8 Causes of Insomnia and 6 Natural Home Remedies for Insomnia

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Causes of Insomnia and Natural Home Remedies for Insomnia

WHAT IS INSOMNIA?

Insomnia also called sleeplessness is a sleeping disorder that is known for its symptoms of unrest and inability to sleep at the due time. Insomnia steal not only your energy level but it also affects your health and mood and decreases your work force and performance for the day. Detailed in this article is 8 major causes of Insomnia ranging from stress, eating too much at night, environmental factors, emotional discomfort and 6 Natural Home Remedies for Insomnia.

Many people have this problem of sleeplessness without their very own knowledge and they end up not seeking any healthcare advice without knowing the impending dangers of insomnia.

Symptoms of Insomnia

Some people with sleeplessness have some of these as symptoms;

Feeling tired upon waking up
Difficulty falling at sleep by night time
Waking up during the night
Sleeping during the day time
Lack of focus and concentration
Depression and anxiety.

WHEN DO YOU NEED A DOCTOR FOR YOUR SLEEPLESSNESS?

If insomnia make you find it very difficult to attend to your function during the day then you need to see your doctor to find out what the cause of your sleep problem and how to treat it. If your doctor believe you have a sleep disorder, you might be directed to a sleep center for special treatment.

Classes of Insomnia

Sleeplessness is classified into two;

Primary and
Secondary Insomnia.

Primary Insomnia

Primary Insomnia is attributed to those suffering from insomnia without a direct link to any health issue.

Secondary Insomnia

These are people having insomnia due to the presence of other health related problems such as:

Heartburn,
Asthma,
Arthritis,
Cancer and
Depression.

Insomnia can also be categorized depending on its occurrence and duration. it can be short-term (Acute insomnia) or it can be long-term (Chronic insomnia).

The acute sleeplessness has its durability to be from one night to few weeks of regular appearance while sleeplessness is called chronic when it lingers at least from three nights a week for three months or longer as the case may be.

8 Major Causes of Insomnia

Insomnia can be a primary problem but in some cases could be afflicted with other conditions.

Stress
Travel
Poor sleeping time
Eating too much at night or evening
Environmental Factors
Emotional discomfort
Mental disorder
Drugs (Medications)

Causes of Sleeplessness

Stress: When the body is weak due to serious stress of the day this could affect or disrupt sleep at night.

Travel: Your circadian rhythm acts as an internal clock, guiding such things as your sleep-wake cycle. Disrupting your body circadian rhythm can lead to sleeplessness.

Poor sleeping time: This includes an irregular sleep time schedule which later affect the body system.

Eating too much at night or evening: Having light snacks during the evening time is very much cool because it gives the body less work to perform but when heavy meals are eaten during evening hours or at night this leads to discomfort while laying down and in turn affects sleep.

Environmental Factors: such as noise, light or extreme weather conditions (Hot or cold) can affect sleep.

Emotional discomfort: When you are not emotionally balanced it becomes very difficult to fall asleep.

Some serious cases of sleeplessness also have their root cause attributed to medical conditions or application of certain drugs (medications). Some of these causes of insomnia includes;

Mental disorder

Disorders such as; Post traumatic stress disorder, Anxiety disorder could affect your sleep. Rising very early from bed may be an indication of depression in an individual.

READ: DISABILITY IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

Drugs [Medications]

A good number of over the counter drugs can disrupt ones sleep, certain antidepressants and drugs for Asthma not an exception. Caffeine has also been said to disrupt ones sleep cycle too.

Experiencing insomnia becomes regular among the elderly as ones age advances;

3 Reasons why insomnia is more common among the elderly.

Change of sleep patterns
Varieties of activities
More medication

Change of sleep patterns

Sleep often becomes less restful as you age, so noise and other changes in your environment might likely wake you up. With advancement in age, your internal clock advances, so you get easily tired in the early hours of the evening and rise up earlier than usual in the morning. older people still needs the amount of sleep as a younger person do.

Read Also: 7 Home Remedies For Chickenpox

Varieties of activities

Lack of activities might interfere with the good night sleep. Less active you are the more likely you may be to take a nap, which will affect ones sleep at night.

More Medication

People who are advanced in age in most cases because of age related conditions take more medication than the younger people, this increases their chance of sleeplessness related to medications.

WHO IS MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO HAVING INSOMNIA?

There are certain people who are at increased risk for developing sleeplessness in comparison to others. It has already been recorded that people who are experiencing stressful situations such as depression and anxiety or those caused by physical discomfort or pain are at more risk of insomnia.

