Insomnia is very widespread throughout our society. Sleep medicine specialists now believe that one out of every two adults in the United States suffers from periodic or chronic insomnia. This condition can be caused by a variety of physical, emotional and environmental factors. The specialists will address all of these issues in order to pinpoint the exact cause or combination of causes of a patient's insomnia. When the issues that are creating and maintaining this condition are identified, the doctor and his or her patient can put corrective measures into place.
Some of the physical factors that contribute to a patient's insomnia include sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, side effects of prescription medications and pain from injuries. Colorado sleep medicine doctors will take a comprehensive medical history before addressing an individual's difficulty with sleep onset, maintenance and waking too early. A good sleep doctor, for example, may quite easily determine that the side effects of a prescription medication that a patient is taking for other medical issues may be contributing substantially to a patient's insomnia. There are many possible physical reasons that can contribute to insomnia. A good specialist will be able to help an individual identify and correct those contributing factors.
Emotional factors have a substantial impact on sleeping problems. Depression, anxiety and an overactive mind can substantially impair the ability to fall asleep easily, stay asleep and cause premature waking. Anxious, agitated thinking causes the hormone cortisol to be released in the body. Over time, this state of fight or flight will disallow a person from sleeping consistently and restoratively. Working with a cognitive behavioral sleep therapist who specializes in the treatment of insomnia will help an individual to pinpoint and adjust maladaptive thought patterns, so that he or she can rest more peacefully and wake up refreshed.
Environmental issues are also another set of factors that the doctors will address with a patient. If the person stays very active late into the evening, he or she is more apt to have trouble falling asleep on a regular basis. Being exposed to bright light, including the light from computers and televisions, has been shown to disrupt the release of melatonin. Melatonin is the sleep hormone that gives a patient's body the signal to fall asleep. If the patient spends several hours just prior to bedtime on the computer or watching television, there is a good chance that he or she will have substantial difficulty falling asleep. Environmental cues are an important area that a good sleep medicine physician will address with a patient in order to identify and correct the environmental factors that are contributing to insomnia.
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