An Insight on Insomnia

HAVING SLEEPLESS NIGHTS OR SLEEP DISORDER?

Do you struggle to get to sleep no matter how tired you are? Or do you wake up in the middle of the night and lie awake for hours, anxiously watching the clock?

Then you need to have an insight on INSOMNIA. Insomnia is a common problem that takes a toll on your energy, mood, health, and ability to function during the day. Chronic insomnia can even contribute to serious health problems. But you don’t have to resign yourself to sleepless nights. Simple changes to your lifestyle and daily habits can put a stop to insomnia—without the need for medication.

What is Insomnia ?

Insomnia is the inability to get the amount of sleep you need to wake up feeling rested and refreshed. Different people need different amounts of sleep, insomnia is defined by the quality of your sleep and how you feel after sleeping—not the number of hours you sleep or how quickly you doze off. Even if you’re spending eight hours a night in bed, if you feel drowsy and fatigued during the day, you may be experiencing insomnia.

Insomnia can be also be caused by psychiatric and medical condition, bad or unhealthy sleep habits or certain biological factors. Recently, researchers have begun to think that Insomnia is a problem of the brain unable to rest during sleep or unable to stop being awake i.e. the brain has a sleep cycle and a wake cycle, Insomnia can be a problem with either part of this cycles which is either too much wake drive or sleep drive. It’s vital to understand what could be causing your sleeplessness or sleep inabilities.

What you can do

1.     Learn to recognize the symptoms of insomnia

2.     Explore common causes of insomnia to recognize your role in the problem

3.     Sit less and move frequently

4.     Avoid screens and other stimulants before bed time

5.     Tackle day time stress and worries

Symptoms of Insomnia:
These includes ·        Difficulty falling asleep despite being tired
·        Trouble getting back to sleep when waking up in the night
·        Waking up too early in the morning
·        Depending on sleeping pills or alcohol to fall asleep
·        Not feeling refreshed after sleep
·        Daytime drowsiness, fatigue, or irritability
·        Finding it difficult to concentrate during the day

Figuring out why you can’t sleep

In order to properly resolve your insomnia, you need to become a sleep detective. Emotional issues such as stress, anxiety, and depression create about half of all insomnia cases. But your daytime habits, bedtime routine, and physical health can also play a major role.

Common causes of insomnia

Sometimes, insomnia only lasts a few days and goes away on its own, especially when the insomnia is tied to an obvious temporary cause, such as stress over an upcoming presentation or a painful breakup. Chronic insomnia, however, is usually tied to an underlying psychological or medical issue.

Psychological Problems and Emotional Distress

Anxiety and depression are two of the most common causes of chronic insomnia. Other common emotional and psychological causes include chronic or significant life stress, anger, worry, grief, bipolar disorder, and trauma.

Medical Problems or Illness

Many medical conditions and diseases may contribute to insomnia, including asthma, allergies, Parkinson’s disease, hyperthyroidism, acid reflux, kidney disease, and cancer. Chronic pain is also a very common cause of insomnia.

Other Medical causes may also include Nasal/Sinus Allergies, Arthritis and Low back .

Insomnia & Depression

Insomnia can be caused by psychiatric conditions such as depression. Psychological struggles can make it tough to sleep, insomnia itself can bring on changes in mood, and shifts in hormones and physiology may lead to both psychiatric issues / problems and insomnia simultaneously.

Sleeplessness or sleep problems may represent a symptom of depression, and the danger or risk of tremendous insomnia in much higher patients with major depressive disorders. Many Researchers also notices that insomnia can also exacerbate depression.

It’s important to know that symptoms of depression (such as feeling of sadness or hopelessness, low energy, loss of interest etc.) and insomnia can be linked, and one can make the other worse. The glad tidings is that both are treatable regardless of which came first.