Individuals who have very irregular sleep-wake schedule are at risk for developing sleeplessness because irregular sleep-wake schedule weaken the signals from circadian clock regulating sleep wakefulness.

Those whose jobs involves frequent time zone changes are particularly at high risk.

Other group more susceptible to sleeplessness includes;

Night owls: Those who have no regular wake time.
People who indulge in drug abuse and excessive caffeine usage.
People who don’t get relief from the day’s stress are likely to sleep poorly.
Older people are most likely to experience sleeplessness than the younger ones.
People who have other sleep disorders.

4 COMPLICATIONS OF INSOMNIA

Low performance
Mental imbalance
Increased risk and severity of long term diseases such as; High blood pressure and heart burn diseases.
Increased rate of accident occurrence.

EXCERPT: Sleeplessness is a sleeping disorder that is known for its symptoms of unrest and inability to sleep at the due time. Detailed in this article is 8 major causes of Insomnia ranging from stress, eating too much at night, environmental factors, emotional discomfort and 6 Natural Home Remedies for Insomnia.

RISK FACTORS OF INSOMNIA

Nearly everyone has an occasional sleepless night. But your risk of sleeplessness is greater if:

A Woman: Hormonal shifts during menstrual cycle and in menopause may play a role. During menopause, night sweat and hot flashes often disturbs sleep.
You are over 60: Due to change in sleep patterns and health, sleeplessness increases with age.
You don’t have a regular schedule: Changing of shifts during work can disturb the sleep-wake cycle.

6 NATURAL HOME REMEDIES FOR INSOMNIA

Some good natural home remedies for insomnia management include:

Be active: Regular activities promote a good night sleep
Avoid or limit naps.
Limit the use of caffeine and alcohol.
Avoid heavy meals at night.
Provide yourself with a comfortable bed for sleep, helps in reducing ones sleeplessness.
Create a relaxing bedtime ritual such as; taking warm bath, reading or listening to soft music.

TREATMENT OF INSOMNIA

Insomnia in some cases might not demand treatment. Sleeplessness might be avoided by having a good sleep schedule. For some whose case of sleeplessness disrupt or makes it difficult for them to work during the day, your doctor may prescribe sleeping pills for a limited time, avoid excessive usage of such pills.

However, drugs can have harmful side effects and are known to be addictive. Fortunately, a new study has now revealed that counseling with a doctor, nurse or therapist is an effective alternative to help people nod off.

A study, which analyzed 13 trials on around 1,500 adults, found that patients who had undergone four to six sessions of “talking therapy” — known as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) — struggled much less with Sleeplessness.

Not only did they drift off up to 31 minutes earlier, they stayed asleep for up to 37 minutes extra. And the effects were still going strong 12 months later.

The research was published in the British Journal of General Practice.

Lead researcher Judith Davidson, from Queen’s University, Canada, said: “There is now a way for GPs to help insomnia sufferers without prescribing drugs.

“Widespread studies have established that CBT-I [talking therapy] is effective and lasting. It works well to get patients sleeping well again.”

Experts also said CBT may work out cheaper than sleeping pills over time, as it continues to be effective in the long run. as a result, the American College of Physicians (ACP) now recommends cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) as the first-line treatment for adults with chronic insomnia.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Treatment for Causes of Insomnia

CBT-I consists of behavioral therapy and relaxation strategies combined with keeping a detailed sleep diary and engaging in:

Stimulus control – pinpointing actions that may be prohibiting sleep
Sleep restriction – eliminating naps and early bedtimes
Sleep hygiene – creating routines and environments that encourage sleep

Dr. Aziz sees patients who have struggled with insomnia for years.

“By the time they come to the Sleep Center, the patient may not even remember when or why their insomnia began,” he said. “It may originally have been related to a new house, finances, a baby—and what may have begun with stress about money has now become stress about the sleep itself.”

Dr. Aziz says that the beginning of treatment can be something of a catch-22, as patients give up naps or get up earlier and get even less rest as a result.

“The patient has to be very disciplined,” he said. “They have to change their sleep behavior and their sleep pattern, limit their exposure to stimulus and go to bed at the same time every day.”

Over time, patients learn skills to manage their sleep hygiene and thought patterns related to sleeping and they begin to experience more restful sleep.

“CBT-I gives them tools they can use anytime in the future, not just when they’re first being treated,” he said.

Healthcare Consultings recommends that anyone struggling with sleeplessness should adopt these 6 natural home remedies for insomnia and also reach out to their primary care provider. From there they can schedule an assessment at a sleep center to rule out any underlying or secondary disease.