The most effective ways to get quality sleep and improve your health

 

Insomnia is a common issue many people struggle with. When you lay down on your bed and close your eyes each night, you may be feeling wide awake or are waking up often enough during your sleep which may disturb your rest.

This results in you spending the rest of the next day feeling like you’re exhausted, only for your body to feel energized and become more active the following night. You may have reached your own conclusion that the body and the brain often do not agree on a single course of action.

 

Good sleep is essential to both physical and mental health, it can also significantly affect your social interactions. Insufficient sleep can lead to low productivity and anti-social behaviour, kicking off a downward spiral of stress and depression. Some of these effects are listed below:

• Sluggishness, low energy for physical and social activities

• Irritable, volatile mood swings

• Slower reaction speed, less mental focus, exhaustion leading to more accidents behind the wheel

 

In this article, we will explain the causes of insomnia and many of the solutions that are used to cure them.

 

What causes insomnia?

Insomnia can affect anyone, finding out the cause itself is part of the challenge of curing the condition. Here we will explore some of the main causes of this condition for you to see if any apply to you.

 

1. Stress, anxiety and overexcitement

Having an exciting day to look forward to or being anxious for is an easily identifiable cause of insomnia. This also applies to the previous day, if you find yourself thinking and overthinking about events that have already passed.

Your inability to stop thinking about things that will happen or have happened when it is time to sleep will trigger a change in your neurotransmitters, especially serotonin. Serotonin normally regulates mood and is involved in helping you digest food, as well as sleep. When you are under stress, serotonin levels decrease, which when done while you are trying to sleep will cause insomnia.

 

2. Environmental factors

The environment you sleep in plays a big role in how well you are able to sleep. Things such as another person’s movements and snoring can disturb you enough making it difficult to get into a deep sleep or worse, not being able to go to sleep at all. Bright lights, noise, temperature and other sensory stimuli can have the same effect of preventing sleep.

 

3. Side effects of medication

Antidepressants such as fluoxetine suppress neurotransmitters from releasing the depressants necessary for your body and brain to go to sleep. This directly causes insomnia and should be avoided entirely if you have problems sleeping already.

 

4. Stimulants

In the same line of reasoning as the previous point, stimulants are chemicals such as caffeine or nicotine. These wake up your body and brain just like adrenaline does and are the opposite of depressants. Drinking coffee late in the day or too much may cause you issues when trying to sleep.

 

5. Biological clock

Your body has its own biological clock that is adjusted to your habits. Disruption of this can cause your body to think that it isn’t time to sleep yet and therefore, prevent you from sleeping altogether by not releasing the necessary neurotransmitters for sleep. This often occurs in jet lag or due to you making a habit of sleeping at irregular times.

 

6. Gastrointestinal conditions

Sleeping on a completely empty stomach can sometimes wake you up or prevent you from sleeping altogether from hunger. On the other hand, lying down with a full stomach will also prevent you from sleeping due to it being uncomfortable. Abdominal and intestinal pain are quick and easy ways to disrupt your sleep.

 

How to cure insomnia

Knowing the cause and fixing it is half of the solution to insomnia itself. Getting started on sleeping, however, doesn’t come easily to everyone. Here are some tips that you could use to help you fall asleep.

 

During the day

• Avoid sleeping in naps during the daytime

• Exercising during the day reduces stress and expends energy to help you go to sleep easier. However, do not do this just before bed, the increase in body temperature and activity will stimulate the brain and prevent you from sleeping

• Avoid taking caffeine at noontime, your body needs time to break it down and the later you drink coffee, the later in the day it will stay in your body

• Don’t miss dinner and don’t eat just before bed. Eat a moderate amount so you are not too full or not too hungry to go to bed

 

At night

• Adjust bedroom conditions, try making it as dark as possible and adjust the temperature to something you are comfortable in. Change your mattress and remove sources of noise

• Change your time for going to bed and keep to it. This helps set the biological clock in your body

• Blue light from screens can keep you up, avoid looking at computer or phone screens just before bed

• Relax and unwind before sleep, get a book to read or listen to music to take your mind off things

 

An easy fix to sleeping problems at its source

Insomnia cures itself if you stop the causes of the condition, it’s one of the problems that you can’t just cure the symptoms and hope that it goes away on its own. Targeting the main causes of insomnia is often hard to identify if you don’t pay attention to yourself, hence finding the cause is half of the cure itself.

 

If insomnia persists, however, it would be a good idea to consult a doctor as soon as possible in case the condition has become chronic. Sleep is a very important requirement for your health, your first priority should be curing insomnia the moment you start suffering from it.