Insomnia is described by the dictionary as  an “inability to obtain sufficient sleep, especially when chronic; difficulty in falling or staying asleep; sleeplessness.” I myself have struggled with insomnia ever since the middle of junior year.

I would describe insomnia as simply being unable to fall asleep. Often times I stay up later than two and three in the morning. then when I get to school I often feel foggy and really out of things.

There are many differences between a kid with insomnia and a kid who stays up late. One of the main differences is kids with insomnia are often tired at night and can’t fall asleep, kids who stay up late are often up to some sort of shenanigans.

Another difference is kids without insomnia who stay up late often only stay up late about once a week. Speaking from experience I often can’t fall asleep five out of seven days a week with most of my inability to sleep steming from Monday through Friday.

An example of this would be last night on April 6, I got home from work and was in bed by 9:30PM. I was completely exhausted. However, I did not fall asleep until sometime after 2 (the last time I looked at the clock it read 2:00 AM

Scientist today believe insomnia is your brain being unable to fall asleep. Your brain has two cycles. a sleep cycle and a wake cycle and when one cycle is turned on the other is turned off.

Medication can be used to aid with sleep, but often times when those are taken a person will feel more tired when they wake up than when they fell asleep.

Often nights I stay up almost day dreaming or imagining things that aren’t really happening. For example I might think I’m at school or at work just imagining things as if it is a normal day. I finally come to and realize whats going on at around one in the morning and it still takes me time after that to fall asleep if I even fall asleep at all.

The next day after school I come home and pass out. I don’t ever plan on falling asleep after school, but when I get home I sit down on the couch, and then out of no where I’ll wake up three hours later.

Many times I have started my articles for the Quill at two in the morning and when I finish them its often so early in the morning that I don’t end up sleeping that night, but I still try and calculate the amount of sleep I would get if I fell asleep at that very moment.

More than 30% of the population suffer from Insomnia and one in every three people will suffer from insomnia at some point in their lives.

A lot of people think that insomnia is a made up thing. These people often say things like “just get some sleep” and “stop messing around at night and just go to sleep.” But the simple truth is people with insomnia simply can’t sleep. Even with the aid of sleep inducers they can still struggle to find sleep.

I know talking to another person with insomnia who told me they fall asleep and wake up every 45 minutes, which in my opinion would probably be worse than not falling asleep.

Insomnia is something I have struggled with for over a year now. There have been ways to help with it as well as things I have found that hurt. If anyone has trouble sleeping at night I suggest you talk to a doctor who may be able to help you or perhaps give you a prescription.