So you can’t sleep. You try, but it’s not working. And speaking of working, it’s starting to affect your work. Your ability to think clearly is gone. Your brain feels like oatmeal. Everything is getting off balance with your friends and family because of it. You toss and turn. You’ve tried counting sheep, drinking warm milk, reading… Nothing works. And this has been going on three nights a week for three months.
You officially have insomnia. If your difficulty getting to sleep has been affecting you a minimum of three nights a week for a minimum of three months, all of the sudden, BAM, it’s official. This is called chronic insomnia.
Anything prior to that is called acute insomnia.
Acute insomnia can be caused by a multitude of things such as jetlag, too much caffeine, various forms of stress, and so on.
There are medications that help you get some sleep, but it’s better to attempt to alter that which is causing it before reverting to medication.
So what’s causing it?
Environment can be an obvious factor, and maybe the easiest thing to change unless you’re stuck living upstairs over a nightclub. Then you could have a problem. But make sure your environment is inviting sleep.
- Dim the lights or turn them off completely.
- Turn off distractions such as the TV, or perhaps the radio, and definitely the computer.
- Silence your phone if you have to.
- Try to maintain a temperature in your room at or around 72 degrees.
Perhaps your bedtime routine isn’t a routine any longer. Changes in behavior can adversely affect ones ability to sleep. Your brain adjusts to the cues you are giving it. And if you are no longer doing certain things at the same times you were doing them before, you might be sending your brain all the wrong signals. Make sure you’re winding down before attempting to go to bed. Don’t get hyped up playing your favorite video game right up to the time to go to bed and then lay there wondering, in your adrenaline rush, why you can’t go to sleep.
- Make sure you head to bed around the same time every evening.
- Get up early enough every day and around the same time every day.
- Don’t rotate your schedule.
- Try to avoid naps even if you’re in a bout with insomnia.
- Avoid things like caffeine, energy drinks, and sweets a few hours before bedtime.
Chronic Obstructive Sleep Apnea can be a reason for your insomnia that you may not even be aware of. This occurs when the airway gets obstructed while a person is asleep causing the flow if air to be blocked from getting into the lungs. A person may become fully conscious or only partially so, but they do pull out of a deep rem sleep to gasp for breath.
Chronic Obstructive Sleep Apnea can be caused from a person being overweight, to tonsils, to other less common factors. If your environment is sleep inducive, but you still can’t fall asleep, and your behaviors are on cue, and nothing seems to be working, it might be time to see a doctor.
There are other factors which can interfere with sleep.
While sleep apnea is a form of comorbid insomnia, psychiatric issues can be an entirely different factor of comorbid insomnia. And the act of not getting enough sleep can compound the psychiatric issues creating the dilemma. It is the same as being too hungry to run a race, but the race itself is making you hungrier. If you continue racing on an empty stomach, chances are the bottom is going to fall out from under you at some point in the near future. The same goes for psychiatric driven insomnia. Your mind is struggling to find its footing. That is why you can’t sleep. But the less sleep you get, the more difficult the struggle is going to be.
There is a time that’s right to see your doctor. Some things can be handled on your own through minor changes in behavior or environment. Other things, however, require expert guidance and care. Once the problem is discovered, it can easily be addressed. And the relief you experience after having a good night’s sleep can be priceless. See your doctor if everything else hasn’t worked.
