Knowledge of behavioral abnormalities are seen as critical in the evaluation of insomnia. Behavioral causes and treatments for insomnia are well documented. Similarly, a voluntary reduction of sleep is viewed as a common cause of daytime sleepiness in the general population. Insomnia Insomnia is a perception by patients that their sleep is inadequate or abnormal. This symptom includes difficulty initiating sleep, frequent awakenings during the night, a short sleep time, and nonrestorative sleep.
Difficulty sleeping at night represents only part of the picture in patients with insomnia.
The daytime symptoms associated with disturbed sleep are important to the patient and need to be considered. In fact, in the absence of daytime indications of poor sleep, treatment of the symptoms may not be necessary. Daytime effects such as fatigue, sleepiness, impaired daytime function, depression, anxiety, and other mood changes are often attributed by the patients to their poor sleep. Of course, patients with psychiatric disorders attribute their psychological symptoms to poor sleep. It is therefore critical to determine whether poor sleep is causing disturbed daytime function or whether a psychological disorder is primary and the sleep disturbance is secondary.