Living with insomnia: a guide to causes, effects and management, with personal accounts

205 Pages·2011·0.935 MB·English

by  Brodsky, Allen;Brodsky, Phyllis L

Living with Insomnia
MCFARLAND HEALTH TOPICS SERIES
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Graves’ Disease: A Practical Guide.
Elaine A. Moore with Lisa Moore. 2001
Autoimmune Diseases and Their Environmental Triggers.
Elaine A. Moore. 2002
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Elaine A. Moore. 2006
Arthritis: A Patient’s Guide.
Sharon E. Hohler. 2008
The Promise of Low Dose Naltrexone Therapy: Potential Benefits
in Cancer, Autoimmune, Neurological and Infectious Disorders.
Elaine A. Moore and Samantha Wilkinson. 2009
Living with HIV: A Patient’s Guide.
Mark Cichocki, RN. 2009
Understanding Multiple Chemical Sensitivity:
Causes, Effects, Personal Experiences and Resources.
Els Valkenburg. 2010
Type 2 Diabetes: Social and Scientific Origins, Medical
Complications and Implications for Patients and Others.
Andrew Kagan, M.D. 2010
The Amphetamine Debate: The Use of Adderall,
Ritalin and Related Drugs for Behavior Modification,
Neuroenhancement and A nti-A ging Purposes.
Elaine A. Moore. 2011
CCSVI as the Cause of Multiple Sclerosis: The Science
Behind the Controversial Theory. Marie A. Rhodes. 2011
Coping with P ost-T raumatic Stress Disorder: A Guide
for Families, 2d ed. Cheryl A. Roberts. 2011
Living with Insomnia: A Guide to Causes, Effects
and Management, with Personal Accounts.
Phyllis L. Brodsky and Allen Brodsky. 2011
Living with Insomnia
A Guide to Causes, E›ects
and Management,
with Personal Accounts
P L. B and
HYLLIS RODSKY
A B
LLEN RODSKY
Foreword by David N. Neubauer
MCFARLANDHEALTHTOPICSSERIES
Elaine A. Moore, Series Editor
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina, and London
ALSOBYPHYLLISL. BRODSKY
ANDFROMMCFARLAND
The Control of Childbirth: Women Versus
Medicine Through the Ages(2008)
LIBRARYOFCONGRESSCATALOGUING-IN-PUBLICATIONDATA
Brodsky, Phyllis L., 1936–
Living with insomnia : a guide to causes, effects and management,
with personal accounts / Phyllis L. Brodsky and Allen Brodsky ;
foreword by David N. Neubauer.
p. cm.—(McFarland health topics series)
[Elaine A. Moore, series editor]
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7864-5971-1
softcover : 50# alkaline paper
1. Insomnia. 2. Insomniacs—Life skill guides. I. Brodsky,
Allen. II. Title.
RC548.B76 2011
616.8'4982—dc22 2011003425
BRITISHLIBRARYCATALOGUINGDATAAREAVAILABLE
© 2011Phyllis L. Brodsky and Allen Brodsky. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, i ncluding photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without p ermission in writing from the publisher.
Front cover images © 20¡¡ Shutterstock
Manufactured in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Je›erson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
Acknowledgments
Sharon Dlubala, proprietor of A Novel Idea bookstore in Berlin, Mary-
land, has been very helpful in searching for books and in recommending
books for our project. She has also been timely in supplying the books we
purchased for use in our writing and for our permanent library on insomnia.
Jim Adcock responded quickly with his outstanding artistic skills each time
an exhibit was requested, and again when revisions were desired. The staff
at Copy Central, and the proprietress Linda Dearing, also provided ready
assistance with many of our printing and formatting needs; we especially
mention the skills of Pat Quade in dealing with the many glitches we have
had with Word software and computer problems. People like Pat are partic-
ularly valuable at moments when someone with little hair is ready to tear out
the rest.
We are also grateful to Dr. David N. Neubauer, associate professor on
the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins Medical
Institutions, and associate director of their sleep clinic. He kindly provided
encouragement for our project, and responded to our tardy request to provide
review and comments at a late stage of our writing, only a couple of weeks
before our final manuscript was due at McFarland.
Many in our family provided encouragement and suggestions in the ini-
tial stages of our proposal and writing, especially John Berry and Rick
Kowaleski, who provided comments on our Sleep Questionnaire and other
aspects of our project that helped launch our efforts. Friends of the family,
grandchildren and many others volunteered to fill out the questionnaires from
which the sample narratives in this book were obtained.
Last but not least, we are grateful to each other for patiently considering,
again and again and again, the idiosyncratic opinions of each other about what
should be in the book, and what should not be in the book, without raising
v
vi Acknowledgments
tempers and voices to the point of all- out war. When we submitted the final
manuscript to the publisher, we made an agreement to trust their knowledge
and not further tinker with the content. In this way, we have saved our mar-
riage and hope that our book will relieve any further insomnia of our own,
as well as that of others.
Contents
Acknowledgments v
Foreword by David N. Neubauer, MD 1
Preface 3
Introduction 5
1. What Is Insomnia? 7
2. Normal Sleep 14
3. The Authors’ Stories 25
4. Sleep Patterns Throughout the Life Cycle 44
5. Sleep Disorders and Underlying Pathologies 67
6. Selected Stories from Surveys and Interviews 79
7. Parasomnias 111
8. The Consequences of Insomnia 124
9. Management of Insomnia 129
10. Composite Analyses of Symptoms, Causes, Effects,
and Remedies for Insomnia 140
11. Conclusions and Recommendations 166
Appendix: Questionnaire Package 173
Chapter Notes 179
Selected Bibliography 187
About the Authors 189
Index 191
vii
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Foreword
by David N. Neubauer, MD
A good night’s sleep is something we tend to take for granted until it
eludes us. Without good sleep most of us feel miserable the next day. Many
different things potentially can interfere with our ability to sleep well. Some-
times circumstances prevent us from spending sufficient time in bed to get
enough sleep, but other times we may be in bed intending to sleep and it just
doesn’t happen. When frustrating sleeplessness persists and subsequently
affects how we feel and function during the daytime, the problem may be
insomnia. We all occasionally have a sleepless night. It is no surprise that
insomnia is the most common type of sleep disorder. Although insomnia
typically has a short duration, for some individuals it may continue for
months and years. People suffering with insomnia frequently feel fatigued
and complain of poor concentration and memory. They may also feel
depressed and irritable. They tend to worry more and more about their inabil-
ity to sleep well to the point that the worrying perpetuates the insomnia they
are worrying about!
Much has been published about the causes, consequences, and treat-
ments of insomnia. Among these are scores of scholarly textbooks, thousands
of scientific articles, and innumerable s elf-h elp books for the general public.
With this book, Living with Insomnia, Phyllis and Allen Brodsky provide a
welcome addition to the insomnia literature. They offer an overview of nor-
mal sleep and discuss the many ways that sleep can be disrupted. The book
also gives a sense of how sleep problems can affect the lives of ordinary
people. It is most evident in the Brodskys’ descriptions of their own sleep,
but the many case examples included in the book highlight the wide diversity
of sleep patterns and sleep disorders present in the general population. It is
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