An estimated 12% of the population in the US – over twenty million people – suffer from insomnia and struggle with the lack of sleep and rest on daily bases. It’s obvious from these statistics that insomnia is a very widespread condition, so it’s no wonder that there’s a lot of attention to it in both medical community and general population. Insomnia on its own is bad enough, but the main danger lies in the fact that a prolonged sleep deprivation can easily lead to the development of a wide range of physical and mental conditions. Fortunately, there are several different ways and approaches to treating insomnia, including various drugs, remedies and medications. Some of these are based on a combination of herbs and other natural ingredients, and can be purchased without a prescription, over the counter. But most people will soon find out that the effectiveness of these “herbal sleeping aids” is mediocre at best, and that they only help in the cases of relatively mild insomnia. For most people affected, the only reliable way to treat insomnia is with the help of prescription based medication, like Ambien and Ambien CR.
Modern medical science draws clear distinctions between three different types of Insomnia. These types include chronic insomnia, transient insomnia and acute insomnia. The most common type of insomnia is the transient kind, and people who are affected with this form of the condition often find themselves unable to fall asleep for a period of up to one week. It’s most commonly found in young people of both sexes – especially students, young working professionals and party animals. This type of insomnia is really self induced, since the people contribute to the development of the condition by forcing themselves to stay awake for longer and longer periods of time, often with the aid of caffeine or other 
stimulative substances, and even illegal street drugs. This type of behavior, especially when practiced over a prolonged period of time, can quickly lead to the disruption of normal, healthy sleeping patterns, and doctors often prescribe a week or two long course of Ambien to restore the balance.
While a few nights worth of normal, healthy sleep is often all it takes to treat transient insomnia, acute insomnia is more serious. People who suffer from the acute form of the condition are most often unable to keep regular, healthy sleep patterns for several weeks, and even more than a month. These people will often be able to sleep only for an hour or so at a time, and regularly find themselves awake at night and unable to go back to sleep. However, the most serious and potentially life threatening type of insomnia, the chronic version of the condition is described as an inability to maintain normal sleeping patterns for an indefinite period of time. Chronic insomnia, or rather its main symptom – the inability of the patient to sleep – is most commonly treated with a prolonged Ambien course. However, it’s just as important for the patient to get to the underlying source of the problem, and try to address and treat the deeper medical condition that’s causing insomnia in the first place.