Insomnia & Anxiety

Some People usually find it difficult to sleep due to their nervousness or fear, but for some it’s an iota that invades sleep on a regular basis. Anxiety symptoms that can lead to insomnia include:

·        Tension

·        Excessive ill Auguring (worrying about future events)

·        Feeling crushed or subdues by responsibilities

·        Having deep Retrospect

·        Feeling of being over-stimulated

Medications

Many prescription drugs can interfere with sleep, including antidepressants, stimulants for ADHD, corticosteroids, thyroid hormone, high blood pressure medications, and some contraceptives. Common over-the-counter culprits include cold and flu medications that contain alcohol, pain relievers that contain caffeine (Midol, Excedrin), diuretics, and slimming pills.

Sleep disorders

Insomnia itself is a sleep disorder, but it can also be a symptom of other sleep disorders, including sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and circadian rhythm disturbances tied to jet lag or late-night shift work.

Causes of insomnia you may overlook (and that are within your power to change!)

It’s important to identify all possible causes of your insomnia, including things you’re doing during the day or leading up to bedtime that interfere with quality sleep.

1.     Is your sleep environment noisy, too bright, or not very comfortable?

2.     Do you watch TV, play video games, or use a computer, tablet or smartphone in bed?

3.     Do you drink caffeinated beverages (coffee, tea, soda) within eight hours of bed?

4.     Do you keep an irregular sleep schedule?

5.     Do you exercise or eat late in the evening?

6.     Do you use alcohol to fall asleep?

Changing habits that disrupt sleep

If medical or emotional problems are contributing to your insomnia, treating them first is essential. But you also need to look at daytime habits and bedtime routines that contribute to sleeplessness.

Adopting new habits to help you sleep

Stick to a regular sleep schedule. Support your biological clock by going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, including weekends.

Avoid naps. Napping during the day can make it more difficult to sleep at night. If you feel like you have to take a nap, limit it to 30 minutes before 3 p.m.

Limit caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine. Stop drinking caffeinated beverages at least eight hours before bed. While alcohol can make you feel sleepy, it interferes with the quality of your sleep, and nicotine also is a stimulant.

Avoid late meals. Try to avoid heavy, rich foods within two hours of bed. Fatty foods can take a lot of work for your stomach to digest and spicy or acidic foods can cause heartburn.

Get regular exercise. Regular exercise can improve the symptoms of insomnia, but it’s not a quick fix. It takes several months to feel the full effects. Aim for 30 minutes or more of activity on most days—but not too close to bedtime.

Develop a better bedtime routine

It’s not just what you do during the day that affects the quality of your sleep, but also those things you do to prepare your mind and body for sleep.

Make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark, and cool. Noise, light, and heat may interfere with sleep. Try using a sound machine or earplugs to hide outside noise, an open window or fan to keep the room cool, and blackout curtains or a sleep mask to block out light.

Avoid stimulating activity and stressful situations before bedtime. This includes vigorous exercise, big discussions or arguments, or catching up on work. Instead, focus on quiet, soothing activities, such as reading, knitting, or listening to soft music, while keeping lights low.

Turn off screens one hour before bedtime.

The light emitted from TV, tablets, smartphones, and computers suppresses your body’s production of melatonin and can severely disrupt your sleep. Instead of emailing, texting, watching TV, or playing video games, try listening to a book on tape, a podcast, or reading by a soft light.

Coping with shift work

Working nights or irregular shifts can disrupt your sleep schedule. You may be able to limit the adverse impact with these tips:

• Adjust your sleep-wake cycle by exposing yourself to bright light when you wake up at night, using bright lamps or daylight-simulation bulbs in your workplace, and then wearing dark glasses on your journey home to block out sunlight and encourage sleepiness.
• Limit the number of night or irregular shifts you work in a row to prevent sleep deprivation mounting up.
• Avoid frequently rotating shifts so you can maintain the same sleep schedule.
• Eliminate noise and light from your bedroom during the day. Use blackout curtains or a sleep mask, turn off the phone, and use ear plugs or a soothing sound machine to block out daytime noise.

