Insomnia is a sleep disorder that can be found in patients of all ages but is more common in older people. This sleep disorder can be caused by factors, for this person who wants to sleep they find themselves tossing and turning in the bed night after night and in the morning they are un-rested from lack of sleep. There are other people who suffer from insomnia that fall asleep only to wake a few hours later and are unable to go back to sleep.

This pattern of tossing and turning or waking within a few hours after going to sleep affects the person’s life at home and at work, they can be easily distracted, feel fatigued, anger easily and other patterns of poor behavior due to the lack of sleep.

There are two types of insomnia, there is acute insomnia, which is short in duration and often caused by an outside factor that creates stress and anxiety. This can be a move, a divorce, tension at work or elsewhere and it is usually associated with depression.

The other type of insomnia is chronic insomnia, this is a long term disorder and will require treatment, this can last a month or longer in duration.

Insomnia while it can be a disheartening disorder because it is the loss of sleep and will affect waking hours; it is also one that can successfully be treated.

There are certain types of medicine that is used to treat insomnia and some of them are:

Benzodiazepines are one of these medications used to treat chronic insomnia and included in this class of medications are diazepam and nitrazepam. Also in this class are drugs that are called tranquilizers and hypnotics, these work by increasing the action of gamma amino butric acids in the body and this slows the nervous system and the signals to the brain. These are usually in most cases a prescription drug that will need a visit to the physician and using this type of medication will need monitoring by the physician.

Non-Benzodiazepine Hypnotics: This type of drug is a sedative and is to be taken a few minutes prior to sleep. This medication can be under the name Zoplicone, Zolpidem and one of the side effects that can affect some patients that are prescribed this for insomnia are hallucinations.

Anti-Depressants: This medication can include medicines such as Trazodone, Elavil and others in this class and are to be taken at bedtime. One of the newest on the market is Mirtazpine, this has been prescribed for patients with chronic insomnia. This is one of the drugs that have proven successful in battling insomnia for many of the patients it has been prescribed.

There are many different treatments for insomnia and while one might not be right for one person who suffers from insomnia it will work well for another person.