Why Can’t I Sleep at Night? Causes and Consequences of Poor Sleep

Paula, a 45 year old female, arrived to her first visit feeling defeated. “I’m just not sleeping. I toss and turn and even when I think I fall asleep, I wake up so exhausted I might as well have not even tried.” She had already tried over the counter sleeping aids like melatonin, prescription medications from her medical doctor, and even kicked her husband out of her bed to see if it would help. She was at the end of her rope and on the verge of accepting a lifetime of sleepless nights.

Like all health concerns, determining the root cause is paramount to be able to treat the issue properly. There are many reasons a person’s sleep might be poor, and ruling out major can be helpful, and making sure the basics are covered is absolutely fundamental.

Causes of Poor Sleep

Ensuring your sleep hygiene is proper is the first step. This means making sure you sleeping area is dark, quiet, cool and comfortable, and that you’re going to bed and waking up at the same time each day (even on weekends!). Ensuring the sleep issue is not merely a product of your environment or sleep schedule can allude to it being a physiological cause that needs to be explored.

Medications & substances can have sleep-altering properties as well. Medications like certain antidepressants, decongestants, stimulants, and even certain blood pressure medications can negatively affect sleep. Caffeine is well-known for its negative effects on sleep, but alcohol and marijuana can also disrupt sleep significantly, leaving you feeling exhausted in the morning despite often being used to “relax and take the edge off”.

If you work shift work, are on call overnight, are exposed to screens late into the night or have recently experiences a time zone change, your circadian rhythm may be altered. As the sun goes down and the light from the sun is no longer available to our eyes, our bodies produce melatonin. Melatonin is the hormone that regulates our sleep-wake cycles, and is required for proper sleep. This is the reason we are often tired (or “jet lagged”) upon returning from a trip that was in a different time zone.

Sleep apnea is the cessation & restarting of breathing during sleep. This leads to a physiological “waking”, even if it’s not perceived. Many people with sleep apnea are unaware of it, and their main concern is excessive daytime sleepiness. If you snore, a sleep study is the gold standard in determining if you’re dealing with sleep apnea.

Perimenopause is another frequent cause of poor sleep in women. The decline of estrogen and progesterone can lead to symptoms of night sweats and insomnia in women as early as their 30s, but more commonly in their 40s. Symptoms and timeline alone are enough to diagnose perimenopause, but looking in-depth into hormones is also an option if desired.

Chronic stress is another reason many people suffer from poor sleep. Our world is driven by intense pressures to work, but many of us also have to manage a home, be with our families, take care of our health, make time for hobbies and then we’re also expected to get 8 hours of sleep a night.

Mental health conditions like depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are also associated with poor sleep or excessive tiredness. Talking with a psychotherapist or psychologist is a good idea if you have additional symptoms that may be related to mental health concerns, such as low mood, low motivation, drastic ups and down, hallucinations and more.

Consequences of Poor Sleep

We all know that sleep is important, but why?

With short-term sleep deprivation, the obvious changes we can sense are in our daytime functioning and mood. After a night or two of poor sleep, you’ll start to notice you can’t complete your day-to-day tasks with as much ease. You might feel irritable or low as well. Under the surface, there are physiological changes that are occurring as a result of short-term lack of sleep. Inflammation occurs, our stress response becomes engaged, and we observe some shifts in metabolism and therefore energy. Our bodies are intelligent – trying to power through on little sleep can wreak havoc.

With long-term insufficient sleep, you risk of chronic disease climbs. People who have suffered with poor sleep for a long time are at higher risk of increased blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, being overweight, and even certain types of cancer. Additionally, our immune systems suffer when we don’t get enough sleep. Hormones like adrenaline and cortisol are active in sleep deprivation, and set of a cascade of unfavourable immune processed, leading to frequent illness, or worsening of symptoms.

Tired of feeling tired? Book an appointment to get to the root cause of your sleepless nights today.

References:

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