How has your sleep been the past few days, weeks, and months? If it’s like most people, you are not getting the right amount of sleep you need every day – about 7 hours or more for adults. There are many potential reasons why you aren’t getting enough sleep, which we outline below. Identifying the cause or causes of your sleep deprivation is the most critical step in getting back to healthy sleeping.
Sleeping disorders, by definition, cause sleep deprivation. Sleep disorders are usually chronic (unless treated) and therefore usually cause chronic sleep deprivation. Common sleep disorders include:
Pain disrupts sleep because it’s hard to sleep when you have a stabbing pain somewhere in your body. Chronic pain leads to chronic sleep deprivation in most people. If you have pain, it's important to identify whether or not you're getting enough sleep.
Here are some facts about pain and sleep deprivation – they are quite eye opening [2015 Sleep in AmericaTM Poll]:
It’s also important to be aware that certain medications can also cause sleep deprivation.
As we age we go through natural biological and hormonal changes that affect how and when we sleep. Namely, as we get older we tend to go to bed earlier, sleep less deeply at night, and wake up much earlier. Often, this entails needing to take naps in the day in order to get the requisite 7+ hours of sleep.
People who are unaware of the changes or are unable to adjust to them for one reason or another will have difficulty maintaining a healthy sleep cycle, and are at high risk of becoming sleep deprived.
Many medical conditions can cause sleep deprivation. Common medical conditions that lead to less sleep are:
Other diseases may also affect sleep depending on how symptoms present in your body.
No doubt about it, your lifestyle choice impact your sleep for better or worse. Any of the following lifestyle choices will hurt your chances at getting a full night’s rest:
Here in Alaska, our lifestyle choices have to be particularly geared for sleep because the extreme lighting conditions in the summer and winter can greatly affect our ability to sleep well.
Life stressors can play a significant role in both chronic and acute sleep deprivation. Common stressors include:
Usually, people are aware of large sources of stress.
If you have significant stress in your life and you aren’t sleeping, work with your doctor or a sleep specialist on ways to combat stress and sleep better. Take this free online sleep test to get started.