We have all experienced those long nights where we have really struggled to get to sleep and once asleep seem to wake up every 10 minutes or so, eventually lying awake defeated and exhausted staring at the clock. This is quite a common event for many people now and again, and it is something that usually rectifies itself within a few days and doesn’t return frequently.
The effects of insomnia
But for other people, this is an occurrence that is happening every night and this is something we call Insomnia. Insomnia is the inability to get asleep and stay asleep for the minimum amount of hours every night that one’s body desperately needs to function efficiently every day.
Without the amount of sleep we need, chronic insomnia sufferers end up being seriously cranky, super moody, listless and more prone to colds and flu than other people who are getting enough sleep at night. For anybody that has ever had a newborn baby – they can certainly appreciate what it must be like to suffer from chronic insomnia – even if they don’t.
Unable to function, you end up feeling what is described as ‘’drunk tired’’, being unable to focus, concentrate or to perform basic tasks. And an overly tired person on the roads is as much of a danger, if not more of a danger, than a horribly drunk person behind the wheel.
The symptoms of insomnia
If you are regularly experiencing the following symptoms, you may very well be experiencing a bout of insomnia.
• Unable to fall asleep even though you are tired.
• Waking up all the time and not being able to go back to sleep.
• Using drugs or alcohol to help you fall asleep.
• Inability to concentrate during the daytime.
• Feeling irritable, tired and drowsy during the day.
What causes insomnia
There are many reasons why you could be suffering from insomnia and when you are able to pinpoint them and deal with them effectively you could be on your way to a really good night’s rest. Depression, anxiety and recent trauma are big culprits for interfering with sleep, as are medications, or being too hot or being too cold. If you have an erratic sleeping routine, this is certainly not going to help either.
And the worst part is that a serious lack of sleep means that any depression or anxiety or any other symptoms are worsened by a lack of sleep so you enter a vicious circle. And in fact, before you rush out to get medical help to assist you in getting more sleep, you may want to make a little assessment of your own personal habits first.
How to deal with insomnia
Things like alcohol may indeed help you to fall asleep at first, but at around 3 in the morning, it will wake you up and you can forget about going back to sleep easily again. And coffee is another bad sleepy-time friend. If you are a bit of a coffee pot and are still enjoying a cuppa or six at some point in the late afternoon, don’t be fooled into thinking that it won’t keep you awake at night. For the very least, it will interfere with your ability to stay asleep later, and disrupted sleep is just as bad as no sleep at all.
You may think that you are living a balanced and healthy lifestyle, but staying up late and watching TV or playing games on Facebook until after midnight is going to engage your brain no matter how tired you are. Start investigating your own day to day habits and you will quickly be able to see where you are going wrong.
Workaholics who are double clutching the lattes during the day and taking their work to bed with them every night, trying to squeeze in every available moment during the day, are going to come up short, as they have not given their brain a chance to switch off yet.
Here are some excellent tips in helping you find your friend the Sandman so that you can enjoy a full nights rest.