Dr. Aishwarya Preman
It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver. — Mahatma Gandhi
Humans are extremely anxious and concerned about their health, worried about disease encounters and strive to protect themselves from sickness and ailments. But the list of diseases which seems to bother most of us is very much constrained which includes cancer,heart attacks, lung disorders,depression, diabetes,hypertension,liver cirrhosis, renal failure etc and now COVID 19 being the eye catcher. Insomnia is seldom in the list.
The engrossing and upsetting fact is that insomnia is associated with and is the risk factor of all of the above mentioned diseases. Even though there is a wide range of sleep disorders like narcolepsy,REM sleep behavioural disorder,sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome etc, insomnia is the most common and often misdiagnosed.
The word insomnia is derived from ‘Hypnos’ (Roman equivalent-Somnus)who is considered to be the God of sleep or the personification of sleep according to Greek Mythology.
It is a sleep disorder characterised by difficulty in falling asleep or difficulty in staying asleep. The underlying mechanism is the excessive activation of the arousal systems (hyperarousal)of the brain.Types of insomnia include chronic insomnia,acute insomnia and transient insomnia.
More than 10 million people in India are suffering from insomnia. A recent survey conducted in India found that 96.4 percent people do not seek medical attention for their insomnias. It remains undertreated and misdiagnosed even after being one of the habitual disorder among the general population.
Insomnia is a spontaneous disease which can strike anyone at anytime. It didn’t spare well-known personalities like Abraham Lincoln who was a long suffering insomniac and had to take long midnight walks, Arianna Huffington, blogger and commentator who declared insomnia as a feminist issue,painter Vincent Van Gogh, who treated his insomnia by dousing his mattress and pillow with camphor and many more.
It affects the most vital organs of the human body leading to psychological as well as physical disturbance. Research published in the Journal of Neuroscience claims that chronic insomnia can lead to a permanent loss of brain cells. It also weakens neural connections to and from the thalamus.
Psychologically, insomnia can lead to hallucinations, mania, impulsive behavior, depression, paranoia, and suicidal thoughts. According to American Heart Association, insomniacs are at higher risk of coronary artery disease, heart failure, and stroke. This sleep disorder weakens the immune system making us more vulnerable for respiratory infections including covid 19 and it can also worsen chronic lung diseases.
Insomnia is present in 90% of patients with liver cirrhosis. It doesn’t even spare your eyes. It causes dimension of vision,xerophthalmia (dry eyes) and can even lead to chronic conditions like glaucoma.
Insomnia plays a major role in causing incidence and prevalence of hypertension. It is one of the common risk factors of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Insomnia is also a source and root of obesity and impairment of immunity. Studies have strongly linked chronic insomnia with chronic kidney disease and renal failure apparently leading to early death.
So insomnia ultimately plays a crucial function in initiating a hazardous or even fatal disease and also in worsening a pre-existing deformity. As Hippocrates said, “In whatever disease sleep is laborious it is a deadly symptom,but if sleep does good,it is not deadly.”
