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Insomnia
Effective insomnia treatments to help you get restful sleep
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Insomnia Care at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Needham
Insomnia is a fairly common health condition that affects the quality of your sleep. In turn, dealing with insomnia can negatively impact all areas of your life. You don’t have to suffer any longer. Our sleep health experts at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital–Needham are experienced in caring for people with insomnia.
What is Insomnia?
People who have insomnia report that they can’t sleep, or that their sleep is inadequate or poor quality. If you have insomnia, you may have one or more of these symptoms:
- Trouble falling asleep
- Waking up too early
- Waking up too often and having trouble returning to sleep
- Waking up unrefreshed
Complications of Insomnia
If you have insomnia and you don’t work with a doctor to help manage it, you may experience these or other issues:
- Cognitive (thinking) problems:
- Paying attention
- Remembering things
- Staying organized
- Excessive sleepiness
- Fatigue
- Irritability
Types of Insomnia
There are three main types of insomnia:
- Transient: Lasting from one night to several weeks
- Intermittent: Recurrent bouts of transient insomnia
- Chronic: Occurring most nights and lasting a month or more
Causes of Insomnia
Learn about causes and triggers for interrupted sleep.
Causes of Transient Insomnia
Transient insomnia is often triggered or perpetuated by stress or discomfort. Common causes include:
- Acute (sudden) illness
- Certain medications that impact sleep
- Change in your sleep environment
- Irregular sleep/wake schedule, such as shift work schedules or jet lag
- Life crises
- Uncomfortable temperature
Causes of Chronic Insomnia
Chronic insomnia may result from ongoing factors, including those that cause transient insomnia, or mental or physical disorders. An irregular sleep-wake schedule can perpetuate poor sleep. Chronic sleep disturbance can reflect abnormal sleep-wake regulation or physiology during sleep.
Other Causes of Sleep Problems
Excessive napping reduces your chance of staying asleep at night. These and other disorders disrupt sleep:
- Disturbances of circadian rhythms
- Periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD)
- Restless legs syndrome (RLS)
- Sleep apnea
Behavioral Health Conditions
Behavioral health conditions often trigger chronic insomnia, but account for less than half of cases. Different mental health conditions can affect sleep:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Mood instability
Medical Conditions
Sleep is also disrupted by immobility, difficulty breathing and pain. A variety of medical and neurologic illnesses may disturb sleep:
- Alzheimer's disease
- Arthritis
- Asthma
- Chronic lung disease
- Heart failure
- Parkinson's disease
Some medical problems are worse during sleep. This can result from either increased vulnerability because of underlying sleep physiology — such as asthma — and/or because they are worsened by laying down — like gastroesophageal reflux.
Medications and Drugs That Affect Sleep
Many over-the-counter prescriptions and recreational drugs can diminish sleep quality. Different people are affected differently. These and other substances can affect sleep:
- Activating antidepressants, such as buproprion
- Alcohol
- Beta blockers, including atenolol
- Caffeine
- Nicotine
- Recreational drugs
- Steroids
- Stimulant decongestants, such as those containing pseudoephedrine
Hypnotic drugs to promote sleep can be helpful if you’re under acute stress or if you’re traveling across time zones. However, you should never take sleeping drugs for more than two or three days without speaking with your doctor. Long-term use of sleeping medications actually can contribute to insomnia.
Hormonal Changes
Hormonal changes that are associated with pregnancy, perimenopause and menopause disrupt sleep. Insomnia is more common in women, especially after menopause.
Services & Specialties
We offer these and other services to support your sleep health needs.
