The quality of a person’s health may be greatly affected by the amount of sleep they acquire each night. And, trouble sleeping could the symptom for many physical, emotional or hormonal conditions. Here are ten below that are common causes of sleep deprivation.
Depression can lead to serious declines in quality of sleep as well as insomnia. Ninety percent of people with depression have difficulty sleeping, says James Wellman, MD, medical director of Sleep Disorders Center of Georgia in Augusta. Waking up too early is another common sign of depression, as is increased anxiety, making it more challenging to sleep.
Menopause occurs when a woman’s monthly cycles end, and that’s typically when the sleep inefficiency begins. Progesterone, a sleep promoting hormone, begins to decline during menopause, and the fluctuating levels of estrogen can cause hot flashes, sudden waves of intense body heat and sweating.
Diabetics suffer from changing blood sugar levels, night sweats and the frequent need to urinate, all through out the night. The risk of diabetes has also been found to increase in people with insomnia. And in another study, people who slept less than six hours a night were more likely to develop diabetes than people with a full night’s sleep.
Musculoskeletal disorders can make staying asleep nearly impossible. Arthritis patients that shift positions in their sleep have difficultly falling back asleep again. A pain reliever might be a good solution, as long as drug does not contain caffeine.
Cardiovascular disease has two common cardiovascular conditions, coronary artery disease and congestive heart failure, both of which have been linked to sleep problems. Typically, elevating the chest using pillows helps.
Asthma patients have a challenge sleeping due to breathing difficulties, wheezing, and coughing. Often these symptoms can become more severe during the night when airways can be restricted. Other asthma medications also tend to keep people up at night.
Heartburn or GERD at night can cause the acid from your stomach back into the esophagus resulting in irritation and painful burning sensations. This of course can make it challenging to fall or stay asleep, and lying down often makes the symptoms worse. Avoiding acid foods, alcohol and caffeine before going to bed is usually a helpful recommendation.
An eating disorder can often disrupt a persons typical sleep schedule, due to malnutrition and excessive weight loss. Bulimia often occurs as binge eating and then purges during the night, which would conflict with restful sleep as well.
Kidney disease disables the kidneys from filtering waste from the blood, causing insomnia or restless legs syndrome. Researches are still unsure why despite typically treatment, quality of sleep for the patient doesn’t always improve.
Thyroid disease can be an overactive thyroid gland, which causes severe night sweats, or an underactive thyroid gland, which brings on excessive daytime sleepiness. But both conditions are easily treated.
Often, once the condition has been treated, many of the sleep inefficiencies dissipate.
Comments are closed.