Properly speaking, insomnia is a symptom. (A symptom is something that a patient feels and reports to the doctor. Signs are things that a doctor can directly observe.) Insomnia is not specifically a disorder. Insomnia is always a symptom, and doctors should search for the cause of the symptom. Unfortunately, this does not always happen.

People usually use the term insomnia to refer to the inability to sleep when they want, or for as long as they want. Some people with insomnia feel that they are trapped with this problem, and unable to escape into sleep.

So what if you can't get to sleep after you hit the hay?

Stay in bed for at most 15 minutes without falling asleep. Laying in bed for long periods of time without sleep is not helpful. And your tossing and turning might wake your sleeping partner! (Did you know that 80% of adults have a sleeping partner?) Get up, and do something relaxing like read a bit. Come back to bed later when you feel more drowsy.

You want your body and mind to associate your bed with sleeping. If you are having problems with falling asleep, you want to be careful about doing non-sleeping activities in bed like reading books, balancing your checkbook, or calculating taxes.

Avoid stimulating activities during one to two hours before your go to bed. Just before bedtime is not the time for doing rigorous exercises.

If you are a shift worker, and need to sleep during the day, it is important that you simulate as much as possible a nighttime environment. Get thick curtains for your bedroom and close them tightly. Try to eliminate as much sounds as possible. You might try sleeping with a fan, the air circulation and the white noise, will help cover other sounds in the house.

Other interesting resources:

Insomnia, sleeping aids, sleep music