The Editorial
This is the final assignment that was tasked to me.
I chose to write an editorial on how stress affects your sleep and answer the question: How big of a role does stress play in the time before and after someone sleeps?
The editorial goes as follows:
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With every day that goes by, we experience stress, and everyone understands how to deal with it in their own ways to improve their day or moods. Some like to drink, some like to party, and some like to sit on the couch bundled up like a burrito watching a TV show. However, nobody thinks about the other thing stress affects until it's bitten them in the butt, and they’re unhappy about it. Stress affects how well you sleep at night, a few individuals may know this, but others may mistake it for insomnia, a widespread and understandable misconception as chronic stress can often lead to insomnia.
Even though the connection between stress and insomnia or having trouble sleeping may make you think that scientists are all over the topic, according to Christopher L. Drake, “few studies have systematically examined the stress-diathesis hypothesis in the development of insomnia disorder” (L. Drake). This means that not a lot of studies have done in-depth work on how stress affects those predisposed to insomnia and their development of insomnia. Pressure can be brought about by a number of different factors, such as bad dreams, flashbacks of traumatic events, and even intrusive thoughts (Monica). One significant factor contributing to insomnia, in this instance, is PTSD. And while PTSD is not the main focus of this editorial, it is an essential player, as PTSD is considered one of the more common ways to acquire insomnia. Beyond just being tired, insomnia causes physical and mental fatigue, which can result in eventual hospitalization and the need for serious care if it goes too far for too long, and as morbid as it sounds, “individuals with insomnia report significantly impaired work performance lower physical and social functioning, and an overall quality of life comparable to that of individuals with chronic conditions such as congestive heart failure and major depressive disorder” (Vulnerability to Stress-related Sleep Disturbance and Hyperarousal). Insomnia not only brings down your day but can also drag every other day through the mud, leaving you exhausted, irritable, and with poor productivity at work.
Regarding studies, most scientists look at a different, albeit highly similar, variant of insomnia called “primary insomnia.” According to L. Drake, “diagnostic classification defines primary insomnia as difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep, or nonrestorative sleep, persisting more than one month, associated with impairment in daytime function, for which there is no identifiable cause.” If this primary insomnia worsens, as your sleep becomes more and more easily disturbed, doctors will eventually diagnose it as a chronic disorder. Having chronic primary insomnia means that more stimuli will significantly affect things such as your circadian rhythm and even how you perceive your environment. Don’t feel alone, though, as nearly twenty-two percent of the US population fit the criteria to be diagnosed with insomnia (L. Drake).
Insomnia, like many disorders, is a long-term condition, but not as long as you may think. In one study, ninety percent of the population diagnosed with insomnia continued to have symptoms for up to five years, and only fifty percent had remission after ten years. Some of the variations within the disorder itself are individually based. In other words, how insomnia affects someone depends on them. Not every case of insomnia is the same for every diagnosed person (L. Drake).
Unlike other disorders, such as PTSD, insomnia can be solved by both medications and different techniques. One of the most recommended techniques is meditation or reflection. Meditation is a great way to calm your mind and allow you to organize your thoughts, similar to the process of counting sheep but instead of tiring your mind out by working it, you tire it out by focusing and relaxing it. In terms of medications, one of the best, nonprescribed medications is Melatonin, which is technically classified as a supplement if you pick up the gummies or the little tablets. Take one melatonin gummy or tablet one hour before bed, and the melatonin should do its job and begin to make you sleepy. If neither of these two should work, then speak to your doctor about treatment, some doctors may prescribe sleeping pills with strict instructions on how to take them or they send you to another professional who may be able to help. And, while a relatively new treatment option due to laws changing, some doctors may prescribe medical marijuana as the drug does have a calming effect that can help ease someone into sleep and stay asleep.