Learn to associate your bed with sleeping, not sleeplessness!

Use the bedroom only for sleeping and sex. Don’t work, read, watch TV, or use your computer in bed or the bedroom. The goal is to associate the bedroom with sleep alone, so that your brain and body get a strong signal that it’s time to nod off when you get in bed.

Get out of bed when you can’t sleep. Don’t try to force yourself to sleep. Tossing and turning only amps up the anxiety. Get up, leave the bedroom, and do something relaxing, such as reading, drinking a warm cup of caffeine-free tea, taking a bath, or listening to soothing music. When you’re sleepy, go back to bed.

Move bedroom clocks out of view. Anxiously watching the minutes tick by when you can’t sleep—knowing that you’re going to be exhausted when the alarm goes off—is a surefire recipe for insomnia. You can use an alarm, but make sure you can’t see the time when you’re in bed.

It’s also helpful to challenge the negative attitudes about sleep and your insomnia problem that you’ve developed over time.

Tackle daytime stress and worries

Residual stress, worry, and anger from your day can make it difficult to fall asleep as night.

Get help with stress management.If the stress of managing work, family, or school is keeping you awake at night, learning how to handle stress in a productive way and to maintain a calm, positive outlook can help you sleep better at night.

Talk over your worries during the day with a friend or loved one.

Talking face to face with someone who cares about you is a great way to relieve stress and stop you rehashing worries when it’s time to sleep. The person doesn’t need to be able to fix your problems, but just needs to be an attentive, nonjudgmental listener.

Harnessing your body's relaxation response

If you feel wound up much of the time and unable to let go of stress at the end of the day, you may benefit from relaxation techniques such as meditation, yoga, and deep breathing. Not only do relaxation techniques help you quiet your mind and relieve tension in the body, but they also help you fall asleep faster and get back to sleep more quickly if you wake up in the middle of the night. Some popular smartphone apps can help guide you through the different relaxation methods, or you can follow these techniques.

An insight on Insomnia

HAVING SLEEPLESS NIGHTS OR SLEEP DISORDER?

Do you struggle to get to sleep no matter how tired you are? Or do you wake up in the middle of the night and lie awake for hours, anxiously watching the clock?

Then you need to have an insight on INSOMNIA. Insomnia is a common problem that takes a toll on your energy, mood, health, and ability to function during the day. Chronic insomnia can even contribute to serious health problems. But you don’t have to resign yourself to sleepless nights. Simple changes to your lifestyle and daily habits can put a stop to insomnia—without the need for medication.

What is Insomnia ?

Insomnia is the inability to get the amount of sleep you need to wake up feeling rested and refreshed. Different people need different amounts of sleep, insomnia is defined by the quality of your sleep and how you feel after sleeping—not the number of hours you sleep or how quickly you doze off. Even if you’re spending eight hours a night in bed, if you feel drowsy and fatigued during the day, you may be experiencing insomnia.

Insomnia can be also be caused by psychiatric and medical condition, bad or unhealthy sleep habits or certain biological factors. Recently, researchers have begun to think that Insomnia is a problem of the brain unable to rest during sleep or unable to stop being awake i.e. the brain has a sleep cycle and a wake cycle, Insomnia can be a problem with either part of this cycles which is either too much wake drive or sleep drive. It’s vital to understand what could be causing your sleeplessness or sleep inabilities.

What you can do

1.     Learn to recognize the symptoms of insomnia

2.     Explore common causes of insomnia to recognize your role in the problem

3.     Sit less and move frequently

4.     Avoid screens and other stimulants before bed time

5.     Tackle day time stress and worries

Symptoms of Insomnia:
These includes ·        Difficulty falling asleep despite being tired
·        Trouble getting back to sleep when waking up in the night
·        Waking up too early in the morning
·        Depending on sleeping pills or alcohol to fall asleep
·        Not feeling refreshed after sleep
·        Daytime drowsiness, fatigue, or irritability
·        Finding it difficult to concentrate during the day

Figuring out why you can’t sleep

In order to properly resolve your insomnia, you need to become a sleep detective. Emotional issues such as stress, anxiety, and depression create about half of all insomnia cases. But your daytime habits, bedtime routine, and physical health can also play a major role.

