Insomnia Support Group
Insomnia is a symptom, rather than a disease, and is characterized by inadequate quantity or quality of sleep. People with insomnia complain of difficulty falling or staying asleep, which results in significant impairment of daytime functioning. Insomnia is categorized as transient (shorter than one week), short-term (one to three weeks) or chronic (longer than three...
I have, your years, thought my terrible insomnia was familial in nature. All doctors I asked about this completely disregarded my thoughts. Then, while browsing one of the sites I look to for unbiased information I came across the following study: "Familial aggregation and heritability of insomnia in a community based study." This was published in the Sept '12 edition of the Sleep Medicine Journal based on a study done at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The conclusion states: "Our study demonstrates a significant familial aggregation with a high heritability of insomnia disorder. The strong heritability of insomnia persists despite the exclusion of psychiatric disorders."
There is so much unknown about this subject. Some researchers believe insomnia is primary and chronic just like, say, diabetes or hypertension. Unfortunately, the majority of health care professionals dismiss insomnia as being "all in your head" or anxiety or stress related.
I was very excited to find the above information, as both my mother and brother suffer from this curse. Maybe, someday, there will be medications to offer us hope for a normal sleep pattern.
The conclusion states: "Our study demonstrates a significant familial aggregation with a high heritability of insomnia disorder. The strong heritability of insomnia persists despite the exclusion of psychiatric disorders."
There is so much unknown about this subject. Some researchers believe insomnia is primary and chronic just like, say, diabetes or hypertension. Unfortunately, the majority of health care professionals dismiss insomnia as being "all in your head" or anxiety or stress related.
I was very excited to find the above information, as both my mother and brother suffer from this curse. Maybe, someday, there will be medications to offer us hope for a normal sleep pattern.
To understand this better, it's important to understand what insomnia is and what it isn't.
Insomnia is not a disease per se. Instead, insomnia is invariably only a symptom of something else going on deeper causing the sleep problems. So in this sense, no, insomnia is not inherited.
That said, the underlying condition that is causing the insomnia could be inherited, or even learned in the family environment. For instance, you could be predisposed to excessive levels of stress and anxiety from your family environment growing up.
Or you could be genetically predisposed to medical conditions that might disrupt sleep, such as allergies that keep you awake at night. There are many other inheritable medical conditions that affect sleep as well.
The key is to stay focused on treating the root causes for insomnia, whatever they may be. By doing so, sleep tends to improve.