2. Do You Have These Seven Symptoms Of Extreme
Insomnia?
For insomniacs, the common phrase “Good night and sweet dreams” is like a bitter
irony. Night time, supposed to be the most peaceful and quietest time of the day, is a
struggle to get through. As the moon glows in the dim skies and the surroundings give
way to the sounds of the crickets, the mind of the insomniac wanders. The thoughts are
varied, from the activities of the day, to the fears of the future. At times, it’s the thought
of not being able to sleep that goes through the insomniac’s mind.
It could be the racing thoughts, the stabbing pain or the
psychological stress
Any of these three, and more, could be the reason for insomnia. Since we live in a digi-
tal world, it could also be the external stimuli, like gadget usage or television watching,
that can contribute to the sleeplessness you’re experiencing. And when your sleepless-
ness is caused by any of these reasons, it could be termed as secondary insomnia. It’s
important in such cases that the source of the insomnia is resolved, instead of just the
sleeplessness only.
For example, you might have adapted to unhealthy sleeping habits over the years. By
doing so, your insomnia became chronic. But if a psychiatrist is able to dig deep into
these unhealthy sleeping habits, your secondary insomnia can be treated. Or for pa-
tients suffering from pain in their back or joints, it’s necessary to treat such medical con-
ditions causing them that attribute to the sleeplessness. Similarly, someone who has
depression might need therapy for the psychological disorder first instead of addressing
just the symptom of sleeplessness.
3. If your insomnia has been going on for months, without
any traceable cause…
Then in that case, it could be termed as primary insomnia. In other words, the insomnia
is the main issue, so treatments need to be addressed to it directly. We can also say
that this kind of insomnia is idiopathic, remember Neil Epstein’s case before? Without
any traceable causes, a sleep disturbance that begun during childhood and persists un-
til adulthood, this is idiopathic insomnia. This kind of insomnia is distinguishable from
fatal insomnia types, since researchers have already found that a factor for their occur-
rence is the genetically passed misfolded prions.
Characteristics of chronic (primary) insomnia
In our previous post, we have mentioned the various types of insomnia, acute and
chronic. When we talk about extreme insomnia, we’re referring to the chronic, primary
type, at least in this blog post. Below, you can learn more about the characteristics of
this particular type of insomnia.
Presence: Persisting At Least Three Months, Three Days Per Week
An insomnia that persists for at least three months, three days per week can be consid-
ered chronic. This is just the minimum, because chances are, a chronic insomnia suf-
ferer has the condition since childhood. In some cases, the insomnia might have an ear-
ly childhood onset and could be recurrent over the years. That is, it comes and it goes,
but it doesn't really fully go away.
The persisting sleeplessness could occur at the onset of sleep. The person might expe-
rience difficulties in falling asleep. Or it could also be a difficulty in maintaining sleep, a
light noise could wake the person up and sleeping thereafter can be harder. Waking up
4. several times a night, feeling as if you are taking small cat-naps, instead of a full, deep
sleep, these are also characterizations of insomnia.
Sleep Duration: Not More Than 4 Hours Per Night
Chronic insomnia sufferers experience sleep duration not lasting more than four hours
per night. Experts suggest that for humans to truly benefit from sleep, the duration has
to be around 7 to 8 hours, for adults. If you sleep less than these required hours, then
you might be suffering from a more severe form in insomnia.
Symptoms of extreme (primary) insomnia
In this blog post, we would highlight the symptoms of extreme, primary insomnia. As
have been mentioned above, your insomnia should be without any traceable causes,
like a possible underlying medical condition or a genetic mutation. Extreme insomnia
occurs over the course of months and would usually affect the life of the affected pa-
tient. But because insomnia of this type is under diagnosed, not too many people un-
derstand and know about the symptoms they should be looking for in this disorder.
1. Excessive Day Time Sleepiness
A direct consequence of inadequate sleep during night time is excessive day time
sleepiness. Clinically, excessive day time sleepiness is defined as the tendency to fall
asleep during normal waking hours. It is usually measured using the Epworth Sleepi-
ness Scale, found in this link. In the questionnaire, the participant is asked to rate the
possibility of him or her sleeping in day time activities that require attention giving. The
higher the participant scores in the scale, the higher the chances of him or her suffering
from excessive day time sleepiness.
5. It’s also easy to find out if you have excessive day time sleepiness even without the
questionnaire. So picture yourself in work or in school, how many times have you dozed
off suddenly in mundane activities such as seminars or lectures? If you’re riding public
transportation, is it highly likely for you to sleep despite the uncomfortable settings? If
you have found yourself sleeping in situations that call for attention like watching televi-
sion or using your smartphone, then you might be experiencing excessive day time
sleepiness.
2. Cognitive Impairments
Night time sleep is important because that’s when our brains consolidate information
during the day into our long-term memory. Back when I was still in college, I’d prefer to
study before sleeping as I always felt that this enhances my memory and I would always
ace my exams the next day. If a person suffers from incomplete or disturbed sleep, then
it’s also right to assume that his cognitive functions might have impairments as well,
right?
