Insomnia

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Insomnia is when a person cannot sleep properly. It is hard to define what is â€˜normalâ€™ sleep because it varies from person to person.

Difficulties with sleep can appear in a variety of ways:

Difficulty getting to sleep (sleep onset insomnia) - most common in young people.
Waking in the night (frequent nocturnal awakening) - most common in older people.
Waking early in the morning - the least common type of sleep disturbance.
Not feeling refreshed after sleep. The person has trouble functioning normally during the day, feeling irritable, tired, and having difficulty concentrating.

A person has chronic (severe or long-lasting) insomnia if it continues for several weeks (more than three). Chronic insomnia can lead to psychiatric (mental health) problems such as depression, or abuse of alcohol or other drugs.

Adults usually need, on average, 7 to 8 hours sleep a night, but this can be more or less depending on the individual. As people get older, they tend to find they need less sleep but they are also more likely to take naps during the day. Young babies may spend the majority of their day asleep, while children of school age require an average of 10 hours.