Chronic insomnia, which varies widely in duration and severity. Some sufferers are sleepless every night for months or years. Others have two bad weeks a month. The major factors producing chronic insomnia are depression and anxiety. Other common causes are medical disorders such as arthritis, cardiovascular illness and restless legs syndrome.
Insomnia can become circular.
After several nights of poor sleep, a person may get so worried about not sleeping that the insomnia takes on a life of its own, says David Neubauer, associate director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. They might have been going through a divorce or some financial problems, and when that problem goes away, the insomnia doesn't. It's become a conditioned response. The fixes Underlying medical problems for chronic insomnia should be treated, experts say. Some cases of insomnia can be treated effectively with behavioral therapy.