What is insomnia?
Insomnia is defined as a persistent difficulty with sleep initiation, duration, consolidation, or quality that occurs despite adequate opportunity and circumstances for sleep and results in some form of daytime impairment.
The patient may report at least one of the following forms of daytime impairment related to difficulty in sleeping:
- fatigue,
- attention,
- impairment of concentration or memory,
- poor job or school performance,
- daytime sleepiness,
- irritable mood or disturbance,
- concerns or worries about sleep,
- increased tendency for errors or accidents at work or while driving,
- nonspecific symptoms such as headaches,
- gastrointestinal symptoms in response to sleep loss.
In past editions of the ICSD, insomnia has been classified under different subtypes (psychophysiologic insomnia, behavioral insomnia of childhood, paradoxical insomnia, inadequate sleep hygiene, insomnia due to a medical condition, etc.).
However, the current ICSD-3 has classified these subtypes of insomnia into one of three categories: short-term insomnia, chronic insomnia, or other insomnia disorder.
