What are the symptoms of insomnia?

These are the most common symptoms:

• it is difficult to fall asleep — we toss and turn, trying to get comfortable or lie like a log, rigid with boredom for what seems like hours;
• when we wake up, it is still pitch dark. We look at the alarm clock and it has only been one or two hours since we turned out the light — turning over and closing our eyes does not bring sleep back;
• we manage to get through to daylight, but it is still way too early — we have woken up several hours before we need to get up;
• when we wake up, we feel like we have had no sleep at all — the sleep has not left us refreshed;
• during the following day, we walk round like zombies, often impatient and irritable and, as it begins to happen more often, a little anxious. When we try to concentrate, we have trouble in focussing our eyes, we yawn all the time and, occasionally, we cannot recall what we were doing for the last few minutes — have you ever had the experience when driving that you could not remember the last ten miles? This type of memory loss can be a real danger sign;
• over time, you are likely to experience blurred vision and, in some people, colour blindness. There is an increasing disconnection between you and the world, sometimes called derealisation, as a first sign of clinical depression;
• your immune system is slowly affected and you will find yourself catching more coughs and colds; and
• you start to get headaches and, as sleeplessness persists, you may find yourself suffering dizziness or fainting spells, growing confused or hallucinating, your speech grows slurred and incomprehensible, and your body may be affected by tremors.

How does cognitive behavioural therapy help? One of the best alternatives to simple reliance on a drug like Ambien is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). CBT teaches you a new set of behaviours around the "activity" of sleep. You have to "relearn" the association between going to bed and falling sleep.

The habit of sleep Before you start taking Ambien or alongside a course of Ambien, you should change your habit patterns and practise relaxation techniques to help you get to sleep.