This month's blog post will focus on a specific mental health disorder: Insomnia. As you might have seen from the title, insomnia is a type of sleep disorder in which people who have it are challenged with getting enough sleep. Insomnia can cause them to have a hard time in falling asleep initially, and can also make them wake up in the middle of the night and then have more difficulty in going back to sleep.
There are various factors that can contribute to a person developing insomnia. For instance, anxiety disorders or other mental health conditions such as depression can play a role in a person having this specific disorder as well. It can also just be caused by various stresses in life alone, related to work or personal matters. Additionally, medications and changes in hormone levels also may have a part in having insomnia. In fact, women are more likely to develop this condition as compared to men, due to menstrual cycles often causing hormone fluctuations.
As with a lot of other mental health disorders, most people just have a vague idea of insomnia as "that condition where you can't get enough sleep", without really understanding anything more about it. On this topic, AMSA member Rachana Balakrishnan's thoughts were: "Insomnia is definitely an understated illness, and something that should be taken more seriously because it can affect the way people function, talk, and interact in every day life - and while my opinion on insomnia is not as educated as those with mental illness, it's obvious how understated it is in society because of how easily it becomes a joke in everyday conversation."
If you or someone you know is experiencing insomnia, it is very important to seek medical care. To find some mental health resources, please click on the Resources tab in the menu bar.
