ANCSLEEP BLOG

Why Light Extremes Can Cause or Worsen Insomnia

For those living in Alaska, it’s no secret that we are operating under “unique” circumstances in summer and winter, either a lot of sunlight or a lot of darkness respectively. Though it might seem counter intuitive, the amount of excess darkness, which is significant in the Southeast and oppressive in the Far North, actually makes sleep more difficult for many people.

Why?

The excess darkness is extremely disruptive. It disrupts your ability to get daylight and to be physically active. It can also disrupt your hormone levels. The result: there are many ways for your circadian rhythm to be affected.

What Does Insomnia Look Like?

Insomnia is a sleeping disorder that prevents you from getting enough sleep because:

• You have trouble falling asleep
• You have trouble staying asleep throughout the night
• You wake up much earlier than you want

If you have insomnia you never feel like you are getting enough rest – probably because you aren’t. To say the least, it’s frustrating to not be able to sleep when you want to, and there are a whole host of risks associated with sleep deprivation.

What is Insomnia?

Insomnia is being unable to fall asleep, stay asleep for any restful of time, or sleep until an appropriate time in the morning (i.e., waking up wide awake at 3am). It is a frustrating disorder because you want to sleep, but you just can’t. As you get more sleep deprived over time, this disconnect between wanting to sleep and actually sleeping can become extremely pronounced. Unfortunately, insomnia can have consequences far more severe than just frustration.

Insomnia can be 2 types:

• Chronic – it is a problem most night and lasts more than a month
• Acute – it is a problem most nights that lasts for a few days to a few weeks, but goes away

Sometimes insomnia has a clear underlying cause, and sometimes it doesn’t. The major concern with insomnia is severe sleep deprivation.

Types of Insomnia

If you have ever experienced the torment of insomnia or are currently battling with it, then you understand the frustration and the toll it can take on your ability to lead a normal, happy life. In simple terms, it can make life unbearably miserable. It can transform you into a different version of yourself, affecting your behavior and making you less productive in all aspects of life. It even diminishes your lifespan and reduces the overall quality of life. So, it is without a doubt worth taking proactive measures to avoid it.

However, the issue of insomnia is far from simple. It becomes even more complicated when you consider the fact that there are different types of insomnia.

• Primary insomnia - insomnia that is a direct result of another underlying cause.
• Secondary insomnia - insomnia that occurs without a clear, identifiable issue.

Furthermore, insomnia can manifest in two ways, causing different degrees of suffering:

• Acute insomnia - a short-term condition that lasts for a month or less.
• Chronic insomnia - a long-term condition that occurs at least three times per week for a month or more.

In total, there are four distinct ways in which one can experience insomnia:

• Secondary/acute insomnia - temporary insomnia triggered by a known problem, such as a temporary illness or stress.
• Primary/acute insomnia - temporary insomnia with no discernible reason.
• Secondary/chronic insomnia - chronic insomnia caused by a usually persistent issue like pain or a long-term illness.
• Primary/chronic insomnia - chronic insomnia without any identifiable cause.

Now, let's delve into the various strategies and techniques we can employ to avoid insomnia by addressing its common root causes.

How Alaskan Winters Affect Our Lives

Alaskan winters pose and extremely unique challenge to our lives and sleep. Our winters mean either receiving mostly or only darkness, depending on where you live. This extreme lighting condition is contrasted against summer, which is the opposite, and entails making fairly drastic changes to our lives – changes which be very disruptive towards sleep.

The extreme winter darkness means shifting our lives form summer in all ways:

• Sociologically
• Psychologically
• Physiologically
• Habitually

Most of us look like different people in the winter vs the summer: we get outside less, we might work different jobs, the things we do and places we go for fun change, and we may interact with friends less as a result. Furthermore, many of us respond in mental or emotional ways to the darkness, but ways which are unconscious, and our behavior further changes as a result.

