Insomnia is characterized by difficulty in initiating and/or maintaining sleep for a reasonable period. This term is used to indicate any and all stages and types of sleep loss. Although it’s not a disorder, it is believed to be a symptom.

The following are the different types of insomnia:

* Sleep Onset Insomnia or Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome is occurs when there is a delay in the major sleep episode in relation to the desired clock time consequently resulting to difficulties in awakening at the desired time.

* Idiopathic Insomnia occurs due to an abnormality of the neurological control of the sleep-wake system. This type of insomnia is a lifelong incapability of getting inadequate sleep, commonly beginning in early childhood.

* Psychophysiological Insomnia occurs mainly because of a resulting somatized tension (anxiety is transformed into physical symptoms) and discovered sleep-preventing association that somehow results into such.

* Childhood Insomnia or Limit-Setting Sleep Disorder is primarily a childhood characterized by the inadequate enforcement of bedtimes that had been made habitual by refusal to go to bed on appropriate times.

* Food Allergy Insomnia occurs as a result of an allergic response to food allergens. This type of insomnia is typically associated with the introduction of a new food or drink.

* Environmental Insomnia or Environmental Sleep Disorder is caused by disturbing environmental factor.

* Transient Insomnia or Adjustment Sleep Disorder is a temporary sleep disturbance related to acute stress, conflict or environmental change resulting to emotional agitation.

* Periodic Insomnia or the Non 24-Hour Sleep-Wake Syndrome is a chronic (long-term) steady pattern consisting of 1-2 hour daily delays in sleep onset and wake times.

* Altitude Insomnia is a type of insomnia that is accompanied by headaches, loss of appetite, and fatigue occurring mainly after an ascent to high altitudes.

* Hypnotic-Dependency Insomnia or Hypnotic-Dependent Sleep Disorder is characterized by insomnia or excessive sleepiness associated with tolerance to or withdrawal from hypnotic medications.

* Stimulant-Dependent Sleep Disorder is representative by a reduction of sleepiness or suppression of sleep through central stimulants consequently resulting to alterations in wakefulness following drug abstinence.

* Alcohol-Dependent Insomnia or Alcohol-Dependent Sleep Disorder occurs with the assistance of initiation of sleep onset through the sustained ingestion of alcohol used for its hypnotic effect.

* Toxin-Induced Sleep Disorder occurs because of poisoning with heavy metals or organic toxins and that results to insomnia or excessive sleepiness.

Even with the complexity insomnia, the good news about it is that you can cure yourself however you must be prepared to make some changes in your lifestyle in order to sleep better. Here are some tips on how to prevent or completely halt insomnia:

* Environment – a comfortable bed and a room that’s quiet, warm and dark enough would be best and free yourself with noise.
* Lifestyle – exercise regularly, cut down on stimulants and other anxiety-oriented routines.
* Relaxation – learn a relaxation exercise and free your mind from day-to-day activities.
* Self Confidence – do anything that would increase your self-confidence.
* Food and drink – have a healthy diet and cut-down on rich-food (carbo-rich), caffeine and alcohols.
* Sleeping Pills – try a medication advised by your physician.
* Anger – bottling up anger can influence mind and feelings hence causing you to become disturbed, addressing anger properly and systematically releasing it can help settle down your mind.
* Imagination games – stimulating your mind and visualizing yourself into your bed are one of the effective things to battle insomnia.

There are four interrelated meanings of the word “dream” and they follow one from another. If we sew them together we will know what a dream is.

First of all, a “dream” is a type of thinking that occurs when (a) there is a certain, as yet undetermined, minimal level of brain activation, and (b) the external stimuli are being blocked from entry into the mind, and (c) the system we describe the “self-system” (known as the “I,” the “me”) is turned off. Overly complicated as this seems but it is worded this way since we don’t just dream during sleep but also on some occasions in very relaxed waking states while we “drift off” and suddenly realize we have been dreaming.

Secondly, a “dream” is something we “experience” since the thinking is incredibly real and makes use of our senses — especially seeing and hearing; since usually we are the main actor; and that dreams are occasionally very emotional.

Thirdly, a “dream” is what we remember in the morning after sleep hence, it is a ” memory” of the dreaming experience.

Finally, a “dream” can also represent the spoken or written “report” we give to others about that experience; which is also the only way anyone else can ever know about another person’s dreams.

If we are going to sew them all up, it’s basically a report of a memory of a cognitive experience that happens under the kinds of conditions that are most frequently produced in a state called “sleep.” To simplify it, you can just think of dreams as the little dramas our minds make up when the “self” system is not keeping us alert to the world around us.

Because of the fascinating complexity and wonder for “dreams,” many great thinkers have attempted to decipher the meaning of each dream. Among them are the giants of psychology who revolutionized different schools to the analysis of dream.

