What are the Symptoms of Insomnia?

Picture someone pacing the floor night after night. His eyes look bloodshot. His posture speaks of exhaustion. He keeps looking at the clock. If these images come to mind when you think of insomnia, you’ve got it right.

However, insomnia, or the inability to get sufficient sleep, involves even more. Your neurologists at Northwest Neurology in Lake Barrington, Rolling Meadows, South Barrington, Crystal Lake, Elgin, Elk Grove Village, and Libertyville, IL, can diagnose and treat this common sleep disorder. You, too, can understand insomnia better and find relief.

Symptoms and Signs of Insomnia

Everyone experiences sleep problems now and again. A stressful week at work, a sick child, and even sore muscles from an intense workout may make it difficult to get to sleep or to stay asleep.

However, when these sleep disturbances are more the rule than the exception (say, three times a week for several weeks), you likely have chronic insomnia in Libertyville. In fact, 40 million American adults do, making insomnia the most common sleep disorder in the United States, says the National Sleep Foundation.

Besides trouble falling and staying asleep, signs of insomnia include:

• Daytime exhaustion
• Waking up too soon
• Memory, concentration and learning problems

Diagnosing and Treating Insomnia

While your doctors often suspect insomnia when their patients cite these symptoms, other factors play into a diagnosis–things such as lack of exercise, some prescription medications, depression, anxiety and stress. Your doctor will carefully discuss your particular concerns and may order an at-home or in-office sleep study to note your particular patterns of falling asleep, restlessness, waking and snoring.

Then, he’ll advise some common sense strategies to help you establish good sleep hygiene. These habits help most people form a bedtime routine and sleep environment conducive to falling into and staying in a deep, restful sleep.

Good sleep hygiene includes:

• Sleeping in an uncluttered bedroom
• Stopping all TV watching and use of phones. computers and other electronic devices at least one hour before bed
• Limiting stimulants such as caffeine, especially after dinner
• Relaxation techniques to ease you into a proper sleep pattern
• On occasion, your physician at Northwest Neurology may prescribe a sleep medication.

Sleep Well

You can with help from Northwest Neurology. This professional group offers comprehensive neurological services, including sleep medicine at its finest. Please contact (847) 882-6604 for an appointment. We have several convenient locations: Lake Barrington, Hoffman Estates/South Barrington, Rolling Meadows, Libertyville, and Crystal Lake, IL. We look forward to serving you!