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Insomnia 101

:: What is Insomnia?

:: Lack of Sleep

:: Insomnia Causes

:: How to Sleep Better

Foundations of Sleep

:: Mindset for Sleep

:: Timing of sleep

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:: Causes of Insomnia

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Sleep Disorders

:: Sleep Apnea

:: Sleepwalking

:: Narcolepsy

:: Fatal Insomnia

Causes of Insomnia

The causes of insomnia can be far and wide, but discovering the cause is so important. Finding the cause is the key to getting the right treatment and curing your insomnia once and for all. Let’s dive straight in…

Conditioned or Learned Insomnia

This is where your brain associates your bed with something other than sleep, killing your sleep environment and throwing off your timing.

Ideally, your bedroom should only be used for the following activities:

• Sleep

• Sex

And that’s it!

People often wonder why their children can’t sleep when their room is essentially an adventure playground with a random bed stuck in a corner.

When you think of your bedroom, what do you think of? Do you think of a fun place to be, a place for work, or a place for rest?

Sometimes having a dedicated bedroom used purely for sleeping just isn't possible. For example, I'm currently living in a small student house with 2 other people. Other than my kitchen things, my bedroom contains everything I own and is the only place I can work in the house. If this sounds familiar, at least make sure your bed is only used for sleep. Don't use it as a chair, table, or any other piece of furniture.

Even if your bedroom is used just for sleeping, the longer you stay awake lying in bed, the more your brain associates your bedroom with staying awake.

Chronic insomnia can be a result of unresolved short term insomnia for this very reason. Childhood insomnia is similar, where the sleep problem has continued since childhood.

Thoughts and feelings - Mindset

Might be strange to believe, but it could be your own mind preventing you from sleeping.

When going to bed, it’s crucial your mind becomes calm and clear to help your body slow down and prepare for the big sleep ahead. This means putting the day on standby and letting everything go. If your mind remains active, you’ll have a big problem trying to get to sleep.

There are many reasons why your brain might be over active in bed, including:

• Worried about an upcoming event

• Upset about a relationship

• Excited about the day to come

• Going through bereavement

• Depressed

• Fearful

Most of these emotions are temporary and should pass with time, but the longer they hang around for, the more damage they will do to your sleep.

Ironically, worrying about not getting enough sleep can be the cause of not being able to sleep in the first place. Some people misinterpret the amount of sleep they need and so worry that they’re not getting enough sleep when they actually are (or would do if they stopped worrying!). The average amount of sleep needed for an adult is 8 hours, but everyone’s different, some people can last on just 4 hours.

Simulating the mind and body

Sleep hygiene is a term used to refer to your personal sleep habits and circumstances. The better they are, the better your chance of sleep.

Any habit that keeps your mind active attributes to poor sleep hygiene.

One habit that is very easy to get into is going through thoughts in your mind and solving problems in your while in bed. Your sleep time becomes a strategical life planning session, involving lots of brain power in turn keeping you awake.

Another example is drinking coffee before going to bed or using any other simulant, such as nicotine.

Drinking alcohol before bed may get you to sleep quicker but it lowers the quality of sleep you enter into, making you in fact worse off and better without it.

Poor Sleeping Conditions

Poor sleeping conditions can also be an example of poor sleep hygiene. Examples of this include:

• Uncomfortable mattress

• Noise from someone sleeping next to you

• Light coming in through the curtains

• Feeling too hot or cold

• Sleeping in an environment not associated with sleep

If you find yourself sleeping much better away from home such as in hotels, it's a safe bet that your sleep environment is to blame.

Mistiming sleep

Humans are creatures of habit. Many of our bodily processes work in a cycle and sleep is no exception. Your sleep pattern governs when your body goes to sleep and when it’s awake.

When you’re working with sleep pattern, it can be your best friend. Work against it and you can forget about getting a good nights sleep!

To make things worse, your sleep pattern’s pretty delicate. It doesn’t take much to mess it up and it can take a good few nights to put it right.

Your sleeping pattern can be affected by three things:

• Sleeping at the wrong time

• Waking at the wrong time

• Not getting enough sleep - sleeping and waking at the wrong time!

This could be down to:

• Changing work shifts

• Jet lag

• Drug and alcohol abuse

• Lifestyle choices causing you to stay up late or wake early

• Lifestyle choices decreasing your sleep hygiene such as drinking alcohol late into the night

Constantly mistiming your sleep (going to bed too early or too late) can mess up your sleep pattern and ultimately result in one of two sleep disorders; Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome or Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome.

Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome where your sleep pattern shifts to later times, resulting in you sleeping and waking late.

Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome is essentially the opposite, causing you to sleep and wake earlier.

These disorders can be pretty tricky to get out of. Left to their own devices, you would be going to bed later or earlier each night, worsening the situation. The best thing to do is nip it in the bud as soon as it starts occurring to avoid bigger problems down the road.

Illnesses

An illness can affect your sleep in a number of ways, including:

• Having to wake up to go to the toilet

• Pain or discomfort

• Feeling out of breath, as with Sleep Apnoea

• Restless legs syndrome, feeling the need to move your legs

• Excessive or poor quality sleep as shown in sleep disorders such as Narcolepsy

Just your average common cold can be a cause of insomnia. Having a stuffed up nose or a tickly cough can make getting a good night’s sleep so much harder.

Similarly, suffering from hay fever and dust allergies can really affect your sleep. If you suffer from these, air quality can have a big part to play. Head over to the Green Living Expert website for more on indoor air quality.

Some psychiatric illnesses can cause you become stressed or worried preventing your mind from resting, as mentioned in the mental section above. Some Psychiatric illnesses can cause bad dreams which can lead to the association of sleep time to be a frightening experience.

Depression has also been found to hinder sleep. This includes seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Depression commonly results in Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome.

And as if your illness wasn't bad enough, some side effects of medication can make it harder to get a good nights sleep (some anti depressants for example). Alternative medication may be available, so if in doubt, ask your doctor.

Combination of the Above

To make things simple, we've looked at each cause individually, however it's very likely that the cause of your insomnia would be the result of a combination of the above.

For example, as a teenager I suffered from Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome. This was caused by going to bed later and later, which caused me to associate bed time with staying awake. The association meant my mind would be active during bed time. I also had an uncomfy mattress and slept in the room I worked and played games in. On top of that I was taking tablets which had the unwelcome side effect of me becoming sleepier throughout the day.

One thing leads to another making it harder to break free from insomnia. This is why insomnia should be treated as soon as possible.

* * *

Each cause of insomnia has its own unique treatments, so discovering what’s going wrong can put you on the road to recovery. No matter how deeply trapped in insomnia you are, there's almost always something that can be done, so don't lose hope! If you're still unsure what causes your insomnia, it would be a good idea to see your doctor to who can provide you with some tests and questionnaires to help you diagnose the exact cause of your sleep problem.