Freud’s theory claims that dreams carry our hidden desires. According to him, dream is believed to be represented an ongoing wish along with the previous days activities. He believed that every dream is partially motivated by a childhood wish and that nothing is made up during a dream and that they are biologically determined, derived completely from instinctual needs and personal experiences.

Another giant of psychology but which opposes Freud’s theory of dream is Carl Jung. According to him, the most effective method for dream interpretation is the use of series correlation. While Freud didn’t believe interpretation was possible by the dreamer and that it could only be interpreted by a trained psychologist Jung was the one who gave hope to all dreamers who were looking for the meaning in our dreams without having to hire a “professional.” His “series correlation” is a process involving the analysis of dreams over time. Jung categorizes the mind into three parts namely: the collective unconscious, the personal unconscious, and the conscious. The collective unconscious comprises of imbedded deposits of world processes. The personal unconscious is a container or storage mechanism that can’t be contained within the consciousness. This receptacle holds forgotten association, observations, moral questioning, unnoticed experiences, repressed and discarded thoughts, half-thoughts, etc. and finally, the consciousness which develops through sensing, thinking, and intuition.

Other theorists who attempted to decipher the meaning of dreams include Cayce, Evans and Crick and Mitchinson. These theorists focus more on neuropsychological analysis and scientific anatomical observation of every individual.

While some of you can just laugh and make jokes about it, snoring  can however be a symptom of a serious disorder called obstructive sleep apnea – just one of the many sleeping disorders that pose threat to every individual. Among the more common sleep disorders are insomnia, sleep apnea (characterized by loud snoring), narcolepsy, and fibromyalgia.

* Insomnia, unlike the popular misconception, is not defined by the number of hours of sleep a person gets or how long it takes to fall asleep since individuals vary normally in their need for and satisfaction with sleep. What insomnia means is the difficulty of an individual to initiate or maintain sleep. This may likely causes problems during the day such as tiredness, lack of energy, difficulty concentrating, and most apparently, irritability.

* Sleep Apnea as characterized mostly by loud, constant snoring is a potentially life-threatening disorder. A person having sleep apnea stops breathing repeatedly during sleep, somewhere from ten seconds to up to three minutes.

* Narcolepsy is associated with excessive and overwhelming daytime sleepiness even with adequate nighttime sleep. Commonly a person with this kind of disorder is likely to become drowsy or to fall asleep easily, often incredibly at inappropriate times and places.

* Fibromyalgia, unlike the other sleeping disorders, is a type of chronic pain illness characterized by extensive musculoskeletal aches, soft tissue tenderness, pain and stiffness, general fatigue and sleep disturbances. Patients experiencing this kind of disorder go through a variety of symptoms of varying intensities, meaning, the symptoms increase and decrease over time.

Obviously, the most common and the most often talked about symptom is “snoring.” It is a common condition that affects all people at any age, albeit it occurs more frequently in men and overweight people. Further, it is an indicator of a possible obstructive sleep apnea while there are cases where it is just primary snoring.

Snoring happens when the flow of air through the mouth and nose is physically obstructed producing a noise an individual breathes during sleep which in turn causes vibration of the soft palate and uvula. Apnea actually means the ‘abscence of breathing.’ The obstruction may be due to a combination of factors that are not limited to obstructed nasal airways, poor muscle tone in the throat and tongue, bulky throat tissue in the case of overweight people, and long soft palate and/or uvula.

Habitual snorers may run the risk for serious health problems as obstructive sleep apnea is often associated with chronic snorers. This creates several problems including the following:

* Longer interruptions of breathing (usually more than ten seconds) during sleep that is caused by partial or sometimes total obstruction or blockage of the airway. In some serious cases, it can have total blockage episodes of a hundred times per night.
* Waking up during sleep frequently without realizing the situation.
* The need to just sleep lightly to make their throat muscles tense enough to maintain airflow.
* Lowered blood oxygen levels causing the heart to pump harder and blood pressure to consequently rise resulting to a poor night’s sleep which eventually leads to lethargy in the daytime which somehow influences the routine. Moreover, prolonged suffering from this disorder will yield to higher blood pressure and enlargement of the heart.

The effective treatment for loud annoying snoring may be surgery and other pseudo-surgical methods however the following can also be effective in preventing the snore again:

* Begin losing weight and improving your eating habits.
* Avoiding tranquilizers such as sleeping pills and antihistamines before going to bed.
* Avoiding alcohol, heavy meals, and snacks roughly four hours before you sleep.
* Trying to establish you regular sleeping patterns.
* Trying to sleep on your side rather than on your back.
* Tilting the head of your bed up at approximately four inches.