Causes Of Insomnia

Insomnia is characterized as a sleeping disorder. It is the inability to fall asleep and/or remain asleep for a prolonged period. You may have insomnia if you have trouble falling asleep, or wake up a lot during the night and then cannot return to sleep, or wake up too early the next morning, or have sleep which does not leave you refreshed even though you slept for 8 hours.

There are three distinct categories of insomnia; Transient insomnia - most people will sometimes suffer from this temporary inability to sleep. Acute insomnia - the inability to consistently sleep for 3 to 6 months. Chronic insomnia is the most serious where someone cannot sleep almost nightly for a month. Insomnia has a tendency to increase with age, because as people age their ability to sleep for long periods of time lessens.

The major causes of insomnia follow:

  • Hormones - these can cause insomnia for example hormone shifts during menopause and cause insomnia.
  • Mental disorders - for example bipolar disorder, general anxiety disorder or clinical depression.
  • Neurological disorder - such as brain injury or brain lesions
  • Hyperthyroidism
  • Wilson's syndrome
  • Lack of sleep hygiene
  • Circadian rhythm - anything which disturbs the circadian rhythm such as jet lag or shift work can cause insomnia.
  • Stress - anxiety or fear may trigger insomnia, the key to treating this is to find relaxation techniques to reduce the stress levels
  • Parasomnia - where sleep event disturb the sleep, events such as sleepwalking, nightmares, or REM behaviour disorder.
  • Over active mind - where the act of falling asleep is obstructed by thinking
  • Physical pain
  • Psychoactive drugs - this includes certain medication, caffeine etc

Other sleep disorders apart from insomnia may disturb sleep:

  • Sleep apnea - is a condition where a persons breathing is interrupted while sleeping, thus interrupting the normal sleep cycle. There are two forms, the obstructive form and the central nervous interruption form. With obstructive sleep apnea, some part of the respiratory tract loses muscle tone and collapses partially. While certain nervous system apnea is normally related to a cerebral vascular condition, premature aging or congestive heart failure. Treatment for this include, continuous positive airway pressure, variable positive airway pressure, automatic positive airway pressure, or potentially surgery to remove if there is an obstruction which can be removed.
  • Nocturnal polyuria - this is excessive night time urination and can be disturbing to sleep. There can be various causes and it is important to consult a doctor to identify the root cause.

There are various potential treatments for insomnia, which is appropriate depends on which type of insomnia is the problem, and what is the root cause of the insomnia. It is important to identify when the insomnia started and if there what was the change in circumstance if any when it started.