Common Causes of Insomnia

Following is a list of some of the most common causes of insomnia:

Stress - Stresses regarding work, health and/or family may keep your mind overly active at night, making it hard to fall asleep. Stressful occurrences, such as the death or illness of a family member, divorce, or losing your job, may result in insomnia.

Anxiety - Day-to-day anxieties as well as more significant anxiety disorders may result in disrupted sleep.

Depression - You may either sleep too much or have difficulties with sleeping if you are suffering from depression. This could be caused by chemical imbalances in the brain or because the worries that come with depression may inhibit you from relaxing enough to fall asleep. Insomnia can accompany other mental health problems also.

Medications - Some prescription drugs may cause problems with sleep, including some anti-depressants, heart medications, allergy medicines, stimulants, and steroids. Many over-the-counter medicines, including pain relievers, decongestants and weight loss products, have caffeine or other stimulants. Anti-histamines may make you sleep at first, but they can exacerbate urinary problems, causing you to wak up to urinate more frequenty during the night.

Caffeine, nicotine and alcohol - Coffee, tea, colas and other caffeinated beverages are popular stimulants. Drinking coffee late in the afternoon and evening can stop you from falling asleep at night. The nicotine found in tobacco products is also a stimulant that could cause insomnia. Alcohol has a sedative effect that may help you fall asleep, however it inhibits deeper stages of sleep and can cause you to waken frequently during the night.

Learned insomnia - This could happen when you worry excessively regarding not being able to sleep well and then try too hard to fall asleep. Most with this condition have better sleep when they are apart from their usual sleep environment or when they aren't trying to fall asleep, such as when they are reading.

Eating too much before bed - A light snack before bed is okay, but eating too much could result in feeling physically uncomfortable while lying down, resulting in difficulty with falling asleep. Many may also suffer from heartburn, a backflow of stomach acid into the esophagus after ingesting food. This painful or uncomfortable feeling keeps many from falling asleep.