Insomnia affects up to 50 percent of Americans. Whether you cannot get to sleep, wake in the middle of the night often, or sleep in fits and starts, your overall health and wellbeing suffers when you have this all-too-common sleep disorder.
Would you like to understand why you cannot sleep well and what you should do about it? Read on to get answers.
The Causes of Insomnia
The causes of insomnia can be as different as the people who struggle with this sleep disorder. Environmental, physical, mental/emotional, and lifestyle factors can lead to a chronic lack of restful sleep and a feeling of fatigue, poor concentration, depression, anxiety, and more.
For instance, people can develop insomnia from:
- Taking certain medications, such as beta blockers for hypertension and statins for lowering blood cholesterol levels
- Pregnancy
- Age (teens and seniors have more difficulties getting to sleep and staying asleep)
- Too much screen time with computers, phones, and TV (particularly right before going to bed)
- Acid reflux disease, restless leg syndrome, dementia, and other physical problems
- Stress at home or on the job
- Irregular sleep due to shift work or frequent air travel
- Mental health issues, such as anxiety, PTSD, and depression
- Taking long naps in the afternoon
- Eating heavy meals late in the evening
- Obstructive sleep apnea (excessive snoring and breathing cessation while you sleep)
- Physical pain after surgery or ongoing discomfort related to arthritis or other musculoskeletal issues
- Asthma, allergies, and other chronic respiratory conditions
Arriving At Solutions For Insomnia
What’s the first step in unraveling the causes of and solutions for insomnia? You should detail your symptoms in a sleep diary and then visit a sleep medicine specialist who will review your medical history, medications, and insomnia symptoms. Your doctor may also order specific lab tests, as well as a monitored in-office or at-home sleep study.
A sleep study tells the doctor how your vital signs, brain waves, and eye movements change as you rest in a calm, darkened sleep environment. With the information gathered by the sensors for a full night, the doctor can develop a diagnosis and a treatment plan to help overcome your insomnia.
Solutions for insomnia are highly individualized. Just as the causes for this sleep disorder differ from person to person, as do the lifestyle changes and treatment options.
As such, our sleep experts treat insomnia and other sleep disorders holistically, taking into account the physical, emotional, and environmental factors that impact your sleep. Treatment plans can include:
- Natural supplements, such as melatonin
- Diet modifications (limited alcohol and caffeine and reduced amounts of refined sugar)
- Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), or identifying and changing the thought patterns which lead to broken sleep patterns
- Use of relaxation techniques, such as yoga, meditation, prayer, white noise, and music as part of the bed time routine
- Turning off all electronics one to two hours before retiring for the night
- Having a regular bedtime every night
- Using the bedroom only for sleep
- Getting 30 minutes of light aerobic exercise each day
Your Sleep Study Experts in Weatherford, TX
At Lung & Sleep Specialists of North Texas, we offer state of the art diagnostics and treatments for sleep disorders of all kinds. Dr. Olusegun Oseni is our board-certified sleep medicine physician. He also is certified in internal medicine, critical care, and pulmonary care, making his expertise second to none in the North Texas area.
To explore the reasons for insomnia, call us for a helpful consultation with Dr. Oseni and his team: (817) 594-9993, or request a visit online. We will do everything we can to ensure you get the rest you need for vitality and health.