Common causes of insomnia

Sometimes, insomnia only lasts a few days and goes away on its own, especially when the insomnia is tied to an obvious temporary cause, such as stress over an upcoming presentation or a painful breakup. Chronic insomnia, however, is usually tied to an underlying psychological or medical issue.

Psychological Problems and Emotional Distress

Anxiety and depression are two of the most common causes of chronic insomnia. Other common emotional and psychological causes include chronic or significant life stress, anger, worry, grief, bipolar disorder, and trauma.

Medical Problems or Illness

Many medical conditions and diseases may contribute to insomnia, including asthma, allergies, Parkinson’s disease, hyperthyroidism, acid reflux, kidney disease, and cancer. Chronic pain is also a very common cause of insomnia.

Other Medical causes may also include Nasal/Sinus Allergies, Arthritis and Low back .

Insomnia & Depression

Insomnia can be caused by psychiatric conditions such as depression. Psychological struggles can make it tough to sleep, insomnia itself can bring on changes in mood, and shifts in hormones and physiology may lead to both psychiatric issues / problems and insomnia simultaneously.

Sleeplessness or sleep problems may represent a symptom of depression, and the danger or risk of tremendous insomnia in much higher patients with major depressive disorders. Many Researchers also notices that insomnia can also exacerbate depression.

It’s important to know that symptoms of depression (such as feeling of sadness or hopelessness, low energy, loss of interest etc.) and insomnia can be linked, and one can make the other worse. The glad tidings is that both are treatable regardless of which came first.

Insomnia & Anxiety

Some People usually find it difficult to sleep due to their nervousness or fear, but for some it’s an iota that invades sleep on a regular basis. Anxiety symptoms that can lead to insomnia include:

·        Tension

·        Excessive ill Auguring (worrying about future events)

·        Feeling crushed or subdues by responsibilities

·        Having deep Retrospect

·        Feeling of being over-stimulated

Medications

Many prescription drugs can interfere with sleep, including antidepressants, stimulants for ADHD, corticosteroids, thyroid hormone, high blood pressure medications, and some contraceptives. Common over-the-counter culprits include cold and flu medications that contain alcohol, pain relievers that contain caffeine (Midol, Excedrin), diuretics, and slimming pills.

Sleep disorders

Insomnia itself is a sleep disorder, but it can also be a symptom of other sleep disorders, including sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome, and circadian rhythm disturbances tied to jet lag or late-night shift work.

Causes of insomnia you may overlook (and that are within your power to change!)

It’s important to identify all possible causes of your insomnia, including things you’re doing during the day or leading up to bedtime that interfere with quality sleep.

1.     Is your sleep environment noisy, too bright, or not very comfortable?

2.     Do you watch TV, play video games, or use a computer, tablet or smartphone in bed?

3.     Do you drink caffeinated beverages (coffee, tea, soda) within eight hours of bed?

4.     Do you keep an irregular sleep schedule?

5.     Do you exercise or eat late in the evening?

6.     Do you use alcohol to fall asleep?

Changing habits that disrupt sleep

If medical or emotional problems are contributing to your insomnia, treating them first is essential. But you also need to look at daytime habits and bedtime routines that contribute to sleeplessness.

Adopting new habits to help you sleep

Stick to a regular sleep schedule. Support your biological clock by going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, including weekends.

Avoid naps. Napping during the day can make it more difficult to sleep at night. If you feel like you have to take a nap, limit it to 30 minutes before 3 p.m.

Limit caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine. Stop drinking caffeinated beverages at least eight hours before bed. While alcohol can make you feel sleepy, it interferes with the quality of your sleep, and nicotine also is a stimulant.

