April 2017 www.womanthismonth.com LIFESTYLE | wellbeing 46 You finally call it a day, put the lights out and settle into bed. But your mind is abuzz with a mental to-do list and that impending 8am meeting looms large in the subconscious. You count the hours till the alarm will shriek – trying to silence the mind – but all you do is toss and turn. Midnight comes and goes. You pass time on your social media pages. It’s 2am. You head to the kitchen for cookies, returning to bed and wishing for some sweet sleep, and count the hours to 6am again. Now the clock reads 4.30am. And then your foggy brain can’t remember when you fall into fitful slumber. Most of us have experienced this scenario more than a few times and know how frustrating it can be. But when this happens night after night, for weeks together, it’s called insomnia and it can feel deadly. Dr Bassam Doujaiji, American Board consultant in pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at Bahrain Specialist Hospital tells us more. What Is It? “Insomnia is a common disorder that can make it hard to get to and stay asleep, or A restful night’s sleep is elusive to some, taking a toll on energy, mood and normal functioning the morning after. Behnaz Sanjana pulls back the bedcovers on insomnia and how to deal with it. Counting Sheep cause you to wake up too early and not be able to get back to sleep. There are two types of insomnia: primary and secondary. The former is when the sufferer has sleep problems that are not directly associated with any other health issue. The latter is secondary to another medical condition,” says Dr Bassam. Similarly, insomnia can also be categorised into acute and chronic. Acute is short-term and normally resolves itself and, according to Dr Bassam, is often due to life stressors such as loss or change of a job, death of a loved one, relocation, illness, jetlag and environmental factors such as noise, light or extreme temperatures that interfere with sleep. “Chronic insomnia occurs when the person has sleep problems because of issues like anxiety, depression, arthritis, cancer, heartburn, pain, asthma or taking certain medications,” he continues. It persists for a minimum of three nights a week over an extended period of more Insomnia is different from sleep apnoea which occurs when a sleeping person’s breathing is interrupted multiple times through the night, causing disturbed sleep. The repercussions however, are similar.
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