Insomnia is defined as a repeated difficulty with sleep initiation or maintenance
that occurs despite adequate time and opportunity for sleep. In addition, this difficulty
with sleep results in some form of daytime impairment, such as clinically significant
distress, fatigue, or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas
of functioning [
1
,
2
]. Insomnia generally can be divided into two types of complaints, acute (short-term/transient)
or chronic, depending upon the duration of the sleep difficulty. Acute insomnia is
short in duration, typically a few days to a few weeks, and generally improves without
intervention or with short-term hypnotic medication therapy. In the elderly, acute
insomnia may be caused by retirement, bereavement, adjustment to medical difficulties
and physical limitations, and other changes in life circumstances. Chronic insomnia
lasts at least 1 month, is usually comorbid with other conditions, and can seriously
affect daily functioning and quality of life [
[3]
].To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Footnotes
Supported by NIA AG08415, NIA AG15301, NCI CA85264, and CA112035, CBCRP 11IB-0034, NIH M01 RR00827, NHLBI HL44915, the Department of Veterans Affairs VISN-22 Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC), and the Research Service of the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System.
Dr. Ancoli-Israel is on the scientific advisory board, is a consultant, and/or is on the speaker's bureau of Acadia, Cephalon, Inc, King Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Merck, Neurocrine Biosciences, Inc., Neurogen, Inc., Pfizer, Inc., sanofi-aventis, Sepracor, Inc., Somaxon, and Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc.
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Copyright
© 2006 Elsevier Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
