Here are a few more reasons why insomnia shouldn’t be ignored. Before reading any further, let us remind you that according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 50-70 million US adults aren’t getting enough sleep.

Insomnia compromises your immune system

Those who get only four hours of sleep each night for a week produce half the number of flu antibodies after receiving a flu vaccine compared to those who sleep between seven and eight hours.

Insomnia may lead to depression

A two year study involving over 10,000 participants found that getting less than six hours of sleep led to feelings of anxiousness and sadness. Furthermore, sleep deprivation can lead to depression since a lack of sleep can lead to chemical changes in the brain that affect mood.

Insomnia can cause high blood pressure

Getting less than six hours of sleep each night can almost double your risk of developing high blood pressure.

Insomnia can lead to heart disease

A study found that women who slept for five hours or less each night had higher levels of CRP – a marker for heart disease.

Insomnia may cause diabetes

Research suggests that poor sleep can lead to insulin resistance, which could lead to the development of type 2 diabetes.

Insomnia makes you gain weight

One study found that those who slept five hours per night for two weeks burned more muscle and less fat than those who slept for eight hours. Another study found that getting less than five hours of sleep can cause excess weight to accumulate around your mid-section due to the higher levels of cortisol in the body after reduced sleep.

Insomnia makes you look old

Just one night of sleep deprivation can make fine lines and wrinkles more visible, since even the loss of one night’s sleep can dry the skin and leave it less elastic.

Many insomniacs know everything we’ve shared above. Now it’s time for us to educate those who are lucky enough to enjoy consistent, quality sleep. We really need to do a better job in educating the general public about insomnia and its potentially devastating consequences.

Source: MSN Health

We’re often mentioning specific insomnia treatments here on the Insomnia Land blog. Although this works well when we want to share the latest insomnia news and research, it’s not particularly helpful if you’re simply looking for a list of the most popular insomnia treatments.

With the help of Pharmacy Times, we want to change that today by sharing a list of popular over-the-counter insomnia treatments, herbal remedies for insomnia and prescription sleeping pills.

Where we’ve mentioned a particular drug or treatment before, we’ve added a link so you can read more should you so choose.

Whilst we accept that for many insomniacs, sleeping pills are an indispensable element of their life, we always encourage the exploration and investigation of insomnia treatments that don’t involve pharmaceutical intervention. These may include:

• CBT for insomnia
• Meditation for insomnia
• Yoga for insomnia
• Acupuncture for insomnia
• Aromatherapy for insomnia

OK, now on with the list!

Popular over the counter sleeping pills

• Diphenhydramine (Benadryl, Sominex)
• Doxylamine (Unisom).

Popular herbal remedies for insomnia

• Chamomile
• Kava
• Melatonin
• Valerian

Popular prescription sleeping pills for insomnia

Benzodiazepines

Estazolam (ProSom)
Flurazepam (Dalmane)
Temazepam (Restoril)

Nonbenzodiazepines

Eszopiclone (Lunesta)
Zaleplon (Sonata)
Zolpidem (Ambien)

Melatonin receptor agonists

Ramelteon (Rozerem)

Antidepressants

Amitriptyline (Elavil)
Doxepin (Silenor)
Mirtazipine (Remeron)
Trazodone (Desyrel)

It’s worth mentioning that doxepin (Silenor) is the only antidepressant approved by the FDA for treating insomnia.

Before changing your existing medication or taking anything new (even if it’s something marketed as ‘natural’), always speak with a medical professional (ie your doctor) first.

Source: Pharmacy Times

The fact that insomnia may cause depression is perhaps unsurprising to many insomniacs, yet researchers are still split as to whether insomnia is a symptom or a cause of depression.

Sleep problems are usually seen as a symptom of depression – however it appears that newer research is finding that depression is often a symptom of insomnia.

A study in 2010 found that insomnia may cause clinical depression and more recently a presentation made by scientists at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology annual meeting confirmed that sleep deprivation may cause depression.

Scientists found changes in the responses and actual brain structure of rats that were sleep deprived which mimicked the changes seen in the brains of depressed humans.

So how sleep deprived were the rats in this experiment before they started showing symptoms of depression? Well, scientists found that after a week of only four hours sleep, there was less sensitivity in the areas of the brain that regulate mood. After one month of reduced sleep there were changes in the hippocampus area of the brain – it had actually reduced in volume and was producing fewer new cells.

At both the one week and one month stages of sleep deprivation, scientists found that the brains of the rats had become less efficient at transmitting serotonin signals. It took a week of recovery sleep before serotonin receptors returned to their original levels.

We were surprised that there were such dramatic effects in such a short amount of time even though the rats were still getting four hours of sleep each day. It is worth reiterating that this study was performed on rats, not humans. However, it does show just how serious the consequences of sleep deprivation can be in a relatively short period of time.

Yet another reminder that insomnia should never be ignored.

Source: Medscape

We recently came across yet another study that found women are more likely to suffer from insomnia than men.

Research from the University of Glasgow found that 51% of adult women in the UK have difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. Furthermore, three quarters of women surveyed reported symptoms of sleep deprivation compared to only a quarter of men.

Many theories have been put forward as to why women appear to have more sleep problems than men – but there doesn’t appear to be a single, generally accepted theory as yet. Who knows, perhaps it’s all in the mind.

