Psychological Symptoms

Certain problems with an individual’s psyche can keep the person awake and unable to rest. Anxiety, for example, is an emotional problem that causes a person to feel more tension, worry, fear, and uncertainty. Symptoms of anxiety can be caused by environmental factors, such as financial or relationship concerns, or it can be caused by a debilitating anxiety disorder. Depression, or feelings of sadness and discouragement, likewise can keep someone from sleeping and likewise can be caused by a serious mental illness. Another common psychological cause of sleeplessness is stress, or an inability to cope with factors such as physical, social, emotional, or economic changes.

Addressing psychological causes of insomnia can be difficult because insomnia likewise causes these psychological problems, such as anxiety, depression, and stress. Often when someone with an emotional disturbance is sleep deprived, a vicious cycle makes the person more emotionally agitated and less able to sleep.

Physical Symptoms

Hormonal changes in women can cause insomnia, as can a decrease in melatonin, the hormone that controls sleep. Many other medical conditions can lead to insomnia, such as asthma, allergies, arthritis, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, hyperthyroidism, and Parkinson’s disease. If you struggle with insomnia, it is important that you see a doctor to see if it’s being caused by any of these problems. Any kind of pain or discomfort, such as injuries or pain from a medical illness, can interfere with a person’s ability to sleep.

Temporary Factors

While some people struggle with insomnia for the greater part of their lives, others have short-term insomnia that can be linked to temporary events, such as jet lag, working night shifts, medications, overuse of caffeine or alcohol, and dramatic changes in a person’s environment, such as too much noise or an extreme temperature. Another cause of temporary insomnia is adjustment sleep disorder, which is a reaction to stress and can be caused by any stress-inducing event.

Insomnia is a very treatable condition that if left untreated can cause long-term discomfort and misery. Appropriate treatments can be as simple as changing sleeping habits or adjusting your sleeping environment, or it can be as complicated as requiring therapy or treatment for high blood pressure or asthma. No matter what the cause, treatment is possible, but it is essential that the cause is discovered before treatment can begin. Evaluate your life to see if any of the problems already discussed apply to you. You just might be on the right track to curing your insomnia.