Causes:

Insomnia can be caused by medical conditions, such as chronic pain or respiratory disorders, as well as some medications.  Unhealthy lifestyle that involves nicotine (smoking), alcohol or too much caffeine (coffee, energy drinks) can cause it or make it worse.  Insomnia may also be caused by psychological issues such as depression, anxiety or difficult circumstances, such as the death of someone close, financial stress or relationship issues.

Types of insomnia:

There are several different kinds of insomnia, but three types of insomnia have been clearly identified.  These are:

1. Transient Insomnia: Can last from a few days to a few weeks.  It can be caused by another disorder, such as depression, by changes in the sleep environment, or by stress.  This causes sleepiness and impaired psychomotor performance.
2. Acute Insomnia: The inability to sleep consistently for three to six months.
3. Chronic Insomnia: Can last for years at a time.  It can be caused by another disorder or may be a primary disorder.  Its effects are the same as Transient Insomnia, as well as other effects that are more serious, such as double vision and hallucinations.  However, their alertness is often increased, as they see things as though they were happening in slow motion.

Insomnia is best diagnosed by your local General Practitioner (GP).

Complications if insomnia

Treatment:

Insomnia cannot be ‘cured,’ as it is a symptom of another underlying problem. However, there are things you can do that may help with the process of falling asleep and staying asleep.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is looking at problematic thoughts and behaviour and altering them to improve quality of life, or quality of sleep patterns.

Asking your GP to refer you to a CBT Psychologist to help you deal with irregular sleeping patterns and underlying causes of insomnia is the best option, but not everyone has access to a psychologist.  They help with things like stress management, relaxation techniques and being able to identify problematic thoughts and behaviour that could be causing insomnia.

Behavioural changes:

Avoid energisers, such as chocolate, coke, coffee and energy drinks.  Even though alcohol is a depressant, I avoid that as well, because even though it relaxes your body, if your underlying cause of insomnia is depression it will make it worse.

When people have insomnia, they instinctively stay in bed longer in order to give themself more of an opportunity to sleep.  However, this behaviour will lead to even less sleep.  By choosing a time to get up in the morning and sticking to it no matter how you slept the night before, your brain clock will be forced into a routine of sleep and wake.

It usually takes people an average of 15 minutes to fall asleep, or to go back to sleep if they have woken up.  If you have insomnia, the best thing to do if you cannot fall asleep when you first go to bed is lie down for 15 minutes, and if you haven’t fallen asleep, get up and listen to quiet music for 15 minutes, or until you feel more relaxed.  Then, lie down for 15 minutes again, and repeat.  You may have to do this several times.  If it doesn’t work after an hour or two, stay in bed and try again the next night.  Bed needs to be the place you go to when you feel comfortable and sleepy, so your brain associates bed with sleep.

Also, exercise regularly and eat healthy.

Cognitive changes:

Be aware of problematic thoughts.  Insomnia can become a part of a vicious cycle; worrying about not sleeping makes it difficult to sleep; difficulty sleeping causes worry about not sleeping.

My personal experience:

I would describe it as simply forgetting how to sleep.  You feel very tired, but simply can not fall asleep.  It’s upsetting and frustrating, which just makes it all the worse.

Firstly, before I hop into bed, I make sure I go through my own, personal pre-sleep routine, so that my body and mind can prepare for my attempt to sleep.  I’ll have a nice, hot cup of chamomile tea (or ‘Relax’ tea from T2) as chamomile is something that relaxes the body and mind.  I will then have a hot shower.

I know when you lie down to sleep the natural thing to do is to try and ‘clear’ your head of thoughts in order to sleep. However, I have found it is more effective to take your thoughts and run with them.  If I have a lot of worry on my mind at the time, I make sure I write down everything that is bothering me before I do my pre-sleep routine.  That way it’s easier to let my thoughts run.

The other option is to harness your thoughts.  You do this by imagining a relaxing place in great detail; what it looks like, sounds like, tastes like, smells like, and feels like.  For example, imagine you are floating down a crystal clear stream.  Then you pick a spot ahead of you, such as a waterfall, and think “I will fall asleep at that place.”  You can train your body to fall asleep when you want it to.  I have been able to do it a few times, it’s very difficult to master though, as you can imagine.

I have found all of the above methods work, except in severe cases.  When I have a severe case of insomnia, I’ve found the best thing to do is accept that it’s occurring and continue practising the above methods every night until my body is ready to sleep.  Sometimes it can take a week or more, but the most important thing is not to get too upset or stressed about it.  Talk to friends, have a cup of tea, and just go along with it.

Faithess – Insomnia.

References:

Australasian Sleep Association.
Wikipedia:  Insomnia.
eMedicine Health:  Insomnia.

Twice every year the Earths path crosses with the trail of rock and dust left behind by Swift-Tuttle (See picture below: ‘Perseids meteor shower’).  The particles of the trail, most of which are smaller than a grain of sand, create a spectacular display when they burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.  This is called the Perseids meteor shower.

Meteor showers usually get their names from their ‘radiant’, which is the point they appear to come from in the sky.  The Perseids meteor shower appears to come from the constellation Perseus (See picture below: ‘Perseids meteor shower’), hence, it was named accordingly.

This particular meteor shower has been observed for about 2,000 years.  Most of the debris the Earth passes through every year is about 1,000 years old.

The Perseids meteor shower can be seen from all over the world from mid-July to mid-August every year.  Due to the orbit of Swift-Tuttle, the Perseids meteor shower is easier to see from the Northern hemisphere and is most active from 8 August to 14 August, usually peaking on 12 August.  During its peak, you may see 60 – 80 meteors per hour.

Perseids meteor shower.

For more information, check out these websites:

Perseids:  2009.
Perseids:  NASA.
Perseids:  History.
2009 Meteor Showers.

References:

Wikipedia:  Perseids.
ScienceRay:  Perseids.
ScienceRay:  Meteor showers.