Though acute insomnia can be reversed with the adoption of healthier sleep habits or it may go away on its own, most people with chronic insomnia require help from a sleep specialist to help retrain the body to get healthy sleep. “They worry about not falling asleep and what will happen if they don’t sleep, and before you know it, they have so much anxiety that they’re unable to sleep.” People with chronic insomnia tend to experience a symptom sleep doctors refer to as “catastrophizing,” Dr. Meskill explains. Approximately 1 in 10 adults have chronic insomnia, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.Ĭhronic insomnia tends to start because of acute insomnia, but even after the stress that initially causes the sleep problems goes away, disrupted sleep persists. Meanwhile, the more severe type of insomnia is chronic insomnia, which means you have sleep difficulties three or more days a week on average over the course of three months. In most cases, the sooner insomnia is addressed, the easier it is to fix.

Other stressors, like adjusting to a new job or moving to a new home, can lead to acute insomnia that causes sleep problems that last a few weeks.īut if your sleep troubles last longer than a few weeks (or continue after that initial stressor has passed) - or if you feel like your sleep troubles are getting worse - tell your doctor. Health conditions that trigger worries - for instance, if you’re going in for surgery the next day - can also cause acute insomnia. Or you may have a work deadline the next day and you’re so stressed about it that you can’t fall asleep. ( 4 )įor instance, you may be catching a plane early in the morning the next day and you can’t sleep because you’re worried about missing your flight. It generally lasts no more than four weeks, and typically goes away on its own once the stressor causing your sleep problems has passed, Nowakowski says. This brief period of struggling to sleep usually happens as a result of life circumstances. Thirty to 35 percent of adults have brief symptoms of insomnia, while 15 to 20 percent struggle with short-term insomnia that lasts less than three months, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. So would you qualify as an insomniac with just one bad night of sleep? The answer is yes, namely because there are two different types of insomnia - and knowing which you have is key in figuring out how to treat it.Īcute insomnia is the milder form that most everyone likely deals with at some point.

After all, life, whether in the form of stress, excitement, or a change of routines, can easily get the best of you and disrupt your slumber. You can’t be human without having at least one bad night of sleep. Studies have also shown that about 10 percent of adults in the United States have chronic insomnia that is severe enough that it affects their daytime functioning, according to the NSF.

It’s a complex problem that is common and comes with alarming consequences.ĭata from the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) show that 35 percent of people occasionally experience insomnia-like symptoms - and as many as 60 percent dealt with insomnia symptoms in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. This often includes dysfunction during the day as well.

The medical definition is “perception of difficulty with sleep, despite adequate opportunity to sleep,” says Sheila Tsai, MD, a pulmonologist and the section head of sleep medicine at National Jewish Health in Denver. The simplest definition of insomnia is not being able to sleep. Insomnia is when that happens night after night. If you’ve ever suffered even one night of bad sleep, you might relate to feeling so upset about sleeplessness that you want to cry.

Difereneces in types of insomnia