Medical Health Encyclopedia

Insomnia


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Alternative Names

Psychophysiological insomnia; Learned insomnia; Chronic insomnia; Primary insomnia


Symptoms
  • Difficulty falling asleep on most nights
  • Feeling tired during the day or falling asleep during the day
  • Not feeling refreshed when you wake up
  • Waking up several times during sleep

People who have primary insomnia tend to keep thinking about getting enough sleep. The more they try to sleep, the greater their sense of frustration and distress, and the more difficult sleep becomes.


Signs and tests

Your health care provider will do a physical exam and ask you questions about your current medications, drug use, and medical history. Usually, these are the only methods needed to diagnose insomnia.

Polysomnography, an overnight sleep study, can help rule out other types of sleep disorders (such as sleep apnea).



Review Date: 08/17/2009
Reviewed By: Andrew Schriber, MD, FCCP, Specialist in Pulmonary, Critical Care, and Sleep Medicine, Virtua Memorial Hospital, Mount Holly, New Jersey. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org).




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