Why Can't I Sleep

Having been resident a few years ago, I can tell how poor sleep affects the body.  There are many reasons why you can't sleep.  But also many things can help as well with poor sleep.

Being unable to sleep, also known as “insomnia,” affects one in five individuals.   This is a very common  problem.  The risk factors include medical illnesses, mental  illnesses, stress,  night shiftwork or rotating shifts.

We don’t know why, but it affects women more often, and occurs more often in people over the age of 60.

There are different kinds of issues with sleep.  Issues most commonly experienced is simply falling or staying asleep.  Also if you have non-restorative sleep, where individuals wake up not feeling refreshed or having poor quality of sleep then you have daytime fatigue and sleepiness during the day. 

If you have difficulty concentrating and remembering changes, or moodiness, irritability,  anxiety, or depression, it can stem from poor sleep.  You might even experience reduced motivation and energy.

Doctors can help by ordering blood and urine test to evaluate for liver or  kidney issues,  even for chemical imbalances such as low magnesium. 

Keeping a sleep log to record your sleep habits and patterns over 1 to 2 weeks can help us detect which habits are bad. 

Finally, we can order a sleep study, called a polysomnography, which is overnight test that can diagnose problems such as sleep apnea.

We can treat insomnia with medications.  But it is important to use the bedroom for just sleep and intercourse.  Having a TV in the bedroom is the first thing that makes sleep poor.  Using relaxation techniques in bed helps as well. 

Lunesta and Ambien are two of the most commonly used sleep agents.  They are well tolerated.  I do not use Ambien in older age groups above 65, but Lunesta appears cleaner with less side effects. 

Until next time, stay healthy!