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A great influence on insomnia can be influenced by individual predisposition to its occurrence. Its development is influenced by 3 factors- predisposing, triggering and fixing. Predisposing factors are genetic susceptibility and personality traits. They cause the person to be more likely to react with arousal and anxiety in different situations, which translates into sleep. Personality traits in this case are greater emotional reactivity, sensitivity, excessive worry, thinking about what happened. Such people are more often excited, tense. If such a predisposition is present and there are factors that we call triggers, that is, for example, stress associated with various situations in life, then sleep problems can arise. This may be short-term insomnia, which is the most correct reaction to stress. When such a trigger weakens, or subsides, sleep should return to normal. It also happens that short-term insomnia passes into the form of chronic insomnia. This is influenced by fixing factors. These are the most common activities we do before going to bed when we cannot fall asleep: watching TV in bed, drinking alcohol or increasing the time we spend in bed, going to bed earlier and waiting to fall asleep.
This is a pernicious strategy that perpetuates sleep problems. Sleep becomes shallower, there are more awakenings, we also stop associating bed with sleep. The more we think about the fact that we cannot sleep, waiting for the onset of sleep, the more difficult it makes it for us to fall asleep. There are fears and anxiety associated with the whole situation and its consequences, the negative impact on functioning and health, which all the more causes a loop in the vicious circle of thoughts, due to which the body reacts with even greater arousal, which in turn intensifies insomnia. The circle closes.
Unfortunately, we do not have much influence on predisposing or triggering factors. Instead, we can work on our attitudes, thoughts and habits — fixing factors. It is worth paying attention to this. Insomnia affects more and more people. It is one of the most common mental disorders.
People who struggle with insomnia are very often worried about their health. Trouble sleeping is, of course, a risk factor for the development of many diseases, including infarction, diabetes, heart failure, hypertension, increased susceptibility to depression, negatively affects a person's mood, social functioning, increases the likelihood of communication accidents. Dangerous consequences for health primarily concern patients who do not take treatment, have been in the disease for a long time, are passive in relation to it.
The use of fixing agents, such as alcohol, is also common. This, in turn, can lead to further problems. Let us also remember that excessive worry leads to a vicious circle of thoughts, anxiety, anxiety, which in turn translates into a state of arousal of the body, and thus to an increase in insomnia. Excessive thoughts do not bring anything good, you need to focus on what can be the cause of insomnia and what we can do about it to regain the feeling that we have an impact on our sleep.
A helpful tool for working with fixative factors is therapy with a qualified psychotherapist.
Symptoms of insomnia occur in various mental disorders, and in the course of various diseases. In anxiety disorders, patients have difficulty falling asleep,
with nocturnal awakenings, with depression, early awakenings occur, with bipolar disorder in the manic phase, there is a very short sleep. In diseases proceeding with pain, patients very often wake up at night. These are the causes of insomnia that do not have to lead to chronic insomnia. It happens that with chronic insomnia, the patient is accompanied by another mental disorder. To determine the criteria for insomnia or other sleep disorders, you should see a doctor who specializes in sleep medicine. If you are wondering if there is any other disorder in addition, it is worth resorting to a psychiatric consultation.