Why the Impending Darkness Affects Circadian Rhythm

It’s no secret that we are living under unique circumstances in Alaska, about half of the year it is dark, and the other half of the year it is light. Though it might seem counterintuitive, winter in Alaska makes sleep more difficult for many people, especially as one travels north.

Excess darkness can be extremely disruptive to three things aspects that are essential for the onset of sleep:

• Ability to get daylight
• Ability to be physically active
• Hormone levels

As the winter season approaches, it's crucial to be aware of the various factors that can hurt your circadian rhythm. By understanding these factors, you can effectively prepare for and combat insomnia during this time of year. Delving deeper into the causes and effects of circadian rhythm will enable you to take the necessary steps to safeguard against its disruption. Let's delve into the fascinating world of circadian rhythm.

What is Insomnia?

Insomnia is a sleep disorder that prevents you from falling asleep, staying asleep throughout the night, or sleeping until a reasonable hour in the morning. The result of insomnia is mild to severe sleep deprivation, which can have severe consequences. Furthermore, it’s an extremely frustrating disorder.

Insomnia can negatively affect several domains of your life:

• Emotionally
• Cognitively
• Physically
• Socially

Every area of health can be negatively impacted by sleep deprivation related to insomnia. If the cause of your insomnia is medical, insomnia can be a vicious cycle where your medical symptoms worsen, which, then, worsens your insomnia.

There are two types of insomnia:

• Primary insomnia – insomnia with no clear, underlying issue
• Secondary insomnia – insomnia as a direct result of something else 

Insomnia can also be acute, short-term, or chronic, long-term. Medical causes of insomnia tend to be chronic and primary. These causes could include:

• Disease
• Medications
• Psychological factors
• Demographic factors

Overview of Insomnia

Insomnia is a sleeping disorder that can cause sleep deprivation and subsequent frustration. Insomnia arises when you either can’t fall asleep, can’t stay asleep, or always wake up far earlier than necessary. The result of insomnia is mild to severe sleep deprivation, which can have catastrophic emotional, cognitive, physical, or social effects. In short, every area of your health can be greatly reduced from sleep deprivation related to insomnia.

What are the Two Types of Insomnia?

Insomnia is a sleeping disorder that consists of individuals struggling to achieve their nightly 8 hours. There are two types of insomnia, and two modes of insomnia. 

The two types of insomnia are:

• Primary insomnia – insomnia with no clear, underlying issue 
• Secondary insomnia – insomnia as a direct result of something else

The two modes of insomnia are:

• Acute insomnia – short term (1 month or less)
• Chronic insomnia – long term (greater than 1 month)

This means that there are four possible types of insomnia.

• Secondary/acute insomnia – temporary insomnia in response to a temporary illness, stress, etc.
  • “Ever since my surgery two weeks ago I can’t get more than a couple hours of sleep per night”
• Primary/acute insomnia – temporary insomnia with no underlying cause
  • “I just can’t seem to sleep at all this month”
• Secondary/chronic insomnia – long-term insomnia in response that is long-term and may be secondary to chronic conditions such as pain, long term illness, etc.
  • “Ever since my back injury last year I wake up constantly throughout the night in pain”
• Primary/chronic insomnia – long-term insomnia with no discernable cause
  • “I haven’t slept more than a few hours at a time all year and I don’t know why”

What is a Risk Factor for Insomnia?

A risk factor is something that increases your likelihood of developing a disease or condition. Insomnia, like other sleep disorders, has a number of different potential causes and factors that can put you at risk for developing insomnia.

Complicating matters is the fact there are two types of insomnia:

• Primary insomnia – no clear, underlying cause.
• Secondary insomnia – due to an underlying or secondary cause.

Adding to this is that there are two modes of insomnia as well, which concerns how long insomnia lasts:

• Acute insomnia – short-term, a month or less
• Chronic insomnia – symptomatic, long-term (at least three times per week for a month or more)