Insomnia can be caused by physical factors as well as psychological factors and is often stems from problems such as a medical condition that causes pain or use of substances that interfere with sleep. There is often an underlying medical condition that causes chronic insomnia, while transient insomnia may be due to a recent event or occurrence. Causes of insomnia include:
What causes insomnia?
- Drugs, alcohol, and medicines: caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, stimulants, antidepressants, heart and blood pressure medications, allergy medicines, decongestants, weight-loss medicines, antihistamines, cocaine, ephedrine, amphetamines, methamphetamine, fluoroquinolone antibiotic drugs
- Disruptions in circadian rhythm: jet lag, job shift changes, high altitudes, noisiness, hotness or coldness
- Psychological issues: stress, anxiety, depression, mania, schizophrenia
- Medical conditions: brain lesions and tumors, stroke, chronic pain, chronic fatigue syndrome, congestive heart failure, angina, acid-reflux disease (GERD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, sleep apnea, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, hyperthyroidism, arthritis
- Hormones: estrogen, hormone shifts during menstruation
- Stress: Concerns about work, school, health or family can keep your mind active at night, making it difficult to sleep. Stressful life events, such as the death or illness of a loved one, divorce, or a job loss, may lead to insomnia.
- Anxiety: Everyday anxieties as well as more-serious anxiety disorders may disrupt your asleep.
- Depression: You might either sleep too much or have trouble sleeping if you're depressed. This may be due to chemical imbalances in your brain or because worries that accompany depression may keep you from relaxing enough to fall asleep. Insomnia often accompanies other mental health disorders as well.
- Medications: Prescription drugs that can interfere with sleep include some antidepressants, heart and blood pressure medications, allergy medications, stimulants (such as Ritalin) and corticosteroids. Many over-the-counter (OTC) medications, including some pain medication combinations, decongestants and weight-loss products, contain caffeine and other stimulants. Antihistamines may initially make you groggy, but they can worsen urinary problems, causing you to get up more during the night.
- Change in your environment or work schedule. Travel or working a late or early shift can disrupt your body's circadian rhythms, making it difficult to sleep. Your circadian rhythms act as internal clocks, guiding such things as your wake-sleep cycle, metabolism and body temperature.
- Poor sleep habits: Habits that help promote good sleep are called "sleep hygiene." Poor sleep hygiene includes an irregular sleep schedule, stimulating activities before bed, an uncomfortable sleep environment and use of your bed for activities other than sleep or sex.
- 'Learned' insomnia: This may occur when you worry excessively about not being able to sleep well and try too hard to fall asleep. Most people with this condition sleep better when they're away from their usual sleep environment or when they don't try to sleep, such as when they're watching TV or reading.
- Eating too much late in the evening: Having a light snack before bedtime is OK, but eating too much may cause you to feel physically uncomfortable while lying down, making it difficult to get to sleep. Many people also experience heartburn, a backflow of acid and food from the stomach to the esophagus after eating. This uncomfortable feeling may keep you awake.
- Other factors: sleeping next to a snoring partner, parasites, genetic conditions, overactive mind, preganancy
Causes
