Insomnia is among the conditions, for which many individuals seek treatment due to the disturbing consequences and discomfort. The symptoms of insomnia include having trouble falling asleep or maintaining sleep. Such problems might have a detrimental impact on daytime functioning if they have been present for a minimum of three months, and are unrelated to another condition. In fact, those who suffer from insomnia have trouble concentrating, are more irritable and unstable emotionally, and are more likely to have accidents (Lancee et al., 2017). Long-term sleep disruption is linked to a number of physical and mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. However, in order to deal with insomnia, most professionals recommend spending less waking time in bed before sleep.
The ability to fall asleep more quickly may be affected by spending waking hours in bed owing to the thinking that takes place. A person’s thoughts could become hyperactive when discussing difficult or delicate subjects (Lancee et al., 2017). The individual may remain aware as a result, which makes it more challenging to fall asleep. Persistent thinking is one possible recognized risk factor for insomnia. It is often described as “the process of thinking attentively, repetitively, or frequently about oneself and one’s world” and was first researched in the framework of depression and anxiety disorders (Lancee et al., 2017, p.54).
This focused attention leads to an exaggeration of the impact of daytime performance and sleeps on maintaining recurrent thoughts about sleeping, which in turn raises physiological arousal and leads to actual deterioration in sleep. Hence, repetitive thinking before bedtime causes arousal and anxiety, which in turn causes focused attention and enhanced monitoring of dangers connected to sleep.
Work Cited
Lancee, J., Eisma, M. C., van Zanten, K. B., & Topper, M. (2017). When thinking impairs sleep: Trait, daytime and nighttime repetitive thinking in insomnia. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 15(1), 53-69. Web.