Most people look forward to a nice meal and goodnight's sleep after a long day at work, school, or other demanding activity. However, some can find it challenging to get a reasonable amount of sleep, making them wonder whether they have a health condition or just a night of insufficient sleep. This can be highly detrimental to your productivity by altering your concentration levels. In addition, lack of enough sleep causes fatigue and can adversely affect your mental health, sometimes even leading to depression. To get a better grip on how you can combat insomnia, you need to understand what it is and what causes it.
Insomnia-Explained
Have you ever had difficulty falling asleep, maintaining sleep for a reasonable period, or do you constantly wake up too early? These are the primary symptoms of the sleeping disorder called insomnia. In some cases, you may find it hard to go back to sleep the minute you wake up for whatsoever reason. This sleeping disorder can affect you even if you have time at your disposal and the perfect sleeping environment that would otherwise garner quality sleep.
Causes of this sleeping disorder?
Insomnia varies from person to person, depending on the root course. For instance, the short-term version, which can last from a night to three months, can be attributed to stress or a change in your environment or sleeping pattern. However, insomnia can also be chronic and long-term. In this case, it lasts for over three months and occurs at least three nights a week. Different factors can contribute to one suffering from this type of sleep deprivation. They include:
• Poor sleeping habits include poor sleeping environments, taking long naps, and treating your bedroom as a multipurpose room.
• Underlying medical conditions such as acid reflux or obstructive sleep apnea
• Use of certain medications can lead to disturbed sleep
• Use of substances such as alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, and amphetamines
• Mental health issues such as depression and anxiety
• Alterations in sleep schedules
Diagnosis for Insomnia
This is dependent on the cause of the condition and your particular situation. It is advisable to get your diagnosis and treatment recommendations from a specialist. They will achieve this by:
• Conducting a sleeping habit and history review such as through a questionnaire or the filling out of a journal to determine your patterns
• Performing a physical exam to find out any other medical problems that are associated with this disorder
• You might need to have a sleep study completed where you spend a night at a sleeping center, and your body activities are monitored, such as brainwaves and heart rate.
How can you prevent or treat this disorder?
Chronic insomnia can lead to other health conditions or raise the risks of having these conditions that significantly deteriorate your health. These include coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and some cancers. Thus you must take the following lifestyle remedies measures to reduce or eliminate reoccurrences of this disorder:
• Improving your sleeping habits
• Ensure your sleeping environment is conducive
• Find a method to relax yourself to sleep, such as a warm bath or a massage
• Avoid conducting activities in your bed other than sleeping, such as working on your laptop
• Maintain a sleeping schedule
• Check that your medicines do not cause this disorder as a side effect
• Limit or avoid your daytime naps
• Deal with other conditions that cause you bodily pain
• Avoid heavy meals or beverages right before you go to bed
• Exercise and do relaxation stretches regularly
In cases where your condition is chronic, and the above measures do not curb the problem, the doctor can recommend:
1) Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I). This aims to help you identify, control, or eliminate the negative thoughts that affect your ability to sleep
2) Prescription medications to help you sleep better, such as antidepressants and sleeping pills
Final thought
The inability to get quality sleep affects many people worldwide and is especially disadvantageous to their productivity. This can be observed through additional symptoms, such as fatigue and poor concentration. Fortunately, insomnia is preventable and curable. So it is advisable to seek medical help to get the best treatment possible. The most crucial step in your treatment process is having a positive outlook and dealing with stress before getting to bed.
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