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Insomnia »

What is insomnia?

Insomnia is defined as difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or both, despite adequate opportunity and time to sleep, leading to impaired daytime functioning. Insomnia may be due to poor quality or quantity of sleep.

Insomnia is very common and occurs in 30% to 50% of the general population. Approximately 10% of the population may suffer from chronic (long-standing) insomnia.

Insomnia affects people of all ages including children, although it is more common in adults and its frequency increases with age. In general, women are affected more frequently than men.

Insomnia may be divided into three classes based on the duration of symptoms.

• Insomnia lasting one week or less may be termed transient insomnia;
• short-term insomnia lasts more than one week but resolves in less than three weeks; and
• long-term or chronic insomnia lasts more than three we...

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