Sleep problems could range from normal to conditional ones. Stress, late night sleeping, etc. are common causes which lead to normal or non-dangerous sleep problems. However, when sleep problem begin to interrupt your daily life, affect your health, and negatively impact your emotional state, they become precarious.
Here are 12 major interruptions in your sweet sleep:
1. Over-exercising:
While it is not harmful for your sleep to exercise before going to bed, experts believe that a hard workout could very well cause sleeplessness. The idea of hitting the gym late in the evening could inappropriately trigger some important hormones making it difficult for you to fall asleep. While cortisol levels hit a high after waking up, they progressively decline during the day and finally hit a low at night, which is when you fall asleep. However, intense exercise could keep the hormone levels elevated constantly during the entire day. Besides, another hormone norepinephrine stays up for at least 48 hours after a workout. This contributes to difficulty sleeping.
2. Smoking, drinking & sniffing:
Nicotine, tobacco, drugs, and alcohol are often believed to have a relaxing effect. But, research says that these only contribute towards impaired sleep. You may find them helpful to doze off easily, but they may have an adverse effect on your REM sleep, which is the most restorative period of your sleep. These addictive elements could make you wake up drowsy and heavy-headed and cause you to visit the washroom regularly all the night.
3. Late night snacking:
When struggling with insomnia, grabbing a snack from the refrigerator could help provided it’s kept to “a snack” only. Hogging on a huge chunk of fatty or spicy meal would not only take a toll on your body weight, but also your digestive system. Not only that, they add to poor sleep quality by elevating the body’s core temperature. While spicy meals promote restless nights coupled with heartburns, fatty foods interrupt your Circadian rhythm causing sleeplessness. Besides, these foods are high on cholesterol and an open invitation to many heart problems.
4. Filling your mind:
Keep the office at the office! Some people, especially office-goers, are found to continue boggling their minds with worries about the next day’s project meeting or excitement about the office party on the following day. It could be anything – emotional drama daily soap, action or horror film, work brought home, or Ted’s school complaints. Above all these, you need to find yourself time to relax your mind before putting your nose in the pillow. It is needed of you to put anything out of your mind that could be through-provoking or mind absorbing. You can keep a book at your bed side with all the things written you are worried about to have a relaxed mind.
5. Using electronic devices:
Texting or calling a friend, reading an e-book close to your eyes, or checking social notifications on your smartphone while lying on your bed could make you have sleepless nights due to light-related sleep problems. Author of Sleep Soundly Every Night, Feel Fantastic Every Day, Robert Rosenberg, DO says, “The blue light given off by computers, smartphones, tablets, and TV prevents the production of melatonin which helps the body become sleepy.” The 2011 poll conducted by National Sleep Foundation reveals that 10% of teenagers aging between 13 and 18 are disturbed while sleeping at night due to e-devices.
6. Drinking coffee or decaffeinated coffee:
Most of us know that caffeine content is a strict no-no before going to bed. Yet, some fall for the hot drink thinking that decaffeinated coffee could do no harm to their sleep. But, that’s not true. Though it may contain lesser amount of the stimulant, you could still stay up as an owl. A cup of coffee contains 80-120 mg of caffeine. This is enough to keep you awake even if there are several hours left before going to bed. “Even caffeine at lunch can be too close to bedtime for some people,” says Michael Grandner, Ph.D., of University of Pennsylvania’s Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program.
7. Changing your routine:
Altering your daily routine before bedtime could send incorrect signals to your brain causing your sleep pattern to change. On the other hand, if you normally do certain activities just before hitting your bed, please go ahead. Instead, ceasing from doing such activities could put your sleep at stake. However, if you’re not use to taking a bath at night, doing so is too foolish trying to fall asleep.
8. Drinking lots of water:
It is usually advised to drink a glass of water to avoid nightmares. Having said that, drinking gallons of water will do no good for your sleep. Besides, drinking excess water makes you to urinate a lot which would disturb your sleep anyways.
9. Taking certain medications:
Vitamin medications and botanical supplements like ginseng and guarana are primary agents which cause sleep loss. Drugs used to relieve pain such as opioids and narcotics are also listed as frontline sleep killers when it comes to medications. Your asthma steroids and high blood pressure medicines could also keep you awake at night.
10. Sleeping with pets:
Your love for your pet is understandable, but do you want your dog to lick your face at 3 am? Surely not when you’re really struggling to get a good night sleep. According to a study, 53% people who allow their pets in bed while sleeping have sleep disturbances. It is better to find a good place for your pet at night, but certainly not in your bed. Jodi A. Mindell, PhD says, “Really, there are other places for your dog to sleep besides your bed.”
11. Watching porn:
This is not only common among men, but also women. People who watch porn often end up masturbating leading to fatigue and sleeplessness. Masturbation also has other health problems linked to it such as memory loss, lack of concentration, visual problems, tiredness, weakness, depression, etc., which also contribute to poor sleep quality.
12. Suffering from sleep disorders:
This is obvious. You need to consult your doctor and take suitable treatment to heal your sleep. Restless leg syndrome (RLS), sleep-wake cycle disorders, etc., could be very upsetting for your sleep hormones. Get treated at the earliest as they may take a more precarious avatar later.
So before you try to get a sleep this night, make sure that you keep these disturbances away from your bed.