DEGREES AND VARIETIES OF INSOMNIA
THE capacity to sleep can be acquired by effort in the same way as the capacity to think or to run without getting out of breath. We know that some of the many great men could sleep to an most unusual degree- Shelley, Napoleon
Three Classes of Insomniacs:- The causes of insomnia are countless, varying from an argument to a serious mental or bodily illness. For instance, one class of patients has great difficulty in getting to sleep. If they are allowed to sleep-in the mornings, there are usually no consequences, but as duty compels them to rise at a stated time, many of them suffer from the effects of curtailed sleep and it is this class particularly in whom fear of not getting to sleep and this combines to exhaust the persons strength and energy.
It is the commonest form of insomnia or sleeplessness in those who carry their troubles and worries to bed with them. It is the sleeplessness which afflicts the individual who has engaged in an argument where perhaps his vanity has been wounded or his feelings hurt. It is the form of insomnia experienced by the anxious mother.
Another class of insomniacs is made up of those who experience a profound drowsiness, often against the person's will, in un-refreshing slumber of variable duration which comes on early in the evening, followed either by repeated and apparently causeless awakenings, or by abrupt and complete awakening with mental alertness, but often with depression.
Here again the ego which dominates the individual takes great delight in reliving memories certain bitter or miserable incidents in the past. They contemplate old emotions, awakens the old suffering and banishes all possibility of sleep.
This form of disturbed sleep is of course much more common in so called nervous persons, especially in those who take alcoholic stimulants.
The third variety of sleeplessness, classifying sleeplessness now according to the time of its occurrence, is technically spoken of as dysomnia in contra-distinction to insomnia. Here the adequate number of hours is apparently obtained but there is lacking that feeling of refreshment and invigoration which should come after normal sleep. The body is still tired and feels exhausted and the mind still craves sleep so keenly that at first it comes on very profoundly and then abruptly, the victim awakens to find that his mind is carrying on its particular problems at exactly the same point, and in quite the same way, as before he went to sleep.
Insomnia in Health and in illness:- Insomnia in one form or another accompanies nearly every disorder of the health, but it occurs also in individuals who are entirely well. In the majority of cases it is a state of mind that is full of fear and apprehension. But frequently it can be attributed to a direct and immediate physical cause, indigestion for instance, or toothache.
Of all the physical causes of insomnia, as distinct from the mental, none is so positive or prevalent as indigestion. We take so many liberties with the functions of our body that we easily forget that the digestive tract is the main road to health and efficiency. Very few have the good fortune to reach middle age without having experienced some disorder of digestion.
Sleep disturbances from indigestion are apt to occur in brain-workers, in persons of a sedentary occupation and in those who are exposed to harassing, anxious and depressing emotional experiences. Anxiety, worry, consternation, terror and grief, emotions which most of us experience at one time or another.
Insomnia often happens because of a certain specific illness both acute and chronic, but this sort of insomnia is almost invariably self-limited and ceases when the illness is better. In other cases insomnia is due to bads digestion, gout, rheumatism, diabetes and excessive bodily fatigue.
That certain stimulants particularly tea and coffee, that will prevent sleep. There are many people though who can drink a cup of strong black coffee and immediately go to bed. Probably coffee is a more potent in causing wakefulness than tea because it is a more of a stimulant and its effect upon the heart and blood vessels is more pronounced. Tea, however, has a unique capacity for causing wakefulness in a certain type of nervous individuals, the intermediate cause being generally flatulent dyspepsia.
