Hypnotic vs. Good Sleep Hygiene



Hypnotic vs. Good Sleep Hygiene

Introduction

One of the common sleep disorders is insomnia and refers to lack of sleep, and a comparatively disturbed sleep. It is believed that it must not be left untreated as it incurs serious health issues. People with insomnia complain about lack of concentration, short term memory loss, and anxiety in daytime functional routine. One major concern for the insomniac people is that they are at a very high risk of accidents.

Insomnia also brings economic consequences which include the cost of frequent trips to physicians, and absence from workplace. In more serious cases, people are deprived of jobs when diagnosed with insomnia as it adversely affects the efficiency and mood swings. Hence, it also puts the relationship at stake. Psychiatrists associate insomnia with a number of mental and physical illnesses.

There is a strong relationship between insomnia and depression. At times, it causes depression and in some cases it is the effect of depression [1]. Medical science is confused in the use of hypnotics for managing insomnia. Many medical specialists are of the view that hypnotics must not be prescribed in any case for the treatment while some prefer them for the period of seven to ten days. One study shows a link between insomnia and obesity. Obese people suffer from lack of sleep. With this, women are more prone to develop insomnia as compared to men as women have less sharing atmosphere of their feelings and worries.

In one of the studies, the research was conducted to demonstrate that sleep restriction therapy for insomniacs in combination with gradual withdrawal of hypnotics incurs better results in the improvement in sleep than sleep hygiene education alone.

Insomnia and Hypnotics

One of the very obvious symptoms is lack of sleep. In addition, frequent mood swings, losing temper with the people around, feeling unrest, irritable, and repeating errors at the work place, depression, headache, and stomach disorders. A much stressed life, such as death of a close friend or relative, divorce, loss of job or any other kind of relationship break up may also stimulate insomnia [2].

Moreover, insomnia has also been associated with poor health conditions. Any disease which causes pain or distress disturbs sleep habits. According to a rough survey in 2002, people with asthma cannot sleep properly. Similar is the case with the patients of cervical pain, arthritis, diabetes, rheumatism, and anxiety. Aging and smoking are other factors that contribute to insomnia.

Hypnotics are the drugs that are proved to be highly effective in the treatment of sleep disorders. A doctor must consider some of the key issues before prescribing hypnotics. He must talk to the patient about any mental health disorders, like depression and anxiety. There is a general rule that a patient should be on hypnotics for more than three days. Hypnotics are effective but a doctor must advise some psychological techniques to cure sleep disorder because tranquilizers will help as long as a patient is on ...