Insomnia side effects
Insomnia is a classification of sleep disorders in which a person has trouble falling asleep, staying asleep or waking up too early. It is the most commonly reported sleep disorder.This article will discuss Insomnia side effects.
Insomnia has been found to cause an abundance of side effects, and it poses many health risks if untreated.
The immediate insomnia side effects include fatigue, irritability, difficulty concentrating, daytime tiredness, impaired mood and social functioning, all occurring on the day following a night with insufficient sleep. In various surveys performed among insomnia patients, it was found that many insomniacs complain of being easily upset, irritated or annoyed, being too tired to do things, and having problems remembering. A large percentage of insomnia patients also complained of trouble thinking and exercising judgment, forgetting tasks they had to perform, and feeling sleepy while driving the car. Insomnia side effects impair memory, as well. Bonet and Arnad (1995 ) found that insomniacs suffer from impaired short term memory, while a researcher named Mendelson ( 1984) has found that insomnia also takes its toll on long term memory.
Beside all the above insomnia side effects, various studies have indicated that insomnia can lead to a variety of medical conditions, both psychiatric and physical.
For example, the medical experts used to believe that insomnia was just a symptom of depression. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that insomnia is not just a symptom of depression, but that it may actually precede depression. Researchers found that people who have insomnia but no depression are at increased risk for later developing depression. A recent study done at Zurich University Psychiatric Hospital in Switzerland, focused on 591 young adults, showing that Insomnia lasting two weeks or longer predicted major depressive episodes and major depressive disorder at subsequent times. In terms of percentage, seventeen to 50 percent of subjects with insomnia lasting two weeks or longer developed a major depressive episode over time. In another study, conducted by Chang at the John Hopkins hospital, it was demonstrated that insomnia patients have a double risk to develop depression, comparing to normal sleepers.
A recent study has also found that chronic insomnia can lead to anxiety and depression. The study, conducted by Dr. Dag Neckelmann, of Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, Norway, found significant relations between the longitudinal course of chronic insomnia and the development of anxiety disorders and depression. Compared to the group of participants without chronic insomnia in both surveys, the group with chronic insomnia had increased associations to having developed anxiety disorders and depression. Nechelmann believes that, though not demonstrated, alleviating chronic insomnia may reduce the risk of developing anxiety disorders.
Insomnia can have serious side effects on adolescents. An 2008 study, authored by Rebecca A. Bernert, from Florida State University, focused on 322 college undergraduates between 19-24 years of age. According to the results, insomnia and poor sleep quality jointly predicted elevated suicidal symptoms, even after controlling for depression.
Concerning a slightly younger age group, a study performed by Brandy M. Roane, MS, a doctoral student at the University of North Texas included thousands of subjects between the age of 14 to 18, and reached alarming conclusions, as it suggested that the presence of insomnia in adolescents increases the risk of developing mental health problems and also may increase the severity of these problems. The studies’ insomnia group was more likely to use alcohol, cannabis, and non-cannabis drugs, and was more likely to suffer from depression, suicide thoughts, and suicide attempts.
Interestingly, researchers have shown that a potential consequence of insomnia is increased suspiciousness. An English study, conducted by Dr. Daniel Friedman found that in the general population individuals with insomnia were five times more likely to have high levels of paranoid thinking than people who were sleeping well.
Aside from increased risks of psychological and psychiatric conditions, insomnia side effects seem to affect the status of the patient’s physical health. Insomnia has been shown to increase risks of ill physical health.
Reports have shown that insomnia with short sleep duration is associated with the hypersecretion of cortisol, increased catecholaminergic activity, increased heart rate and 24-hour metabolic rate, and impaired heart rate variability. A recent study, conducted by Alexandros N. Vgontzas, MD, director of the Sleep Research and Treatment Center at the Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey, Pa., demonstrated that chronic insomnia with objectively measured short sleep time is an independent and clinically significant risk factor for hypertension.
Results of this study indicate that participants with insomnia and a severely short sleep duration of less than five hours had a risk for hypertension that was 500 percent higher than participants without insomnia . It was further revealed that people with insomnia and moderately short sleep duration of five to six hours had a risk for hypertension that was 350 percent higher than normal sleepers.
Studies also link insomnia side effects to weight gain and obesity. A study performed at UCLA has suggested a possible explanation: it shows that insomnia patients have a dysregulation in energy balance that could explain why these patients gain weight over time.
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