For the umpteenth night in a row, you’re frantically tossing and turning in your bed. A peek at your alarm clock on the floor sends panic spiraling through you. Even though you haven’t even fallen asleep yet, you need to get up just a few hours. Besides thinking about the massive bags you must have under your eyes, you start worrying about how you’re going to function at work today. If you can relate to this situation, you’re not alone.
According to the Sleep Health Foundation, approximately one out of three people experience at least a mild form of insomnia on a somewhat regular basis. In an effort to satisfy their need for slumber, many people turn to sleeping pills.
Unfortunately, the effects these types of drugs have on you diminish over time. They can also become habit forming. Instead of putting a band aide on your problem, strive to discover its cause. Surprisingly, some sleep disorders are the result of a serious, undiagnosed medical condition. The following medical issues are known to cause sleep disturbances.
Diabetes
If you have diabetes, blood sugar fluctuations can keep you up at night. In addition to fluxes in blood sugar, diabetes can cause night sweats and the need to urinate multiple times during the night. While having diabetes can lead to restless nights, insomnia can contribute to developing diabetes.
A recent research study found people who slept less than six hours at night were more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than those who slept more.
Cardiovascular Disease
Both congestive heart failure and coronary artery disease, two prevalent cardiovascular conditions, have been associated with sleep problems. Congestive heart failure thwarts your heart from pumping adequate blood to reach all areas of your body. Due to this phenomenon, an overabundance of fluid accumulates around your lungs while you’re lying down. This uncomfortable situation can wake you up at night.
If you have coronary artery disease, variations in circadian rhythms can lead to frightening chest pain, an abnormal heart beat, or even a heart attack during your sleep.
Thyroid Disease
Having either hyperthyroidism or hypothyroidism can make falling asleep at night challenging. Hyperthyroidism, an overactive thyroid gland, can cause sleep interrupting night sweats while hypothyroidism, an underperforming thyroid gland, can make you extremely sleepy during the daytime. A mere blood test can diagnose both conditions. Fortunately, most cases of thyroid disease can be easily treated with medications.
Kidney Disease
Kidney disease keeps your kidneys from filtering wastes from your blood. As wastes build up in your blood, you might experience insomnia or restless legs syndrome, RLS. RLS is a condition of the area of your nervous system that produces a desire to move your legs. People combatting this disorder feel uncomfortable sensations in their legs accompanied with a strong urge to move them in an attempt to alleviate the sensations.
RLS can sometimes affect the arms and other parts of the body too. Unfortunately, starting dialysis or receiving a kidney transplant doesn’t always help patients reclaim normal sleeping patterns.
Depression
According to Everyday Health, research suggests 90 percent of people with depression experience sleep problems. Insomnia is often the most noticeable sign of low-grade depression. Waking up exceptionally early in the morning can be a symptom of serious depression. Difficulty falling asleep and sleeping excessively also sometimes accompany depression.
Eating Disorder
Having anorexia or bulimia can disrupt your sleep patterns. Anorexia is thought to interrupt people’s sleep due to their excessive weight loss and malnutrition. Research implies anorexics get less rapid eye movement, REM, sleep and more non-REM rest than those of normal weights. As a result, you can experience next-day sluggishness. Bulimics’ sleep is often disturbed due to the desire to binge and purge during the night.
If left untreated, insomnia and other sleep problems can lead to a host of potentially life threating medical issues including high blood pressure, heart attacks and obesity. Experiencing difficulties sleeping can also negatively affect your memory and focus making completing tasks efficiently and effectively at both home and the office challenging.
If you’re dealing with sleep issues, don’t ignore the problem by self-medicating with sleep pills. Schedule a visit with your trusted physician. If your sleep difficulties are being caused by an undiagnosed medical problem, treating the underlying condition might restore your blissful rest.
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