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insomnia

UK/ɪnˈsɒmniə/US/ɪnˈsɒmniə/
nounB2+Common in everyday speech and writing · #6,372 of 15,258neutral

Insomnia is the misery of lying awake all night, unable to sleep. Suffer from insomnia, chronic insomnia, treat the insomnia.

The most effective treatment is not a drug: cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia outperforms sleeping tablets over the long run and has no dependence. Worrying about not sleeping is itself one of the things that keeps it going. The Latin means without sleep.

unknown master · Public domain

Definitions of insomnia

  1. 1nouninsomniaPersistent inability to sleep.B2+

    “She suffers from insomnia and often lies awake until dawn.”

insomnia is a sleep disorder.

Also accepted in games: sleeplessness

Where it comes from

Latin insomnia is in-, not, plus somnus, sleep. Somnolent and the name Somnus, the god of sleep, share the root.

  1. Latin

    īnsomnia

  2. English, today

    insomnia

Latin īnsomnia, from Latin - in- + somnus + -ia, equivalent to in- + somn- + -ia.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Body & Health, Mental Health & Wellbeing

Practise this word

insomnia in the wild

  • Hypnotic drugs are regularly prescribed for insomnia and other sleep disorders, with over 95% of insomnia patients being prescribed hypnotics in some countries.

    Hypnotic

  • When a person struggles to fall or stay asleep without an obvious cause, it is referred to as insomnia, which is the most common sleep disorder.

    Sleep disorder

  • The concept of the word insomnia has two distinct possibilities: insomnia disorder or insomnia symptoms.

    Insomnia

  • Sleep hygiene and lifestyle changes are also recommended for insomnia, though their efficacy is not definitely established.

    Insomnia

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.