Insomnia
Traumatic Brain Injury many times produces feelings of fatigue. The theory is that since the brain needs to work harder after trauma to compensate for interrupted neural pathways, a feeling of tiredness results. To make matter worse, that tiredness is also accompanied, many times by insomnia. TBI sufferers are usually tired due to the hyper activity required to maintain previous function in addition to insomnia.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine defines insomnia as unsatisfactory sleep that impacts daytime functioning. More than one third of adults report some degree of insomnia within any given year, and 2 to 6 percent use medications to aid sleep. Insomnia is associated with increased morbidity and mortality caused by cardiovascular disease and psychiatric disorders and has other major public health and social consequences, such as accidents and absenteeism.
The main focus of treatment for insomnia should be directed towards finding the cause. Once a cause is identified, it is important to manage and control the underlying problem, as this alone may eliminate the insomnia.