If you find it difficult to fall asleep, or to sleep right through the night, then there's a very good chance that you're suffering from insomnia (or to be technical - insomnia sleep disorder).

Insomnia tends to fall into two broad categories. If your sleeping problems tend to come and go and normally only last for a few days at a time then you are said to be suffering from transient insomnia. However, if your insomnia persists and last for more than just a few days, running literally into weeks, then your insomnia is classed as being permanent.

As a general rule, women tend to suffer from insomnia more than men do, almost certainly as a result of the many hormonal changes which women experience. Additionally, a sedentary lifestyle, an underlying medical condition or the side effects of prescription medication can also increase the likelihood of insomnia and so the condition is also often seen as increasing with age.

Transient insomnia can result from a variety of different causes including too much stress, traveling across different time zones and environmental factors such as noise or temperature variations of more than a few degrees. Exposure to too much light or to loud or persistent noise, such as traffic or even a partner snoring, can create an environment in which sleep is difficult. Insomnia can even be the result of learned behavior.

In general transient insomnia does not require treatment (in the sense of medical treatment) and the condition will generally remedy itself once you recognize the cause of your insomnia and take a few, usually very simple, steps to remove it.

By contrast, permanent or chronic insomnia can be serious and does require some form of treatment plan. Just how severe a problem your insomnia presents will depend very much on the underlying cause and the first step in the process to cure insomnia is to find out just what is causing it.

One possibility is that your insomnia results from an underlying medical condition which could include hundreds of different possible causes including anxiety, depression, asthma, heart disease, kidney problems, sleep apnea and many more. Your fist port of call therefore should be your doctor because your insomnia cure clearly lies, at least in part, in treating your underlying medical condition.

If the problem is not medical then you need to widen your search and consider other possible causes such as your working pattern (especially true in the case of shift workers), your consumption of alcohol, tea coffee and other drinks and the long term use of medication for existing ailments.

Determining just what is causing your insomnia can be a long process and will often mean selecting one possible cause at a time and addressing that to see if makes a difference, before moving on to the next possibility. However, even though it may take some time, this is a necessary process and, without an obvious cause, it is one step that cannot be avoided.

Diagnosing insomnia is also difficult because the whole subject of sleep itself is subjective. The right amount of sleep for one individual will not necessarily be right for somebody else and determining the extent of a sleep problem in each individual is often a matter for debate. One good way to assess the extent of the problem is to keep a sleep journal and then, based upon the information which you gather, to assess yourself against a sleep questionnaire or even to seek the help of a sleep specialist who has the tools necessary to help to diagnose your insomnia.