Insomnia is a disorder, and it should be treated as so. Either you have trouble falling asleep at night, or you wake up after a short period of 2 to 4 hours and can’t go back to sleep, or you frequently wake up during night sleep and manage to fall asleep every time, they all are forms of insomnia.
Poor quality sleep is associated with both physical and psychiatric disorders. During sleep, everything in our body regenerates, heals, and gets restored. All your organs, hormones, the immune system, and all brain functions they use sleep to find balance.
Not sleeping can affect your cardiac health, and it can induce (or be induced by) depression, alcoholism, and bipolar disorder. It isn’t a straight way but more like a circle. Everything depends on everything, and one flaw can cause a chain reaction. Sleep is essential, and we need to take care of it, as it can be considered as our natural panacea.
So, besides the well-known triggers for insomnia, such as caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol, there are five other triggers you should be aware of if you are developing symptoms of insomnia or if the isolation increases them.
Common Causes of Insomnia
Bed confusion
We like or not, we are still functioning on patterns similar to animals. We call them rituals or habits and give them meaning, but they are what they are: exterior triggers that induce internal structure. We associate things, and this is where the meaning comes from. And when we start associating bed with other things other than sleep and/or sex, then bed changes its meaning, thus our internal structure. Working, reading, eating, watching movies in bed makes us unconsciously associate bed with being active.
Back pain
Since we aren’t as physically active as usual, back pain might become a problem. Either an old one for those that experienced it before or a new one for those who didn’t. To avoid them, it is essential to prevent them with the help of 10 minutes of stretching in the morning and taking care to get up from the chair once every hour. Make a tea and drink it standing on your balcony. And at night, you might want to put a pillow under your knees that will make your spine stay straight. You might also try and sleep on an orthopedic pillow. They come in different shapes to suit your sleeping behavior; either you sleep on your side, on your back, or your stomach.
Menopause
If you aren’t a woman, you can skip this part. If you are and you are dealing with this hormonal stage in your life, then know that insomnia is common for women at menopause. Your body is going through a hormonal drop, mostly id estrogen and progesterone. They are both hormones that influence our sleeping behavior throughout our entire life. You might want to take better care of your diet that should be rich in phytoestrogens (green and black tea, soybeans, chickpeas, peanuts, flax seeds, barley, grapes, berries, plums).
Diet
There is no easy way to put it: stop eating carbs and sugar! There is no negotiation here if you want to sleep, be healthy, and live longer. Carbs from white rice and white bread, as well as sugar from soda and sugary foods, don’t make friends with quality sleep. Go to number 3 even if you aren’t a woman at menopause and find what you should eat to improve your hormonal health. Eating wrong foods have a lot to do with hormones.
Napping – timing and quantity
Although it is important to rest during the daytime, the measure is even more critical. You shouldn’t nap after 4:00 p.m. Also, what exceeds half an hour of daytime sleep will most likely affect your night sleep and experience insomnia. The nap should be just that: a nap. Not sleep time and for sure nor REM sleep.
Diet is a big one. I was losing a lot of sleep and I thought it was because of the stress of my software company going bankrupt but my doctor made some important changes to my diet that helped a lot. I used to eat pork rinds for breakfast, I know it sounds gross but I love them. Now I switched to oatmeal. Also, lots of pureed foods that are easier on my stomach. He also gave me something called cocayoo root, not sure if I spelled that right, but now I sleep 10-12 hours no problem.