Insomnia is not being able to sleep. Sleep is such an essential part of our lives that the lack of it can lead to a collection of maladies that can be so serious that they can threaten death. These are both mental and physical.
Insomnia has a number of physical and biochemical effects on the brain that can lead to some extremely unpleasant psychological conditions. Initially these conditions are experienced as relatively mild symptoms such as headaches and the feeling of being in a general bad mood; feelings of considerable irritability and impatience.
If insomnia is prolonged for several nights, tremors can occur along with lack of coordination. Short term memory is severely reduced and you are likely to find yourself initiating an activity only to immediately forget what your intention was. As the condition worsens or becomes chronic, you find yourself to be permanently tired and you may find yourself experiencing hallucinations.
Driving a car in this condition is very risky. There is a serious risk of falling asleep at the wheel, and ones perception of the local surroundings is likely to be distorted. Your sense of danger will also be affected in a similar manner to that of drinking too much alcohol. You are likely to take risks that otherwise you would avoid. Eventually you are likely to become severely depressed and you might start to demonstrate symptoms of psychosis.
As if these mental symptoms were not enough, your body will also suffer. Prolonged insomnia can cause muscular weakness and affect the heart. Sometimes heart attacks are triggered by lack of sleep. The body’s adrenal system is put under severe pressure and there will be metabolic changes that can lead to obesity and even diabetes.
The point of all this is you should not treat insomnia trivially as it is far from being a trivial condition. One place to start is to ensure that you are as comfortable as possible when in bed. Good quality mattresses are some of our best weapons against the scourge of insomnia. We also need to make sure that our body temperature is neither too hot nor too cool, that there are no auditory disturbances and that there is sufficient darkness. These last two items may require the purchase of earplugs and sleep-mask.
Comfort is the key to banishing insomnia.