Sleep disorders are among the most common problems in today's society. One of the most common problems among these is a serious insomnia problem called insomnia. Today, it is estimated that approximately one third of people suffer from insomnia. Possible reasons for this include hypnomania or sleep obsession. However, hypnomania can also occur as a result of insomnia. Below we will talk about the details of how this vicious circle occurs.
According to the Spanish Neurology Society, approximately 20% to 48% of adults living in Spain have problems in starting sleep or maintaining a healthy sleep. These data are very important. Because sleep obsession can be the cause of some sleep disorders such as excessive sleep during daytime, which is called hypersomnia, or some mental disorders such as depression.
In this article, we will examine the symptoms, causes and treatment methods of hypnomania by going into details. We will also discuss the possible relationships of this problem with other psychological and physical ailments.
What Are The Features That Distinguish It From Similar Disorders?
The word hypnomania is a combination of the Latin words hypnos, meaning "sleep" and mania, meaning "madness". This concept means the desire to sleep in an intense and uncontrollable way and the constant need to sleep, leading to an obsession.
This sleep and the desire to go back to sleep after waking can make its presence felt independent of the hours spent asleep. However, it is often linked to problems such as insomnia. For example, clinomania means leaving all other daily activities by sleeping or not getting out of bed except for sleep.
On the other hand, hypersomnia is the state of being extremely drowsy despite having enough time to sleep, at least seven hours. In such a situation, not only the duration of sleep, but also the difficulty of staying fully sober after waking up is also difficult for the person with this problem.
Narcolepsy, which is an organic (non-mental) problem, expresses an irresistible desire to sleep. This problem is seen with periodic cataplexy (muscle laxity). In this condition, muscle function suddenly disappears, hypocretin (also called orexin) is deprived, and a short REM sleep delay (15 minutes or less) occurs.
Causes and Consequences
Hypnomania can be both a cause and a consequence of some other illnesses. In some cases, it may even mask other ailments, preventing them from being diagnosed. Insomnia may be one of the causes of hypnomania, as sleep is negatively affected in terms of quality and time, and therefore more sleep obsession occurs.
So what exactly is the problem we have to tackle? In fact, more sleep obsession can also be the cause of insomnia. In other words, the continuous feeding of these two factors leads to the emergence of a vicious circle.
In the case of hypersomnia, because you constantly think you need sleep (because your head is thinking that you are not getting enough sleep), some kind of drowsiness can occur even when you are not sleepy. Since drowsiness prevents us from getting enough attention during the day, it usually leads to a significant decrease in the person's performance.
At this point, we need to express another problem that arises in addition to the problems mentioned above. Lying down when we are not sleepy causes us to believe we are sleepy and to spin around for hours. However, as a result of this, we have the belief or feeling that we are experiencing insomnia because we cannot sleep.
Possible Treatment Methods
First of all, in order to find an adequate and correct treatment method, an accurate assessment should be made that hypnomania is not the result of a bigger problem. Similarly, sufficient functional analysis is required to reveal the before and results of the problem.
If, after evaluation, it is concluded that the hypnomania problem is associated with insomnia, different interventions can be performed to treat it. In other words, since the source of the problem is insomnia, it is necessary to make the necessary interventions to this problem. In this way, if the time spent asleep or sleep quality increases, it will be possible to reduce the problem of sleep obsession.