By Arwa Khan
GOMBAK, 18Â November 2017: Psychology Day17 held recently conducted an event on Psychology Symposium where there was a series of intellectual discourses, among which was a talk on œInsomnia: Help Me to Sleep.
The programme initiated from 13 until 17 November was aimed at conducting discussions to get the students exposed to diverging fields in psychology.
The forum conducted yesterday (17 November) at HS Seminar Room by Junita Nawawi, the Psychology lecturer, carried out discussions on current happenings from the perspective of psychology on the topic of insomnia.
The talk mainly focused on the symptoms and treatments for insomnia. She said that around 12.2% (statistics of 2008) of people suffered from chronic insomnia in Malaysia. She stated that this disorder is common in women above 30 years old.
Teenagers, she said, are required to sleep longer as they are in the stage of growth and development. Insomnia can be caused due to certain underlying problems such as medical and psychological issues. She spoke of laying emphasis on the consistency of sleep to be maintained as the body is set to a particular rhythm.
There were certain psychological reasons leading to insomnia such as mood swings, anxiety, drug and alcohol addiction. All of these may result having sleep apnea, micro sleep, obesity.
To avoid such a situation we should try reducing naps, caffeine and other psychological dependencies created in our minds. The youth should minimise the usage of mobile phones at night as it keeps us mentally awake due to the light emitted from the devices.
Insomnia is a complex symptom with many causes and it can be nerve wrecking to identify its major cause. It can also be a rationale for having major depression.
The forum had delegates from Cyberjaya University College of Medical Sciences (CUCMS) and University of Technology Malaysia (UTM).
œWe are glad that we had an amazing experience working with our committee and our respected lecturers in making this event a success, said its the programme manager, Nur Fazirah. ***