Primary insomnia is one in which there is no medical, environmental or psychological cause for. It is characterized by the following, it lasts for at least one month, difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep, sleep disturbance that causes effects that roll over into the next day, disrupting social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. Primary insomnia can then be even further broken down into three categories, Psycho physiological insomnia, and Idiopathic insomnia, Sleep state misperception.
Several tests might be conducted to find out the possible causes of insomnia. Once all medical tests have been conducted to rule out any underlying medical condition then you may be sent to a sleep treatment sleep center where they will likely keep you for an overnight stay to conduct a Polysomnography test. This test can not necessarily tell doctors what is causing the insomnia but it will determine what is not causing it. What is not causing it can sure be irritating when you discover that there is no reason at all for your insomnia, it's just plain and simple that you can not sleep. When there is no cause there certainly can not be a treatment.
Multiple sleep latency tests are also usually conducted and this gives the doctor even further information to make a solid diagnosis. Once all is ruled out it is likely that if the insomnia continues, the doctor would then prescribe a sleep medication to the patient. Usually though, before the doctor will start writing out prescriptions for medication he will want the patient to keep a sleep log for a few weeks. This usually gives the doctor a pretty good idea of what is going on as he is able to look at times of rest versus time of wakening and the frequency of them.
There are some things that a person can do at home for themselves in the meantime such as eliminate caffeine, alcohol, avoid heavy meals near bedtime, do not perform any physical activity near bedtime, do not nap, and keep the room temperature comfortable and the lighting down. You can also try hypnosis or over the counter or prescription medications. Just remember that regardless of which type of insomnia you have or what the cause you have to find out the cause and deal with it right away because not getting adequate sleep is very bad for your health.
Primary insomnia, which basically means insomnia where there is no reason for it and of course this is very frustrating to say the least because it might seem like nothing can be done. But many times what happens is because the night before when there was an evident lack of sleep, you may start right away in the morning dwelling on the probability of being able to sleep later that night.
This is one of the worst things that can be done because it puts an element in your mind and then being able to sleep naturally becomes rather something that you try your hardest to accomplish.
