long time or wakes up earlier than they desire. Whatever the cause is, there are many ways in which insomnia affects the person physically and mentally.
What Are the Symptoms?
The major problem in insomnia is obviously sleeplessness but along with that, there are many more symptoms associated with it which may confirm whether the person is insomniac or not.
Some of the common symptoms are:
- Waking quite early after you sleep and once you wake up, it becomes difficult to fall asleep again.
- Spending too much time trying hard to fall asleep, even when you are tired or on your bed.
- A very unstable or interrupted pattern of sleep. A small disturbance can wake you up.
These are a few common symptoms which may symbolise that the person is an insomniac. A lot of teenagers and youth face these symptoms regularly nowadays. And the reason is an unstable state of mind, overthinking and spending so much time with technology.
Not every person facing these issues is an insomniac. Sometimes it's just a state of sleeplessness that may be due to many reasons. But if you face these issues for a very long time, you must consult a doctor.
If the above-mentioned symptoms are persistent for a long time, it may lead to many other symptoms like mood swings, irritability, difficulty in maintaining concentration etc.
Causes of Insomnia
There are many causes which are behind a person being an insomniac. It may be related to his/her mental health, lifestyle, diet or behaviour. Some major causes behind insomnia are:
- Stress is a very common cause of insomnia. Stress often leads to different factors like anxiety, depression and overthinking. All these lead to sleeplessness.
- Trauma is another major cause of insomnia. Many times, people get a shock or a trauma due to some sudden mishappening and this becomes a cause of insomnia.
- Physical illness like diabetes, and cancer which often involves the consumption of some strong medicines also become a cause of insomnia.
These are just a few common causes of sleeping disorders. Other than these, there are some more causes of insomnia which is acute (for a short period of time) like change in sleeping habits like a new home, bed or even a mattress, or jet lag.
Consequences of Insomnia
If a proper diagnosis is not done at the right time, some harmful consequences can also be caused by this sleeping disorder. Here is a list of a few of the consequences which may be caused due to insomnia.
- Sleeplessness causes stress which may cause physical, mental, emotional or even financial difficulties.
- Excessive tiredness throughout the day due to lack of rest for the brain and the body.
- A high intake of caffeine may also be considered an aftereffect of insomnia.
- Chances are there that the insomniac person may start consuming tobacco or alcohol.
- The person may develop a habit of taking naps due to an interrupted sleep cycle.
Who Are More Prone to Insomnia
Earlier, people above the age of 40 were considered more prone to sleeplessness due to changes in body functions, lifestyle diseases etc. Also, insomnia is considered common during pregnancy. But, nowadays younger people have also started falling prone to insomnia.
The youth of today is no more relaxed or calm, instead, they are more into anxiety, stress and overthinking, that’s the reason why many of the youngsters spend their night scrolling social media or binging on Netflix. They hardly sleep for 3-4 hours a day.
Children are also not spared of this sleeplessness. Earlier, children were not introduced to technology and hence they were more relaxed and easily used to having at least a sleep of 10 hours a day. But now, children are also being stressed out due to competition, technology, and responsibilities.
These changes in the lifestyle of youngsters and kids obviously affect them in their proper growth.
Impact of Covid 19
The world has faced the terrible condition of the pandemic in the last two years. These two years were quite miserable for every age group. But youngsters were majorly affected by it. Due to the inability to move outdoors, they developed a habit of binge-watching.
They got themselves so much into the technology, that they could complete three seasons with more than 50 episodes of a series in a day. And hence, they developed a habit of not sleeping at night.
Sleeping late became normal for everyone and then when everything shifted to normal, their sleep cycle did not. And hence, now they were unable to sleep early due to habit but were forced to wake up early due to work. And hence, the entire sleep schedule is disturbed leading to the development of insomnia.
Written By: Nidhi Jha
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