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Insomnia

Why can't I sleep when I want to?

Insomnia is said to be the symptom of something wrong in your life, rather than a particular disease or condition. It occurs for many reasons, some of which are not self-caused and often they have nothing to do with health. The most common causes of insomnia are: 

Environmental

While many people can fall asleep on a moving train in broad daylight, surrounded by people they don't know, others find the environment needs to be just right. The following issues can cause insomnia:

  • There is too much noise or light in the bedroom.
  • Being too hot or too cold
  • The pillow or mattress are uncomfortable
  • The room is dusty or has a smell that is irritating

Physical

A main reason for falling asleep is a desire to relieve the sense of fatigue felt after a day's work. These physical factors can disturb sleep:  

  • Being in pain or ill
  • Having a cold, hay fever or an allergy that blocks your nose and causes repeated sneezing and coughing.
  • Having depression
  • Being over-tired

Mental anguish

Your mind won't turn off as you mull over a problem or an anticipated pleasure, and so instead of sleeping peacefully, you lie there staring at the ceiling. Stress comes in a variety of ways that include:

  • Fear of sleeping too late in the morning
  • Worry that if you don't get to sleep soon you are going to be exhausted in the morning
  • Being excited about a forth-coming event

Drugs

Strangely perhaps, one of the prime causes of insomnia is the habitual taking of sleeping pills. Sleeping pills have a tolerance effect, which means that your body gets used to the effect of the drug, and so you need more of them to get to sleep. They can also be addictive, and difficult to stop using due to the side effects, one of which is insomnia. Doctors do not generally recommend that sleeping pills be used for more than four weeks to avoid this dependency.

Both natural and manufactured drugs that speed up the metabolism can also cause insomnia. These include:

  • Caffeine
  • Nicotine
  • Pseudoephedrine
  • Some diet pills
  • Cortisone
  • Asthma bronchodilators
  • Over-indulgence in alcohol

  Other factors contribute to insomnia

  • Jetlag
  • Being out of routine or missing some usual part of your 'going to sleep' ritual
  • Eating too late at night, or having a meal that was too large for comfort

I'm not tired

If you are simply not tired, then this is not insomnia. While it is commonly believed that people need seven - eight hour's of sleep every night, this is simply not true. Many people live long and happy lives sleeping five hours for instance, while others need more than eight.

We do not always need the same amount of sleep, and if you have had a two-hour nap during the day time, then you will probably need two hours less at night.