Other more detailed studies have shown a lower prevalence of insomnia, estimated at around 11% of the Spanish population and around 21% of the French and Japanese. The duration of insomnia varies from 7 to 14 years, but it seems that most of the people who suffer from it DO NOT address the subject even with their own doctor.
Insomnia is characterized by several aspects:
- Difficulty falling asleep - sleep latency beyond 30 minutes
- Insufficient duration of night sleep - total time less than 5.5 or 6 hours
- Repeated or protracted nocturnal awakenings and / or early morning awakening
- Poor sleep quality
... which inexorably affect the quality of life.
Insomnia can be classified in several ways, but for convenience, a time criterion will be used below:
- Transient or occasional insomnia; usually caused by anxiety-inducing emotional stress, transient pathologies, sporadic use of stimulants
- Insomnia of medium duration: up to three weeks; often sustained by emotional events concerning work, family, acute illness, drug withdrawal of anxiolytics.
- Long-lasting insomnia: more than three weeks; caused by a severe stress event or with mixed etiology, which includes: depression, generalized anxiety, chronic painful symptoms, habitual drug intake, chronic alcohol abuse, Parkinson's, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, restless legs syndrome, pruritus, etc.
The therapy for insomnia should be aimed at extinguishing the causative agent, however, often the only symptomatological treatment (drugs) is essential to maintaining a minimum quality of life. NON-pharmacological treatment includes some behavioral modifications, psychotherapy and autogenic training; among the precautions concerning the lifestyle, the diet plays a fundamental role.
; a person with an "orderly" lifestyle rarely (if not for major causes such as anxiety and depression) suffers from sleep disturbances.
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