Insomnia is a Helluva Disorder(s)

  by Timothy

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  Insomnia is a condition prevalent in one third of the adult world population, without taking the adolescent or youth demographic into account. Insomnia is so common because it can be caused by anything from marital stress to acute or terminal illness, and no one is necessarily safe from its hold. Although able to be an independent condition, not being caused by anything but itself (yes, that can happen), Insomnia is most commonly linked to stress or age (elderly people will experience Insomnia naturally due to a decrease in melatonin production). My name is Timothy, I am sixteen, and I am currently suffering from Insomnia. Not being in the main body of the studied population (adults), it is a bit easier for me to make unbiased observations than that of an adult Insomniac, but it also allows for me to make statements based on personal experience. Insomnia, one of the most widespread health problems in the world, needs more research to combat and even reverse the condition; helping at least 2.6 billion people sleep at night (including myself).

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I have been suffering from Insomnia ever since I can remember, always only sleeping three or four hours a night: however the severity of the condition increased,from what I can tell, around the same time that I hit puberty. My Insomnia is mainly based on stress, but also backdrops into anxiety about sleeping (this is what i mentioned earlier about Insomnia causing Insomnia) itself. However, Insomnia can be caused by severe conditions such as Schizophrenia or Major Depressive Disorder. Insomnia can also cause many conditions and diseases over time, but not usually in small cases (secondary Insomnia). Of these conditions that Insomnia can cause, Schizophrenia (hallucinations) and MDD are present, making Insomnia one of the few conditions that can be a symptom as well as an overlying cause (Vijay et al. October 01, 1999). Other conditions caused by Insomnia include Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) ("umm.edu" January 20, 2012).

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As I previously mentioned, Insomnia can also be caused by stress, not needing a physiological or mental disorder to be initiated. In everyday life, one acquires stress from social problems or conflict, perhaps not even realizing so; the stress will almost always manifest itself one way or another in one’s dreams. From personal experience, these manifestations can be quite traumatizing, and can cause one to lose a significant amounts of sleep (My personal record is six days, and at that point it gets quite scary). Out of fear of having these recurring dreams (manifestations), one will purposefully avoid sleep altogether, perhaps thinking that they do not necessarily need to sleep until their body makes them. They are absolutely right in this assumption, and their bodies will almost always get what it needs when they least expect it; they will pass out unexpectedly and probably sleep for a good 10-12 hours (once I did this mid-sentence on the phone). 

Works Cited

Vijay, Rajput, and Bromley Steven. American Family Physician, "aafp.org." Last 

modified October 01, 1999. Accessed March 29, 2014.

http://www.aafp.org/afp/1999/1001/p1431.html.

University of Maryland Medical Center, "umm.edu." Last modified January 20, 2012.

Accessed March 29, 2014.

http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/condition/insomnia.