In a recent study, researchers investigated on that effect of sleeplessness. Two control
groups were created, one group was suffering from insomnia and the other group wasn't
suffering from insomnia. They were then subjected to cognitive tests to reveal if insuffi-
cient sleep does have effects on a person’s cognitive function. The results were that
those from the insomnia group were still able to respond as quickly as those from the
non-insomnia group when it comes to cognitive tasks. However, the accuracy of the in-
somnia group were far lower as compared to the non-insomnia group. These results in-
dicate that while you can still function on less sleep, you might do some tasks less accu-
rately as compared to if you have more sleep.
3. Fatigue or Tiredness
With less hours of sleep during night time, the person might feel fatigue or tiredness
during the day. In fact, there’s a clinical equivalent of chronic fatigue, known as the
6. chronic fatigue syndrome. And in many studies, the overlapping between these two
symptoms/disorders have already been discussed. It is not known whether insomnia
precedes chronic fatigues syndrome or vice versa, but they do occur simultaneously
many times.
If you often feel restless even in simple activities like walking or climbing the stairs, it
could be caused by your extreme insomnia. That overwhelming feeling of being tired,
despite just starting the day, can be a symptom of the disorder too. It’s interesting to
note though that both symptoms/disorders respond well to cognitive behavioral therapy.
In another study, researchers found that insomnia is an important predictor of chronic
fatigue. Thus, treating insomnia can alleviate the chronic fatigue of the person as well.
4. Irritability
So how many here are parents? You might relate to this symptom especially just after a
new baby is born in the family. Nights are comprised of waking and nursing, sleeping for
a few minutes before being awaken by the cries of the new member of the family. Now
picture that scenario without the baby and that’s how the life of an extreme insomniac
goes. And remember the next day when without any sleep you still have to do house-
hold chores or go to work? Again, picture that scenario without the baby, and you would
understand how insomniacs feel every day.
Irritability is a common symptom of extreme insomnia. With the lack of sleep, the brain
doesn't get the recovery and regeneration it needs to function fully. In line with the pre-
vious section, cognitive impairment, our brain isn't able to accurately distinguish our
emotions. In a recent study, it was found that one part of the brain called the subgenual
cingulate cortex is particularly stimulated during irritable situations. Perhaps during
sleep-deprivation states, this region of the brain, which is associated with negative emo-
tions, becomes more stimulated.
5. Decreased Attention Span
7. Another symptom of extreme insomnia can be a decreased attention span. According to
the National Center for Biotechnology Information, the average attention span in 2015
for adults was 8.25 seconds. We’re even behind the goldfish, who supposedly has an
attention span of 9 seconds! With sleep deprivation, your attention span is even more
decreased since the brain isn't able to recover from the day’s activities fully.
The two parts of the brain that control our attention span are the thalamus and the
frontal lobe. In fact, our brain has been trained naturally to focus on important things
due to our experiences. This makes it different from any other animal brain, even our
closest relatives, the macaques. As mentioned time and time again, without proper
sleep, our brain cannot form the required connections or enhance the memories that we
have. Thus, it makes our attention span decrease whenever we have less than the op-
timum amount of sleep.
6. Aggressiveness
Aggressiveness is a controversial symptom when it comes to extreme insomnia. You
remember that time when video games were linked to aggressive behavior but then was
later debunked? The same goes for aggressiveness and insomnia, researchers are not
yet sure of the direct relationship between the two. Aggressiveness has mainly been
studied in adolescents suffering from both insomnia and some type of psychological or
substance-abuse disorder. This relationship between the sleeping disorder and aggres-
sion in adolescents is well-documented in studies, like this one and this one.
But the occurrence of aggressiveness even in the elderly suffering from insomnia is also
not unusual. In this study, the diagnosis of chronic insomnia includes the symptom of
behavioral changes, which include aggression. It is not known exactly how aggression
and insomnia are interlinked. But it’s interesting to note that the amygdala, the part of
the brain linked to fear, becomes highly active during aggressive situations. Yet the pre-
frontal cortex, our part of the brain that controls our actions or reasons out, becomes
8. slower during such situations. Perhaps studies in the future can tap onto this area to
find out how insomnia stimulates aggression.
7. Mood Changes
Last but definitely not the least is the symptom of mood changes, or commonly referred
to as mood swings. Without optimal sleep, there’s that haywire of emotions. One mo-
ment you’re feeling okay, but the next moment you just suddenly feel overloaded, sad-
ness and depression. The unfortunate part is that only the negative emotions take upon
you. No matter how much happy thoughts you try to do or how much motivational
videos you watch, you still feel negative and down. Yes, this is another symptom of ex-
treme insomnia.
Remember that prefrontal cortex part of the brain we were talking about earlier? It’s the
same part which controls the release of our negative emotions. And with its inhibition
during sleeplessness, there’s that free flow of negative emotions like sadness, depres-
sion, grumpiness and more. That explains why we feel the mood swings during sleep-
deprived situations.
9.
10. If “Good night and sweet dreams” seems like a far-
fetched reality for you…
Then you might be suffering from extreme insomnia. If you checked positive for most of
the symptoms mentioned above, it’s best to go to a therapist or physician to have your
insomnia diagnosed properly. If your insomnia is without a cause, it occurs primarily on
its own, it might be time to acknowledge it as to what it is. There are proper treatment
options that you can choose from. There are also some therapies you can turn to so as
to treat your extreme insomnia case.
