====== Insomnia (idiopathic) ======

>Up to one-third of the world’s population reports dissatisfaction with their sleep. Amongst the elderly and women, this percentage would be on the higher end. As high as 50% of older adults report sleep disturbances and insomnia. Using the DSM-5 criteria, up to 10% to 15% of adults would be classified as having short-term insomnia. Women are two times as likely to have insomnia than age-matched men."\\ \\ Source : [[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554516/|StatPearls [Internet], 2023.]]

Many cases of insomnia do have a readily identifiable set of causes - e.g.including :  psychological stress, grieving, shiftwork, chronic pain, heart problems, hyperthyroidism, heartburn, restless leg syndrome, menopause, internet addiction, medications, caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol, &etc.

A proportion of cases, however, //don't// have any obvious cause. The exact prevalence is unknown, but possibly <1% of the population ([[https://insomniameds247.com/articles/Idiopathic-Insomnia.pdf|ref,]]). Put another way, that's up to 70 million people.

In such cases the disorder is termed as //'Primary Insomnia' //or sometimes //'Idiopathic Insomnia', //or '//Short Term Insomnia',//

>__The exact mechanism causing short-term insomnia remains unknown, even though there are many proposed models. __There is an emerging consensus that short-term insomnia is a disorder of hyperarousal.\\ Hyperarousal is a state of increased somatic, cortical, and cognitive activation. Measured in physiologic terms, this would mean that patients with short-term insomnia would demonstrate increases in cortisol levels, body temperature, 24-hour metabolic rate, and heart rate.\\ There is also a growing body of knowledge that links short-term insomnia to the upregulation of wake-promoting chemicals of orexin (also known as hypocretin), histamine, and catecholamines. The presence of these chemicals couples with the downregulation of the sleep-promoting chemicals adenosine, serotonin, melatonin, and GABA. More research is necessary regarding the precise molecular mechanism responsible for hyperarousal."\\ \\ [ Source as above ]

----

Also see : [[content:life_sciences:human_body:sleep]]