Avoid late meals. Try to avoid heavy, rich foods within two hours of bed. Fatty foods can take a lot of work for your stomach to digest and spicy or acidic foods can cause heartburn.

Get regular exercise. Regular exercise can improve the symptoms of insomnia, but it’s not a quick fix. It takes several months to feel the full effects. Aim for 30 minutes or more of activity on most days—but not too close to bedtime.

Develop a better bedtime routine

It’s not just what you do during the day that affects the quality of your sleep, but also those things you do to prepare your mind and body for sleep.

Make sure your bedroom is quiet, dark, and cool. Noise, light, and heat may interfere with sleep. Try using a sound machine or earplugs to hide outside noise, an open window or fan to keep the room cool, and blackout curtains or a sleep mask to block out light.

Avoid stimulating activity and stressful situations before bedtime. This includes vigorous exercise, big discussions or arguments, or catching up on work. Instead, focus on quiet, soothing activities, such as reading, knitting, or listening to soft music, while keeping lights low.

Turn off screens one hour before bedtime.

The light emitted from TV, tablets, smartphones, and computers suppresses your body’s production of melatonin and can severely disrupt your sleep. Instead of emailing, texting, watching TV, or playing video games, try listening to a book on tape, a podcast, or reading by a soft light.

Coping with shift work

Working nights or irregular shifts can disrupt your sleep schedule. You may be able to limit the adverse impact with these tips:

• Adjust your sleep-wake cycle by exposing yourself to bright light when you wake up at night, using bright lamps or daylight-simulation bulbs in your workplace, and then wearing dark glasses on your journey home to block out sunlight and encourage sleepiness.
• Limit the number of night or irregular shifts you work in a row to prevent sleep deprivation mounting up.
• Avoid frequently rotating shifts so you can maintain the same sleep schedule.
• Eliminate noise and light from your bedroom during the day. Use blackout curtains or a sleep mask, turn off the phone, and use ear plugs or a soothing sound machine to block out daytime noise.

Learn to associate your bed with sleeping, not sleeplessness!

Use the bedroom only for sleeping and sex. Don’t work, read, watch TV, or use your computer in bed or the bedroom. The goal is to associate the bedroom with sleep alone, so that your brain and body get a strong signal that it’s time to nod off when you get in bed.

Get out of bed when you can’t sleep. Don’t try to force yourself to sleep. Tossing and turning only amps up the anxiety. Get up, leave the bedroom, and do something relaxing, such as reading, drinking a warm cup of caffeine-free tea, taking a bath, or listening to soothing music. When you’re sleepy, go back to bed.

Move bedroom clocks out of view. Anxiously watching the minutes tick by when you can’t sleep—knowing that you’re going to be exhausted when the alarm goes off—is a surefire recipe for insomnia. You can use an alarm, but make sure you can’t see the time when you’re in bed.

It’s also helpful to challenge the negative attitudes about sleep and your insomnia problem that you’ve developed over time.

Tackle daytime stress and worries

Residual stress, worry, and anger from your day can make it difficult to fall asleep as night.

Get help with stress management.If the stress of managing work, family, or school is keeping you awake at night, learning how to handle stress in a productive way and to maintain a calm, positive outlook can help you sleep better at night.

Talk over your worries during the day with a friend or loved one.

Talking face to face with someone who cares about you is a great way to relieve stress and stop you rehashing worries when it’s time to sleep. The person doesn’t need to be able to fix your problems, but just needs to be an attentive, nonjudgmental listener.

Harnessing your body's relaxation response

If you feel wound up much of the time and unable to let go of stress at the end of the day, you may benefit from relaxation techniques such as meditation, yoga, and deep breathing. Not only do relaxation techniques help you quiet your mind and relieve tension in the body, but they also help you fall asleep faster and get back to sleep more quickly if you wake up in the middle of the night. Some popular smartphone apps can help guide you through the different relaxation methods, or you can follow these techniques.