Background Insomnia is a very common complaint among hospital patients. There is evidence that it is also very common in the general
population. The causes are varied. In cases where it is not secondary to any psychiatric or medical condition, it is generally thought to be related to one's life style such as cigarette smoking, colanut consumption, caffeine intake and alcohol use.
Aims The aims of this study were to find out the proportion of healthy subjects who had insomnia and to determine whether or not there was a significant relationship between insomnia and the intake of nicotine, caffeine and alcohol. Method A questionnaire was administered to 144 clinically healthy subjects. The questionnaire elicited information on presence or absence of insomnia and the intake of cigarette, coffee, tea, colanut and alcohol.
Results Subjective insomnia was present in 68.8% of the subjects. Among those who took cigarette, 83.3% had insomnia, while 67.9% of
those who took alcohol experienced insomnia. With respect to those who took kolanut, 66.2% had insomnia while 70.7%of those who took tea had insomnia. Insomnia was reported by 68.2% of those who took coffee. The difference in the frequency of insomnia
in people who took these social drugs and those who did not was not statistically significant.
Conclusion The study showed that there was no statistically significant
difference in the occurrence of subjective insomnia between subjects who took social /recreational drugs and those who did not take them. Since
the use of recreational drugs did not account for insomnia, it is suggested that efforts be made to identify the possible causes in this environment.
Key words: Keywords Insomnia; recreational drugs; social drugs.
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