When it comes down to it there are two types of insomnia – transient and chronic. Transient insomnia is, as the name suggests, temporary and once you locate the cause of your sleepless nights the sleeping disorder stops. When the condition doesn’t resolve itself and goes on to become chronic then it’s time to start looking at a treatment for insomnia so that it doesn’t affect your quality of life.
Where most people turn first is to medication and there are some doctors who don’t look at a patients health holistically and are prone to prescribe sleeping tablets without really listening to what the patient is saying. There’s nothing wrong with taking prescription sleeping tablets but like any medication you should really only be taking them if you have a specifically diagnosed problem.
For example anyone who works a lot of late or night shifts or who does a lot of long haul travel will have a severely disrupted circadian rhythm (24 hour waking/sleeping cycle) that needs to be adjusted before they start popping pills. Dealing with the cause of the problem rather than just treating the symptoms is always the best choice for your health.
The problem with sleeping pills as a treatment for insomnia
The main problem with prescription sleeping tablets that people run into is that they can become addictive with continued use so you’ll often find that reputable doctors aren’t willing to prescribe a specific type of sleeping pill for more than about 90 days. The second reason for a good doctor doing this is that this type of medication tends to become less effective over time so there’s no point in continuing to take a sleeping pill that’s producing less and less of a result right?
What are the different types of sleeping pills?
So what types of prescription medication can you take as a treatment for insomnia? The first type are called Benzodiazepine Hypnotics and examples of products with this active ingredient are Temazepam and Dalmane. This type of sleep medication tends to have a long lasting action and are really useful for people who find that they wake up frequently during the night.
Next on the list we have the non-Benzodiazepine Hypnotic medications like Lunesta and Ambien. These sleeping tablets take effect very quickly but don’t last as long as the medication listed above. This makes them more suitable for people who have trouble falling asleep when they go to bed but tend to stay asleep once they’ve dozed off.
Regardless of what type of sleeping pill you might have been prescribed they’re never, ever a long term solution to insomnia – you need to treat the cause of the problem and not just the symptoms. You cannot just rely on medication to treat your condition.
The behavioral element of insomnia
And one big part of the treatment for insomnia that people often overlook is the behavioral element. This is as important ,if not more so, to permanently correct your sleeping problem. Sometimes not sleeping properly grows from being a minor problem to a habit and then becomes a condition and all of this can be traced back to a change in your lifestyle or behavior. So ideally you should speak to a sleep therapist so they can look at any lifestyle or behavior changes that might be responsible for your trouble with getting enough sleep each night.
Sleep hygiene
Sleep hygiene, which is really part of your behavioral therapy, is critical to having a good nights sleep so make sure that your bedroom is free of distractions and the bed is only used for sleep and sex and nothing else. You need to establish and stick to a regular sleeping pattern for the entire week – not just your working days.
Important steps in any good sleep hygiene program would involve things like getting regular exercise during the day (several hours before sleep), avoiding drinks with caffeine in the afternoon, try to avoid smoking and create a sleeping environment that suits you. A proper sleeping environment is one that’s as hot, cold, bright, dark, quiet or noisy as suits you but do take your partners sleeping preferences into account if you have to.
Relax your mind
One thing that people often blame their insomnia on is not being able to switch their minds off at the end of the day. So they wind up going to bed with one million and one thoughts, worries, fear and anxieties rushing around their head while they’re trying to sleep. If your mind is this active you’ll find that getting asleep is pretty much impossible. If you find yourself suffering from this then relaxation, meditation and breathing techniques can slow the pace of your thoughts down and let you drift off to sleep naturally.
A classic treatment for insomnia
And last but not least for insomnia treatments there’s the age old remedy of drinking a glass of warm milk before you go to bed each night. Believe it or not there’s now scientific evidence that shows that a glass of warm milk is actually pretty effective at helping you to fall asleep. Why? It looks like a glass of warm milk could be rich in an enzyme called tryptophan. Does that sound familiar? Well anyone who’s ever fallen asleep after a large turkey dinner at Thanksgiving will know what a dose of tryptophan feels like – like being shot with an elephant tranquilizer while you’re sitting in your favorite chair.
Summary
The key message here is to look at the background of your insomnia problem before you start taking medication for it. You could find a very simple cause for your sleeping disorder that could be simply cured by a change in lifestyle or your habits. The treatment for insomnia isn’t always sleeping pills.