Health Guide » 
Topic Overview
Insomnia is a common sleep problem, affecting almost everyone at some point in their lives. People with insomnia report that they can't fall asleep or they cannot stay asleep. This leads to a feeling of unsatisfactory sleep, followed by daytime weariness and loss of productivity, as well as irritability and decreased enjoyment of family and social life.
Many people have occasional bouts of insomnia, often related to a temporarily stressful situation. For some people, however, poor-quality sleep is a recurring and even a lifelong problem. Up to 12% of people have insomnia on a regular basis.1
Getting a good night's sleep, one that leaves you refreshed in the morning, means something different to a child than it does to a senior citizen. Most infants sleep from 16 to 20 hours a day, while most adults sleep from 7 to 8 hours. Most seniors sleep around 6 1/2 hours a day.1
Temporary insomnia
Temporary insomnia usually disappears in less than a month. However, it's important to pay attention to it, as excessive daytime sleepiness can have serious consequences, such as auto and work-related accidents. Also, temporary insomnia can develop into chronic poor-quality sleep, particularly if you begin to worry about sleep and to associate your bed with an inability to sleep. Often poor-quality sleep is the result of other problems. Temporary insomnia can last anywhere from a night or two up to three weeks, and might be caused by any of the following disturbances:
- A single stressful event
- A period of emotional stress
- Illness
- Temporary pain
- Disturbances in the sleeping environment (noise, light, strange bed, etc.)
- Upsets in the normal sleep pattern, such as jet lag
- Chronic insomnia
People with chronic insomnia report a lack of good-quality sleep for long periods of time, months and even years. This type of recurring insomnia can be caused by one or a combination of the following:
- Psychiatric conditions, such as depression or anxiety
- An underlying medical condition
- Stimulants
- Acute or chronic stress
- Chronic pain
- Some medications
- A different sleep disorder
- Poor sleep habits
It is important to talk with your health professional about your sleep patterns and to have any health problem or sleep disorder diagnosed and, if necessary, treated.
Who gets insomnia?
Insomnia is not a life-threatening disease, but it is a disturbance in an important aspect of daily life. While reports of inadequate sleep can come from people at any stage in life, and is reported more commonly in women, insomnia is seen most often in older people.
Chronic insomnia affects between 12% and 25% of healthy seniors.2 These numbers go up if medical or psychiatric illness is present. Changes in sleep patterns, such as frequent and lengthy awakenings, are a normal part of the aging process, and a decrease in the amount of time it takes to awaken refreshed are to be expected. However, older people also experience an increase in lifestyle changes, health problems, and medications. Shifts in a senior's sleep patterns and quality could be caused by a combination of age-related change and sleep disorders.3 Thus, poor-quality sleep can become a frequent problem for older people, and it should not be ignored or considered to be a normal part of aging because continual loss of sleep can lead to depression or affect other health conditions.
Though a substantial number of people suffer from poor sleep quality, studies have found that doctors often do not ask about sleep patterns and people seldom discuss them with their doctors.3 However, sleep issues are important, as insomnia can lead to depression, automobile accidents, increased alcohol consumption, and daytime drowsiness.4 Reporting on sleep history should be a regular part of everybody's physical checkups.
Diagnosis and treatment
What makes people with insomnia different from people who generally sleep fewer hours or have a different sleep disorder is the quality of their day. Chronic insomnia results in such disturbed sleep that there will be considerable loss of quality in how a person feels and is able to perform during the day. Sometimes people worry about the amount of sleep that they get most nights because they think people their age need a certain number of hours. It is possible to be a short sleeper or a restless sleeper and yet get the amount of sleep you need. If you awaken refreshed with energy and are able to conduct your needed tasks during the day, then you are probably getting adequate sleep.
You can help your doctor know what part your sleep patterns are playing in your overall physical condition by reporting on your sleep history and by keeping a sleep diary for a set period of time. This will also help your doctor investigate possible causes of your sleeplessness. Thyroid testing, hormonal testing for menopause, and sleep studies are examples of tests that may help you and your doctor find medical problems that may cause the insomnia. Once you and your doctor know what might be causing your insomnia, treatment for an underlying condition can be considered.
If medical conditions are either under control or are being treated, other treatments are available to change sleep patterns. Sleep hygiene and behavior therapy are proving to be very helpful in changing the quality of sleep. When necessary, sleep-inducing medicines are useful for short-term relief.
