Most people remember a time when going to bed meant an all-night restful sleep, and then awakening refreshed to start a new day. For millions of people, that now seems like just a fond dream, no pun intended.
Somewhere along the way, sleep became lighter, sometimes fitful and interrupted by too many awakenings. Worse, some people develop chronic insomnia, an inability to sleep for endless hours through the night.
Sleep and sleeping patterns are among the most studied elements of human health. Researchers in this field have learned volumes about what causes sleep problems and good solutions to fix most of them.
Let’s look more at the reasons why you may not be sleeping well at night.
1. Poor Dietary Habits
According to researchers at Harvard Medical School, spicey foods often ruin sleep. They can cause heartburn that will keep you awake. Overeating leads to weight gain and then obesity.
Obesity – or even carrying a little extra weight in the tummy area – is a contributor to sleep apnea. The latter is characterized by loud snoring that cuts off breathing throughout the night. The other aspect of diet concerns what you drink. It may not come as a shock to you that drinking a lot of caffeinated beverages is well known to be a major disruptor of sleep.
However, people experiencing sleeping problems would do well to cut out all caffeinated drinks during all times of the day. At the very least, it can take six hours to clear out the last dose of caffeine you put in your body.
Wine, beer or any alcoholic beverage is no better despite being a depressant rather than a stimulant. It may initially help you get to sleep, but you will sleep lighter, and you may wake up an hour or two later – and then you’ll have trouble getting back to sleep.
2. Pain
People who suffer chronic diseases like arthritis, fibromyalgia, persistent headaches and others all tend to have a poor sleep. This sets up a vicious cycle because losing sleep tends to lead to even more pain from these conditions.
The key to a fix is working with your doctor on effective pain management. That may entail both drugs and physical therapy. Various innovative sleep technology applications, such as theta wave generators, have also proven effective.
3. Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS)
RLS affects women more often than men but affects both sexes. Restless Leg is a creepy, sort of “crawling” feeling in the legs that naturally causes you to want to shift and move your legs constantly.
Leg movement can also be involuntary. Research shows that RLS can be lessened by getting more exercise for your legs every day. Leg massages can also be effective. In more difficult cases, doctors can prescribe medications designed to treat RLS.
4. Psychological Factors
One of the biggest sleep disruptors is depression. Again, it’s more common in women than men. The ironic thing is that depressive people tend to sleep more than normal, but that sleep is far less restful. Furthermore, many antidepressant prescription drugs disrupt sleep patterns. If the latter is the case, work with your doctor to try other medication options.
5. Daily Stress & Anxiety
No doubt, we live in stressful times. That’s true even for people who probably don’t have a lot of major problems. Our jobs, obsessing about current politics, fretting about world events, pandemics – the sources of stress seem endless.
If we take these worries straight to bed, there’s little wonder a stressed and racing mind will not let sleep come. Millions of people have found relief from stress by adopting some form of meditation. Others have picked up other psychological tools. Anxiety medications, such as Xanax, Lexapro, Zoloft and Paxil are just a few that millions of people use to counter daily anxiety.
6. Poor Habits
Most of the time, poor sleep results from unhealthy habits that can readily be changed. It seems common sense that watching a horror/slasher film just before bedtime can ruin sleep – but lots of people do that kind of thing anyway! Other people engage in all manner of stimulating activities – from exercise to playing video games – shortly before retiring.
Changing these habits means that more restful sleep is likely to be the reward.
The study of sleep is an advanced science, and this article has only touched upon the volumes of what is known about poor sleeping experiences. The good news is that there are a lot of effective solutions available that are effective and based on research and time-tested trials with human subjects. If you have problems with sleep, a solution is likely tailored to resolve your situation.