Source: The Observer

We already know that insomnia may increase your risk of heart disease. Now a new study out of Norway suggests that insomnia sufferers are at a higher risk of heart attack compared to those who sleep well.

The study looked at 52,610 men and women over an eleven year period. Those who reported having trouble falling asleep almost every night in the previous month were 45% more likely to have a heart attack compared to those who said they rarely or never had trouble sleeping.

Those who reported having trouble staying asleep almost every night in the previous month were 30% more likely to have a heart attack compared to those who slept throughout the night.

Those who reported poor sleep and waking feeling unrefreshed more than once per week were 27% more likely to have a heart attack compared to those who slept well and woke feeling refreshed.

The researchers also found that for every insomnia symptom the research participants had, their risk of heart attack increased by 25%.

Yet more evidence that demands we take insomnia more seriously and encourage those suffering from sleep deprivation to seek help (and receive appropriate treatment).

Source: Circulation

Have you ever heard of the condition sleep state misperception? Those who suffer from it feel as though they aren’t getting any sleep, when in fact they’re getting plenty (or at least far more than they think).

As an example, one individual sought help after getting only three hours of sleep each night. After a sleep study was conducted, it was determined that the individual was actually getting six hours of sleep. Apparently, when an electroencephalogram is used, researchers can determine just how long someone is asleep for – and in this case, even though the individual swore they were again only asleep for about three hours, the instruments said otherwise.

It appears that brain waves are much faster and brain metabolism is at a higher level in those suffering from sleep state misperception. If you feel sleep deprived but your spouse is insisting you sleep through the night, you might want to discuss this specific condition with your doctor.

Source: Arizona Daily Sun

Over the past fifty years, sleep duration has fallen by around 1.5-2 hours. This should be all the more concerning since a study published in the European Heart Journal found that short sleepers were 48% likelier to develop coronary heart disease within 7-25 years, and 15% likelier to suffer from a stroke during the same period.

It’s worth mentioning that researchers don’t know why there appears to be a higher risk of heart disease in those who don’t get enough sleep. Right now, the link isn’t completely understood – those who slept too long were also found to be at a higher risk of heart problems.

This is a new area of research, yet an increasing number of studies are finding a link between heart health and lack of sleep. Let’s hope we see the release of more results and information sooner rather than later. Perhaps they’ll be the trigger we need to change society’s general ignorance towards insomnia.

Source: European Heart Journal

We know that lack of sleep has a number of negative health effects. Today we can add one more to the list: fibromyalgia. A study out of Norway looked at 12,350 women aged 20 and over and found that those who reported problems with sleep were more likely to develop the condition.

Over the course of 10 years, only 2.6% of the women developed fibromyalgia, yet amongst those who reported sleep problems, the rate was 2.98% for those aged between 20 and 44, and 5.41% amongst those over 45 years of age.

It’s worth noting that the authors of this research say that more studies are needed before we can determine whether a lack of sleep can actually cause fibromyalgia; we think that the sooner people are treated for sleep disorders such as insomnia, the fewer negative health effects (such as fibromyalgia) there will be.

Source: Arthritis & Rheumatism Journal

We don’t really agree with setting arbitrary sleep durations since they can add to the pressure many people put on themselves to get the ‘right’ amount of sleep.

We do, however, pass on recommendations that we come across during the course of our research as we know that many people are interested in knowing whether or not they are getting enough sleep.

When it comes to teenagers and sleep, new research has suggested that teenagers should be getting between 7.5 and 8.5 hours of sleep each night in order to maintain optimal levels of blood sugar and insulin (remember the link between insomnia and diabetes).

It’s worth mentioning that for the purposes of this study, researchers looked at 62 obese teenagers with an average age of 14, and that the teenagers were only monitored for 36 hours.

Still, since we already know that sleep deprivation and diabetes are linked, it’s worth paying extra attention to make sure your teen is getting enough sleep.

Source: Diabetes Care

Generally speaking, we’re big fans of CBT as an insomnia treatment. It doesn’t involve medication, and it can be remarkably effective. That being said, it would appear that when used to treat depression in teenagers, CBT is less effective if the individual also suffers from insomnia. This is a major finding, since insomnia is a common side effect of depression – 75% of depressed teenagers are also insomniacs.

The study found that in depressed teenagers with insomnia, cognitive behavioral therapy alone was only effective in a quarter of cases at six weeks. In depressed teenagers without insomnia, cognitive behavioral therapy was effective in almost half of all cases. It’s worth mentioning that it’s not all bad news; by week twelve, the response rates were similar. However, the variance in response rates at six weeks is still important as the earlier patients respond to treatment, the likelier they are to have a positive outcome.

This is the first time we’ve come across a study that suggests insomnia itself may actually interfere with treatment for depression. Armed with this knowledge, hopefully we’ll see a two-pronged approach to tackling teenage depression in the future since it now appears that treating depression whilst ignoring insomnia leads to lower treatment response rates.

It’s worth adding that simply adding fluoxetine monotherapy (a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor commonly used to treat depression) to CBT had no effect on teenage insomniacs in this latest study, so ideally we want to see future research investigate what additional treatments may be necessary to improve insomnia as part of the overall treatment for depression.

Source: Medscape