Conditions & Diseases: Other

Insomnia

See Also
Insomnia: Definition, Overview, Symptoms & Types
Insomnia: Causes
Insomnia: Prevention & Treatment

The American Insomnia Association has done a great job of organizing and breaking down all the possible causes of insomnia and sleep problems as revealed over the last 30 years of research. Insomnia stems from 4 main causes:

1. Psychological
2. Lifestyle
3. Environmental
4. Insomnia as a secondary illness

1. Psychological factors include: 1). a vulnerability to insomnia; 2). persistent, on-going stress, (difficulties at work & home, illness in the family); 3). and learned insomnia. - "If you sleep poorly, you may worry about not being able to function well during the day. You may try harder to sleep at night, but unfortunately this determined effort can make you more alert, set off a new round of worried thoughts, and cause more sleep loss."(2)

2. Lifestyle factors are behind many insomnia cases and are often the most difficult as it involves the patients making changes to long term habits and addictions. Many of the lifestyle culprits behind many insomnia cases include:

1. Stimulants to include caffeine (too early before bedtime), the nicotene in smoking cigarettes (which is a stimulant), some prescription medications and over the counter drugs. Many over the counter headache medicines contain caffeine, which is a stimulant. According to the National Sleep Foundation, medicines taken for: colds and allergies, high blood pressure, heart disease, thyroid disease, asthma and SSRI antidepressants - can lead to insomnia.(5)

2. Excessive use of alocohol. While one glass of wine might help you go to sleep, getting "buzzed" or drunk can be counterproductive. Excessive drinking can cause interrupted sleep and a poor quality of sleep, not to mention the "hungover" feeling you might have the next day. The older you get, the harder it is to "bounce back" after a night of drinking and it could take 24 to 48 hours for your body to release the alcohol in your system.

3. Eating too much to close to bedtime. "...eating too much may cause you to feel physically uncomfortable while lying down, making it difficult to get to sleep. Many people also experience heartburn, a backflow of acid and food from the stomach to the esophagus after eating. This uncomfortable feeling may keep you awake." (4)

4. Working irregular hours, the graveyard shift, rotating hours, or late hours can throw off your body's Circadian rhythms. During the day, your body releases chemicals that make you more "alert." During night, your body releases "melatonin," a natural substance that tells your body to go to sleep.

5. All day couch potatos or people with a restricted lifestyle also suffer from bouts of insomia. This fact and other research has led sleep professionals to conclude that exercise is an important factor in your day time routine that can lead to sounder sleep at night. Likewise, people who take naps during the day, usually find it hard to get to sleep at night. As a consequence, they then go to bed late since they are not as tired. Not enough sleep at night can lead to fatique in the day time which can bring on the desire to take a nap - a cycle that might be hard for some people to break.

3. Environmental Factors include too much noise, light and interruptions. Ear plugs and blackout shades are recommended.

4. Insomnia as a symptom of another illness, as part of their classifications of the causes of insomnia, the American Insomnia Assocation has sorted out how insomnia can be a symptom of another medical or psychiatric condition. "Other sleep disorders, psychiatric and physical illnesses may disrupt sleep, and produce symptoms that can easily be mistaken for insomnia. These other disorders require medical attention and common treatments for insomnia alone will not help.(2) These other illnesses where insomnia is a symptom of the condition, include:

1. Psychiatric - Depression (very common), post-traumatic stress disorder, long-term anxiety disorders, are the most common psychiatric illnesses that lead to insomnia.
2. Medical - Any medical condition or recent accident or surgery that leads to pain, or discomfort can interrupt sleeping time. Headaches, arthritis, acid reflux and benign prostatic hypertrophy leading to frequent urination can also interrupt one's sleep.
3. Sleep related breathing disorders such as sleep apnea "...can wake a sleeper dozens or even hundreds of times during the night. Pauses in breathing can be as short as 10 seconds and may not be remembered in the morning. However, they are sufficient to produce disturbed and restless sleep." (2)
4. Restless Leg Syndrome is a disorder characterized by numbness, tingling, restlessness in the legs which is only "relieved" by movement, stretching and walking.

Once the causes of your insomnia are understood, you and your doctor can better outline a treatment & prevention program that turns out the lights on your sleepless nights. See Prevention & Treatment

See Also
Insomnia: Definition, Overview, Symptoms & Types
Insomnia: Causes
Insomnia: Prevention & Treatment

Article by Jason Morrow
OmniMedicalSearch.com