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Insomnia Treatment: What Are Your Options?

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Most of us will have suffered from sleeping problems in our lifetime but the condition of insomnia is medically defined as when it takes a person more than 30 minutes to fall asleep and then they wake up again within 6 hours. Insomnia is one of the most frustrating medical conditions that someone can be faced with as you are forced to lay awake watching the seconds tick by; knowing that your lack of sleep will lead to consequences the next day. It can lead to depression, anxiety, and high levels of fatigue leaving you with no other option than to seek help.

So what are the options when it comes to treating this exasperating condition? Here are a few that it might be worth looking into if you have had enough of those sleepless nights.

Sleeping Tablets

There is a wide array of sleeping tablets available on the market that claim to be able to help you get off to sleep easily. Some are herbal and some are more medicinal but there is always the danger of dependency. The majority of these tablets work by relieving the anxiety that is associated with sleeping so that you are more likely to be able to nod off. However, you could end up relying on these tablets to fall asleep and the underlying problem will still not have been addressed.

Hypnosis

This form of treatment for insomnia is more likely to solve the issue of your insomnia than cover it up or move your frustrations onto something else.  Over a course of sessions work will be done to slowly get your body clock back to how it should be so that you are sleeping well once again.

The type of insomnia you have will also be determined so that everything can be tailored to your specific needs and the original course of your condition can also be addressed appropriately. This will give you a much higher chance of overcoming the problems you are experiencing.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Cognitive-behavioral therapy, also known as CBT, is aimed at removing thoughts and feelings that could be stopping you from sleeping properly. This includes things like making sure you only associate the bedroom with sleep and nothing else and only being in bed when you feel like you could sleep. It will also help to relieve the tension you have which is associated with sleep and remove any roadblocks to you catching more than those priceless 40 winks. CBT can be done by your usual GP but it’s likely that you will be referred to a specialist if this form of treatment is needed.

Almorexant

Almorexant is a drug that was developed between 2007 and 2011. Although development was abandoned in early 2011 the theory behind this drug could lead to similar treatments being created in the future. Almorexant was billed as a drug that would stop messages being sent to the brain that tells us to stay awake. These effects would then wear off after around 8 hours to give the patient a solid night’s sleep.

However, problems were found when it came to side effects as these pathways are also responsible for other forms of behavior and not just sleep alone. It seems there is a lot more research to be done on these types of drugs before they can become safe and effective treatments for insomnia.