Causes of Insomnia

What do you think the main causes of long term Insomnia are.Is it
most likely Anxiety/Depression/Stress,or could it be a condition all on it's own?

hi scooter

i think it's due to traumatic experiences either with sleep or a lot of problems in the home early on. like for me, i grew up in a fairly normal house wiht some deepsecrets that caused me some obsessive copmpulsive problems until i came out of my denial. then i lived in new york city and had a big break up then relaly loud apartments- now i cant sleep through any noise or vibration..

mine had to do with sexual abuse...i know many others with sleeping prblems due to this.

also, i had a very rageful set of parents that destroyed my sense of trust when it got really bad for a few years.

i think it has a lot to do with trusting the worls and that things ar going to eb ok; unfortunately, i think a lot of that trust is engrained and no matter how muych we work on it, everyone's trust "gage" is sort of set at a certain level based on how they grew up.

just my .02

I think insomnia has many causes ranging from the purely physical to the subconscious, but in my experience it is the inability of the brain to stop processing information and descend into the delta state of 'non-awareness' where external information is irrelevant and internal subconscious information is switched off whilst the brain 'recharges' neurons.

It is often related to stress, anxiety, depression and a host of other conditions simply because it is a symptom of them, but it is not them and can, I believe, be treated as a condition on its own.

Jenn

Scooter wrote:What do you think the main causes of long term Insomnia are.Is it
most likely Anxiety/Depression/Stress,or could it be a condition all on it's own?

My insomnia is related to fear of the night? I'm trying to find out why I am so scared of the night. I think alot my abuse issues happened when It was night because that was when my dad came home from work; I belive that it can also be related to many other things as well.
Enola

Hi Enola,

You can find out where this fear comes from with hypnotherapy. Often, when you find out the fear disappears, or it may need some work to remove it entirely. If it is abuse then the feelings related to these events can be desensitised so that you may remember the events, but have no bad feelings about them.

If you want to get a good night's sleep in the meantime I can recommend the alphadynamics Deep Sleep CD which has worked for a number of people I know. www.alphadynamics.com. or Valerian herbal remedy.

Hope that helps,

Jenn

enolarovivrus wrote:My insomnia is related to fear of the night? I'm trying to find out why I am so scared of the night. I think alot my abuse issues happened when It was night because that was when my dad came home from work; I belive that it can also be related to many other things as well.
Enola

I tried something like that with my experiance of being raped and I actually felt like I was being raped again. I'm afraid of getting caught up in the fear and not being able to come out of it.
Enola

Enola, something went wrong if that's how you felt, or your therapist did not know what they were doing.

It sounds as though were were in what is called an 'associated' state when you re-experienced this - that is a state where you personally experience the trauma again. A good therapist will initially use a 'dissociated' state so that you only observe the trauma event from a distance you choose. In this state you cannot get 'stuck' in the feeling since it is not you feeling it, but 'her' over there. You will feel sympathy and some empathy, but that is not the same feeling as being involved personally in the actual trauma event.

I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to get a good therapist, there are many who are not. In the UK the National Council for Hypnotherapy is a good starting point, and in the US the National Guild of Hypnotists or the American Board of Hypnosis if you want to use the hypnotherapy route.

Jenn

enolarovivrus wrote:I tried something like that with my experiance of being raped and I actually felt like I was being raped again. I'm afraid of getting caught up in the fear and not being able to come out of it.
Enola

Mainstream sources attribute insomnia to a variety of unrelated factors. Women, and people over 60, are known to suffer from sleep disorders more frequently than men and younger people. Alcohol consumption, depression, disruptions of the normal sleep/wake schedule, changes in the environment, poor health, a sedentary lifestyle, travel, and stress are all believed to contribute to insomnia.

Pioneering researchers have linked insomnia to disruptions in circadian rhythms—the natural cycles by which the body produces hormones, chemicals, and neurotransmitters. With a Circadian Rhythm Disorder, the production of melatonin (the “sleep” hormone), and serotonin (the “wake” hormone) at the wrong times can signal the body to fall asleep during the middle of the afternoon, but leave sufferers wide-eyed and alert in the middle of the night. Circadian rhythms can be disrupted by insufficient exposure to sunlight; not only upsetting sleep/wake cycles, but also potentially triggering the depression associated with Seasonal Affective Disorder, which further impairs the ability to gain a restful night’s sleep.

Info from -- [EDIT: spam URL removed by admin]

What has worked for me??? Exercise, a good diet, and reading at night. I am very restless when I do not exercise, so I exercise, usually during the day, and then when I lie in bed I read to mellow myself out.

Here are dietary recommendations to help with insomnia -- [EDIT: spam URL removed by admin]

Good luck and any other suggestions from other posters I would love to hear as well... THANKS

Although anxiety, depression and stress are most common insomnia causes, there are many other factors that may cause insomnia. Also, insomnia is more common in women than men. One study found that people who experienced long-term insomnia had been prone to nightmares and fear of the dark as children.