Insomnia Causes. Causes of Insomnia

What causes insomnia

Even if you find that your insomnia is caused by a medical condition or a medicine that you are taking for a medical condition, and you get that problem corrected, there still could be a further problem with sleeplessness.

If the insomnia caused by the medical condition has continued long enough, you may have learned bad habits—you may have become too worried about sleep and begun to associate sleeping with tension and frustration. Even if a magic wand were to take away the disease that was causing the insomnia, you still might have insomnia, because now you have learned these bad habits.

So you need to treat everything medical that can possibly be treated to know what causes insomnia.

There are a number of things that cannot be diagnosed in a doctor’s office because they occur only at night when you are asleep. In fact, chances are you don’t know about them yourself, because you’re asleep when they happen.

Here is what you can do to find insomnia causes: Ask your bed partner or another person to stay up a few hours and observe you while you are sleeping. You may be astonished at the findings.

For example, to find what causes insomnia, your observer may discover that you are one of the many people who wake up a lot because they are having problems with apnea. These stopped-breathing episodes may last 10 to 90 seconds. They often occur only when you sleep in certain positions (for example, on your back), or only in certain sleep phases (for example, in REM sleep), or only while you are falling asleep. Most of us have an occasional stopped-breathing episode, which you need not worry about. You do need to be concerned if you have to gasp for air repeatedly (more than fifteen times an hour, on average). This is called sleep apnea syndrome. If your friend observes many stopped-breathing episodes, discuss them with your doctor or seek help from a sleep disorders center.

The other problem that your partner may discover is periodic limb movement (PLM) during sleep. It can be your arms, but usually it is your legs that twitch or move about every 10 to 40 seconds. Sometimes, these movements can go on all night, or they may occur in episodes lasting only a few minutes, which could be on of the insomnia causes.

The most active compound in marijuana is delta-g tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). This compound alters brain chemicals involved in sleep and produces changes in brain-wave patterns. According to the Association of Sleep Disorders Centers, long term marijuana use increases the time needed to get to sleep and reduces REM sleep which could be main of the Insomnia Causes if You have something to do with that. It is not a good sleep aid.

Cocaine is a stimulant that produces a sense of euphoria followed, in several hours, by a sense of depression. Its arousing and addictive properties stem from its effects on a chemical in the brain called dopamine, which is involved in sleep and wakefulness. Sleep changes cause insomnia by cocaine, with both reduced deep sleep stages and reduced REM sleep. When cocaine is discontinued, the person becomes very sleepy and may feel that more cocaine is necessary just to function. Cocaine is particularly addictive when used in the very short-acting form known as crack. Read the rest of this entry »

Insomnia Causes: Medicines

Few years ago, a group of sleep researchers were talking about their patients who had insomnia as a side effect from various medications, and what could be done to help them. Said one: “I swear, the first thing we should do for most patients is to grab them by the feet and shake them until all the pills fall out of their pockets.” That’s how often medications can be the Insomnia cause.

If you really need a certain medication, you might have to take it, no matter what. Often, however, there are alternative treatments for the same disease, with fewer or different side effects. For example, for depression, there are drugs such as Elavil that make you sleepy. If you take one of these drugs at night, you’ll probably sleep well. Other antidepressants, such as Vivactil, tend to make you more alert. Still others have no influence on sleep. Read the rest of this entry »

Insomnia Causes: Poisoning from Toxic Metals

Insomnia or excessive sleepiness in the daytime also may be symptoms caused by poisoning with heavy metals or other poisons.

An article in the Archives of Environmental Health describes the effects of exposure to lead among lead-acid-battery factory workers. Half of 92 exposed workers had insomnia, fatigue, weakness, and drowsiness. Another study in the same journal showed similar sleep disturbances, fatigue, and weakness in 680 copper-smelter workers from lead and arsenic exposure. Sleep disorders, insomnia symptoms and fatigue also were found in a study of 1,200 people living in a small city in West Germany where they were exposed to the metal thallium emitted by a nearby cement plant. The thallium, found by urine and hair tests, had been picked up from vegetables and fruit grown in gardens that were exposed to cement dust fallout.

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As the brain ages, some people seem to need more stimulation to keep functioning normally and rationally. Some older people, especially those with mild forms of senile dementia, remain oriented and function acceptably during the day, but with nightfall, stimulation decreases, and they become agitated and confused. This is called sundowner’s syndrome.

Another problem in older people is that medications are metabolized more slowly. Often, what used to be an adequate dose is now an overdose. For example, sleeping pills that used to be metabolized adequately during the eight hours of sleep now may remain in the system twice as long, causing daytime sedation. Pills that might have a side effect of mild insomnia in a 30-year-old could one of the Insomnia Causes in a 70-year-old. Read the rest of this entry »

Most women in the first trimester (three months) of pregnancy are very sleepy during the daytime. This often is the first sign of pregnancy, even before morning sickness occurs. Daytime sleepiness early in pregnancy may be caused by an increase in the hormone progesterone, which is known to have a sedative effect.

Later in pregnancy, women may have difficulty sleeping because they simply can’t get comfortable. But no matter how uncomfortable you might be, do not take any sleeping medications, even over-the-counter ones. Don’t even use alcohol to get to sleep. Any drug or medication can possibly harm your baby.

For centuries, our physicians and mothers have advised us to get plenty of rest to recover from an illness, and that’s just what most patients feel like doing. Insomnia research now shows that our bodies really do crave more sleep when we are sick and that getting more sleep really does help.

Most people experience increased sleepiness when they have an infection. Interestingly, a substance similar to that found in certain bacteria has now been shown to promote sleep. Called factor S, this substance also stimulates production of interleukin-1 and interferon— key substances in immunity. Read the rest of this entry »

There are many medical conditions that can be one of the insomnia causes. Asthma can cause coughing, and allergies can cause a stuffed nose or itching eyes. Bronchitis and emphysema can cause breathing difficulties, heart trouble can cause chest pain or difficulty in breathing, digestive problems can cause heartburn, and abnormalities in swallowing can cause coughing and gagging. An ulcer or arthritis can cause pain. A urinary-tract infection can trigger frequent waking. Itching from insect bites or hives can keep a person awake. The hot flashes of menopause can wake a woman up. Indeed, almost any medical disorder can cause either insomnia or excessive daytime sleepiness in some patients. Read the rest of this entry »

In the early 1980s, Dr. Peter S. Mueller, a psychiatrist at the National Institute of Mental Health, was treating a 29-year-old woman for cyclic bouts of winter depression which. Over several years, the patient moved to a number of different cities. Mueller maintained contact with her and observed that the farther north she lived, the earlier in the fall she became depressed and the longer she stayed depressed in the spring. When she traveled to the Caribbean in midwinter, her depression disappeared within days. Mueller began to speculate that the lack of sunlight was involved in some way with the woman’s depression and decided to test that theory. On consecutive mornings, he exposed her to bright, full-spectrum light. In less than a week, she recovered from her depression. Depression was not on of the insomnia causes. Read the rest of this entry »

Insomnia Causes: Jet Lag

You can help to prevent jet lag insomnia if, before you leave home, you gradually adjust your hours of sleeping and eating to the time zone of your destination. For example, if you are going to fly from New York to California, you might go to bed later and later over several days until you go to bed and get up close to California time. Eat your meals close to the time that you’ll be eating them in California. Even if it is not convenient to change completely to the new time before you go, at least you can reschedule your day somewhat in that direction. This will help with on of the biggest Insomnia Causes – Jet Lag  Read the rest of this entry »