See hospital and staff awards. Winchester Hospital was the first community hospital in the state to achieve Magnet designation, recognition for nursing excellence.
Learn why. Our tremendous staff gives back to our community by coordinating free health screenings, educational programs, and food drives. Learn more. A leading indicator of our success is the feedback we get from our patients. It is possible to develop insomnia with or without the risk factors listed below. However, the more risk factors you have, the greater your likelihood of developing insomnia. If you have a number of risk factors, ask your doctor what you can do to reduce your risk.
Insomnia is often the result of a behavior or a symptom of an underlying mental or physical problem. These behaviors and conditions increase your risk of having insomnia. They include:. People over the age of years old are more likely to have insomnia than younger people. Older people may be less likely to sleep soundly because of bodily changes related to aging and because they may have medical conditions or take medications that disturb sleep.
Chronic diseases and associated pain may increase the risk of insomnia. Some conditions associated with insomnia include:. Certain medications can increase the risk of sleeping problems as a side effect. These may include:.
Insomnia occurs more often in women than in men. Pregnancy and hormonal shifts can disturb sleep. Access your health information from any device with MyHealth. You can message your clinic, view lab results, schedule an appointment, and pay your bill. There are certain groups of people who are at increased risk for the development of insomnia in comparison to others. It has already been noted that people who are experiencing stressful situations or medical conditions such as depression or those that cause physical discomfort or pain are more at risk to developing insomnia.
Individuals who have very irregular sleep wake schedules are at risk for developing insomnia because irregular sleep-wake schedules weaken the signals from the circadian clock regulating sleep and wakefulness. Those whose jobs involve frequent time zone changes or shift work are at particularly high risk. Other groups include:. Clinical trials are research studies that evaluate a new medical approach, device, drug, or other treatment.
As a Stanford Health Care patient, you may have access to the latest, advanced clinical trials. Open trials refer to studies currently accepting participants. Closed trials are not currently enrolling, but may open in the future. Meet a team of experts who focus on you and your condition. Visit the clinic to make an appointment. Insomnia can be acute short-term or chronic long-term. While acute insomnia may last for only a few days or weeks, chronic insomnia can last for three months or more.
The most common symptom of insomnia is difficulty sleeping — either going to sleep, staying asleep, or waking up too early. If you have insomnia, you may:. Lack of sleep may cause other symptoms during the daytime. For example, you may wake up feeling tired, and you may have low energy during the day. It can also cause you to feel anxious, depressed, or irritable, and you may have a hard time concentrating or remembering things.
Insomnia can cause you to feel tired, anxious, or irritable in the short term. Over time, lack of sleep may increase your risk for more serious problems, including:. Women who have long-term insomnia may be more at risk than men with long-term insomnia for mood problems, heart disease and stroke, and obesity.
To find out if you have insomnia, your doctor will do a physical exam and ask you about your symptoms, daily habits, and stress levels.
You can also get a diagnosis from a doctor who specializes in sleep medicine. Find a sleep medicine doctor near you. Chronic or long-term insomnia can be treated with steps you can try at home to sleep better , cognitive behavioral therapy CBT , and prescription medicines.
If insomnia is a symptom or side effect of another health problem, your doctor may recommend treating the other health problem at the same time. When the other health problem is treated, secondary insomnia often goes away on its own.
For example, if menopause symptoms, such as hot flashes, are keeping you awake, your doctor might try treating your hot flashes first. Research suggests that older women who use hormone replacement therapy, eat healthy foods based on a Mediterranean diet, and limit how much caffeine and alcohol they drink may have fewer sleep problems than women who did not do those things.
Talk to your doctor or nurse if you have symptoms of insomnia, and ask about the best ways to treat insomnia. Research shows that cognitive behavioral therapy CBT works as well as prescription medicine for many people who have chronic or long-term insomnia.
This type of therapy is also used to treat conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, and eating disorders. For success with CBT, you may need to see a therapist weekly for two months or more. Prescription medicines can help treat short-term or long-term insomnia. The types of prescription medicines used to treat insomnia include sedatives and certain kinds of antidepressants. In , the Food and Drug Administration FDA required drug companies to lower the recommended dose for women of certain prescription sleep medicines with zolpidem, because women's bodies do not break down the medicine as quickly as men's bodies do.
When taking sleep medicine, make sure to give yourself enough time to get a full night of sleep. A full night of sleep is usually at least seven hours. Ask your doctor or pharmacist to tell you about any side effects of taking sleep medicine, such as grogginess that may make it difficult to drive.
Talk to your doctor or nurse if your insomnia symptoms continue longer than four weeks. OTC medicines, or sleep aids, may help some people with insomnia symptoms, but they are not meant for regular or long-term use. Many OTC sleep medicines contain antihistamines that are usually used to treat allergies. Some dietary supplements also claim to help people sleep.
Manufacturers may label dietary supplements like melatonin as "natural" products. The FDA does not test supplements for safety or effectiveness to see if the supplement is safe for humans and works in the way it's supposed to. The FDA can remove supplements from the market if they are found to be unsafe. There isn't enough scientific evidence to say whether most complementary and alternative sleep aids help treat insomnia.
The Food and Drug Administration FDA does not regulate dietary supplements like vitamins, minerals, and herbs in the same way it regulates medicines.
Use this Understanding Drug-Supplement Interactions tool to learn how dietary supplements may interact with the prescription and over-the-counter medicines you take. Sleep is essential for good health. During sleep, our bodies and brains repair themselves. Some research suggests our brains use the time during sleep to clear away toxins that build up during the day. Not getting enough sleep puts people at risk for health problems, including high blood pressure, obesity, and depression.
It can be difficult to change everyday habits, but if you can stick with some of these changes, you might be able to improve your sleep. You may need to try these tips for several days in a row to improve sleep. For more information on insomnia, call the OWH Helpline at or contact the following organizations:. Department of Health and Human Services.
ET closed on federal holidays. Breadcrumb Home A-Z health topics Insomnia. Insomnia Insomnia is one of the most commonly reported sleep problems.
What is insomnia? What are the different types of insomnia? There are two types of insomnia: Primary insomnia. Primary insomnia is a disorder. It is not a symptom or a side effect of another medical condition. Your doctor may diagnose your sleeplessness as primary insomnia after ruling out other medical conditions as a cause. Secondary insomnia. Secondary insomnia is caused by or happens alongside other health conditions or as a side effect of prescribed medicines.
It can be acute short-term or chronic long-term. Most people with chronic insomnia have secondary insomnia. Chronic insomnia, though, is a greater cause for concern.
Insomnia makes it difficult for you to fall asleep, stay asleep, or both. Get information on risk factors, symptoms, tests, treatments, and home…. Insomnia can affect your overall health.
Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Effects of Insomnia On the Body. Medically reviewed by Stacy Sampson, D. Effects and impact Causes Lifestyle risks Treatment See a doctor Insomnia Almost everyone experiences insomnia from time to time. You can have: chronic insomnia, lasts a month or longer acute insomnia, lasts a day or days, or weeks comorbid insomnia, associated with another disorder onset insomnia, difficulty falling asleep maintenance insomnia, inability to stay asleep Research shows that comorbid insomnia accounts for 85 to 90 percent of chronic insomnia.
What happens if you have insomnia? What causes insomnia? What lifestyle factors increase your risk for insomnia? What changes can you make to manage insomnia? When should you see a doctor? A Night in the Life of an Insomniac.
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