“Insomnia” refers to the complaint of difficulty falling asleep and/or staying asleep, and less often to the complaint of light, unrefreshing sleep.  More people in the U.S. complain about insomnia than any other sleep problem.  Most people have experienced insomnia at some time in their lives;  not-infrequently, the difficulty is short-term, resolving spontaneously or when the offending cause(s) is/are dealt with.  But when you have difficulty falling asleep and/or staying asleep night after night, and you possibly additionally note long-term impairment in family, social, occupational, academic and/or other important areas of functioning, it’s time to have your insomnia complaint(s) evaluated by the sleep doctors at our Center.

There are literally hundreds of potential causes of insomnia, a very short list of which includes a large number of medical, psychological, and behavioral disorders;  an individual’s fear of sleeplessness and the associated feeling of loss of control;  conditioned anxiety or arousal to one’s usual bedroom/bedtime; literally hundreds of medications and drugs, including caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol as well as attempts to decrease use of/discontinue any of these several societally-sanctioned drugs;  significant life changes such as divorce, the loss of a job or a loved one,  the arrival of a new baby, retirement from work; inadequate “sleep hygiene” ;  chronic depressive, boredom, and/or anxiety states; and several other sleep disorders such as breathing and movement disorders during sleep, including the insomnia of narcolepsy, Restless Legs Syndrome, disorders associated with the timing of sleep, shift work, chronic nightmares, etc.

The good news is that our Center has highly trained, experienced sleep specialists at each of its two Rio Grande Valley sites to help diagnose the cause(s) of your insomnia. Armed with an accurate diagnosis and provided with a variety of proven, effective treatments, you’ll be well on your way to enjoying better, more restful sleep.