Insomnia is a sleeping disorder characterized by one or more of the following symptoms: a.) difficulty falling asleep, b.) difficulty staying asleep, or c.) waking up too early without feeling well-rested. The correct amount of sleep is determined by how much sleep is required to make a person feel alert throughout the day. Usually 7 to 9 hours of quality sleep is sufficient.
             Difficulty sleeping is not the only symptom of insomnia. Some others include sleepiness, anxiety, impaired concentration, impaired memory, and irritability.
             There are three main types of insomnia. Two of these are transient insomnia (lasting only a few nights) and short-term insomnia (lasting two to four weeks.) These two types usually occur when people are experiencing stress, environmental noise, extreme temperatures in their surroundings, schedule problems which interrupt a person's usual sleeping patterns (such as jet lag), or side effects of medication. Sometimes more than one of these traits may be evident in a person who is suffering from either of these two forms of insomnia.
             The third form of the disorder, chronic insomnia, is more complicated and often results from a combination of factors, including underlying physical or mental disorders. One of the most common causes of chronic insomnia is depression. Other causes include arthritis, kidney disease, heart failure, sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, Parkinson's disease, and hyperthyroidism. Chronic insomnia can also be due to behavioral factors, such as misuse of caffeine or alcohol, poor sleep hygene, expecting to have difficulty sleeping and thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy, smoking cigarettes before bedtime, excessive napping, and having an irregular sleep schedule.
             Treatment of insomnia depends on the type of insomnia a person has. If a person is afflicted with transient and short-term insomnia, they may not even require treatment, since episodes only las...