Why Can’t You Get A Good Night’s Sleep?

Are you unable to catch enough hours of sleep at night? Do you fall asleep only to have problems falling back to sleep? Lack of sleep is in no way a good thing. It impacts your mental, physical and spiritual life negatively hence the common phrase ‘you need your beauty sleep’ by a cosmetic consultant. While sleeping problems stem from stress and other mental/ emotional issues, it could also arise from a medical condition.

Since lack of sleep affects your productivity by causing daytime drowsiness and insomnia, both of which put your day job and your life at risk, you need to seek medical help.

Did you know that lack of sleep alters the normal functioning of the brain’s focus area and also disrupts the ability to focus on environmental sensory input?

Also, lack of sleep and sleep loss contribute to accidents, and young adults and kids are vulnerable to the negative effects of sleep deprivation.

When you don’t sleep for enough hours, you accumulate sleep debt and, sleep deprivation could be a symptom of undiagnosed sleep disorders or other medical conditions.

So, what causes sleep deprivation or poorsleep?

Depression

Classified as a mood disorder, depression could be described as having feelings of loss, sadness, and anger. These feelings interfere with a person’s daily activities.

While depression happens in different ways, it often interferes with daily work leading to reduced productivity and lost time. Some of the conditions that worsen depression include cardiovascular diseases, obesity, asthma, arthritis, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases.

While feeling sad is a normal part of life, feeling hopeless and miserable is not normal.

Insomnia

This is a sleep disorder that affects a large part of the population. An individual suffering from insomnia has difficulties trying to fall asleep and/ or even say awake. And, even after sleeping, they don’t feel relaxed or refreshed leading to fatigue. Insomnia is acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term).

Anxiety disorder

Anxiety is the body’s natural response to stress. In most cases, it is characterized by apprehension and fear of the future. Though normal, it changes to anxiety disorder if it persists for more than 6 months and if it interferes with your life.

Generalized anxiety disorder is also another condition that affects sleep because one worries about common situations and occurrences.

Acute Stress Disorder (ASD)

ASD could be the reason why you are having difficulty sleeping. It happens after you experience a traumatic event and, it can last for about a month. The symptoms of ASD are similar to those of people with PTSD.

Restless Leg Syndrome

This could be another reason why you cannot sleep well. It causes an unpleasant sensation in the leg which leaves you with an intense urge to move your legs. Since the urge to move increases when you are relaxing or trying to sleep, it interferes with sleep. You get up sleepy and exhausted.

Irregular sleep-wake cycles

You sleep or stay awake because of the circadian rhythm. It is an internal clock. If interfered with, sleeping patterns change. It isn’t too common though.