Baqaians Forum

Nights in white? If it is not sporadic, A person who suffers from insomnia and does not cure the disorder may also develop other diseases. The news comes from a review of scientific studies published few days back in the online version of the journal Lancet . The researchers started from the premise that insomnia is the most common sleep disorder, but despite advances in diagnosis and therapy it is often not well identified nor treated.

The scientific review confirms the need to precisely diagnose and treat this disorder as early as possible to avoid the risk of getting sick in the future. When not treated, in fact, insomnia may promote the onset of depression, diabetes, hypertension and may even cause death.

The data show that those who suffer from insomnia have a five times greater risk of developing anxiety or depression. It also doubles the risk of heart failure and diabetes. Chronic sleep deprivation is a risk factor for the onset of obesity, while sleep apnea increases the risk of developing systemic hypertension, myocardial infarction and stroke. One study also found that those who suffer from insomnia have a seven times greater risk of abusing alcohol or drugs than those who sleep soundly.

Therefore, it is essential to do everything possible to diagnose and treat insomnia as early as possible making sure that patients are treated with therapies provided by the guidelines and not off-label drugs that have little evidence of their effectiveness. "Just because there is a high prevalence and substantial co-morbidity of insomnia, primary care physicians should routinely ask patients if they have trouble sleeping," says Charles Morin, Laval University in Quebec City (Canada) and Ruth Bench of the University of Wisconsin who are authors of the review.

Approximately one quarter of the adult population has problems with sleep and it is estimated that between 6 and 10% suffer from real insomnia. In Italy, according to data from the Italian Association for the sleep medicine, are about 12 million people have sleep problems: insomnia, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome (RLS), narcolepsy.

Those who suffer from insomnia have difficulty falling asleep, alterations of the phase of deep sleep and daytime symptoms such as fatigue , difficulty in concentrating and mood disorders. When these symptoms are ignored, the problem becomes chronic and recurrent episodes of insomnia occur. In addition, a longitudinal study recorded that almost 70% of patients continue to have symptoms even after a year and about 35% even in the next three years. Insomnia also has social and economic consequences because it leads to low productivity, absenteeism from work and higher health care costs.

Why are there so many people with insomnia? Are the treatments not effective? The researchers concluded that despite the widespread use of both of those Treatments, their use in the long term has not been well studied and there is little scientific evidence to prove which drug works best for various sleep disorders . In addition, some of the most commonly prescribed medications (such as some antidepressants and antihistamines) may not always have an indication for the treatment of insomnia and this highlights the need to do further research to assess the effectiveness of individual drugs.

That's why the National Institutes of Health of the United States has determined that only two treatments (approved cognitive-behavioral therapy and hypnotic drugs ) have proved effective in supporting the treatment of insomnia. The cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is a treatment that uses psychological and behavioral methods such as relaxation techniques, sleep deprivation and sleep hygiene principles (such as diet, exercise and proper environmental conditions of the bedroom).

CBT has proven very effective in combating insomnia, its side effects but does not offer long term benefits. The problem is that there is a shortage of professionals able to apply CBT and those who are able are mostly professionals working in the private sector. "A solution to improve access to this therapy comes from the technology that makes it accessible through telephone consultations, and even online."