Stress As A Cause Of Insomnia
Insomnia is a sleep disorder. It causes difficulty in falling asleep. People with insomnia have trouble staying asleep as well. Insomnia wakes a person very early, in the mornings. After a night’s sleep, the affected people wakeup feeling tired. A consistent pattern in sleeping is more important, than the hours of sleep. Usually people need, seven to nine hours of quality sleep to feel refreshed, next day. But for some, four or five hours are enough. To get the required hours of sleep, it is necessary to spend more time in the bed, as it takes time to go to sleep. This time lag is termed as sleep latency period. It is not part of the total sleep.
Stress is mainly an emotional as well as physical strain caused by many outside pressures. It occurs due to difficulty in coping with many experiences. Stress causes inability to concentrate, trouble in sleeping, irritability, faster heartbeat, sweaty palms, dry mouth, difficulty in breathing, pounding heart, stomach upset, tightening of muscles resulting in trembling, pain and headache.
Causes Of Insomnia:
Insomnia is caused by a main cause or by interaction of many reasons. The causes can be:
- Psychological: Result of stress, fear, or depression.
- Physical: Mental conditions, hormonal changes in women, sleep disorders like apnea, genetics, decrease of melatonin and pain.
- Temporary factors or events: Medications, overuse of alcohol and caffeine, adjustment sleep disorder, extreme temperatures, environmental noise, change in the surrounding environment, long work shifts or night shift and jet lag.
Stress & Insomnia
Insomnia is usually caused by stress. Stress destroys the homeostatic balance, affecting the peak potential. It can cause several psychological and physical effects like depression, headache, accidents, impaired mental functions, and even heart attack. Stress releases two hormones from adrenal glands : cortisol and epinephrine. These hormones affect digestion and growth, as the fundamental balance is whacked. Processes not necessary for short-term survival are affected, as the two hormones withdraw energy from them. They channel the extra energy for boosting blood supply and muscles, for precipitating quick actions. The excitatory stress hormones makes people excited, leading to inability of sleep and disruption of sleep.
Snoozing is a natural process where the metabolic rate and heartbeat lowers, postural muscles relax, blood pressure falls and breathing becomes normal. It is the cyclical fall as well as rise of cortisol levels that monitors the level of sleep. Cortisol level can affect the day-to-day life. While falling into sleep results in a gradual cessation of the action phenomenon, stress induces action. Conditions of sleeping and stress are two antagonistic processes and hence cause havoc. Chronic secretion of cortisol due to stress, leads to excessive activation, not only during waking hours but also while sleeping. Hence sleep becomes restless, fragmented and shallow, causing insomnia.
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