Insomnia and Sleep Disorders: Types and Treatment Options

Everyone has the occasional sleepless night — often due to stress or worry. But sleep disturbances only become a serious issue when they persist and start to negatively impact your life. Insomnia, a clinical sleep disorder, is diagnosed when difficulties with falling asleep, staying asleep, or early morning awakenings persist over an extended period and impair daily performance and quality of life.

People with insomnia often no longer perceive their sleep as restorative. Their symptoms go beyond normal sleep troubles — they may feel constantly tired, irritable, and drained. These changes are often noticeable to others as well.

What Other Types of Sleep Disorders Are There?

Other sleep disorders involve disruptions to the sleep-wake cycle. Common examples include:

• Obstructive sleep apnea (disrupted breathing during sleep)

• Restless legs syndrome

• Bruxism (teeth grinding)

• Sleepwalking, nightmares, and frequent awakenings

• Talking in your sleep and minor muscle twitches before falling asleep are also common and usually harmless.

Why Is Healthy Sleep So Important?

We spend about a third of our lives sleeping, and for good reason — sleep performs vital functions in the body:

• Hormonal Balance: During sleep, the body releases key hormones that regulate appetite and metabolism. Disruption of this balance is linked to weight gain and metabolic diseases like type 2 diabetes. Studies have shown that people who regularly sleep 8 hours tend to have lower BMI than those who sleep less than 6 hours [1, 2].

• Restoration of Normal Function: Sleep allows the brain to reset. While awake, metabolic waste builds up in the brain — substances like adenosine, which contribute to sleepiness. During sleep, these are cleared through the glymphatic system [3, i, ii].

• Memory Consolidation: Sleep helps solidify what we've learned during the day. This applies to both declarative memory (e.g., learning vocabulary) and procedural memory (e.g., learning movements in sports, drawing mirrored shapes, or playing an instrument) [4–7]. The immune system also benefits from sleep-related memory — helping it better recognize pathogens.

What Are the Consequences of Sleep Disorders?

If these critical processes are disrupted, the body suffers:

• Immune function is weakened — people who sleep too little are about three times more likely to catch a cold in winter.

• Mental health suffers: the risk of developing anxiety disorders or depression is twice as high.

• Cognitive performance declines — including memory and concentration.

• The result is often stress, irritability, and a sense of being overwhelmed.

Chronic poor sleep also increases the risk of:

• High blood pressure and cardiovascular diseases

• Obesity and type 2 diabetes

• Reduced mental resilience and energy for hobbies or social activities

What Treatments Are Available for Sleep Disorders?

If you’re experiencing symptoms of insomnia, it’s time to take action. Over-the-counter remedies or sleep aids may offer temporary relief but don’t address the root causes. While a wide range of drinks and supplements claim to improve sleep, scientific evidence for their effectiveness is lacking.

The key to long-term improvement lies in behavioral change. Ask yourself:

• What are my sleep habits?

• What helps me sleep well, and what disrupts it?

• What changes can I make to my routine?

A low-barrier starting point is to track your own habits and use sleep analysis and behavioral exercises to gradually improve your sleep — because everyone can learn to sleep better.

Start by gently adjusting your sleep routines and learning to relax before bed. It takes patience — humans are creatures of habit — but the effort pays off. Studies even suggest that improving sleep could increase life expectancy by up to five years!

sleep² Tips

• Good sleep starts during the day: Get regular exercise, exposure to natural daylight, and challenge yourself mentally.

• Listen to your body during illness: If you're sick, rest and let your body recover fully.

• Discuss treatment options with a medical professional: Keep in mind that according to clinical guidelines, sleep medications are not the first-line treatment for insomnia.

• We do not recommend combining sleep² with sleep medication, as it may interfere with your progress in learning healthy sleep habits.

References

1. Taheri, S., Lin, L., Austin, D., Young, T., & Mignot, E. (2004). Short sleep duration is associated with reduced leptin, elevated ghrelin, and increased body mass index. PLOS Medicine, 1(3), e62. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0010062

2. Knutson, K. L., Spiegel, K., Penev, P., & Van Cauter, E. (2007). The metabolic consequences of sleep deprivation. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 11(3), 163–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2007.01.002

3. Basheer, R., Strecker, R. E., Thakkar, M. M., & McCarley, R. W. (2004). Adenosine and sleep–wake regulation. Progress in Neurobiology, 73(6), 379–396.
   https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pneurobio.2004.06.004

   1. 3[i]. Nedergaard, M., & Goldman, S. A. (2020). Glymphatic failure as a final common pathway to dementia. Science, 370(6512), 50–56. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abb8739

   2. 3[ii]. Chong, P. L. H., Garic, D., Shen, M. D., Lundgaard, I., & Schwichtenberg, A. J. (2022). Sleep, cerebrospinal fluid, and the glymphatic system: A systematic review. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 61, 101572. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2021.101572

4. Heib, D. P., Hoedlmoser, K., Anderer, P., Gruber, G., Zeitlhofer, J., & Schabus, M. (2015). Oscillatory theta activity during memory formation and its impact on overnight consolidation: A missing link? Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 27(8), 1648–1658.https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00804

5. Schabus, M., Gruber, G., Parapatics, S., Sauter, C., Klösch, G., Anderer, P., ... & Zeitlhofer, J. (2004). Sleep spindles and their significance for declarative memory consolidation. Sleep, 27(8), 1479–1485. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/27.8.1479

6. van Schalkwijk, F. J., Hauser, T., Hoedlmoser, K., Ameen, M. S., Wilhelm, F. H., Sauter, C., ... & Schabus, M. (2020). Procedural memory consolidation is associated with heart rate variability and sleep spindles.Journal of Sleep Research, 29(3), e12910.https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12910

7. King, B. R., Hoedlmoser, K., Hirschauer, F., Dolfen, N., & Albouy, G. (2017). Sleeping on the motor engram: The multifaceted nature of sleep-related motor memory consolidation. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 80, 1–22.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2017.05.005