What causes sleep problems, and the common shapes they take

It is normal to have a rough night now and then, from a busy mind, a stressful day or a bad dream. Those pass without leaving much of a mark. It is a different matter when sleep problems run for weeks, months or longer, because that starts to affect your energy, your mood, your concentration and your relationships.

The common forms sleep problems take

Insomnia. Difficulty falling asleep, or getting back to sleep after waking in the night. Often paired with waking earlier than intended and feeling tired despite having been in bed for long enough.

Oversleeping. Sleeping considerably more than your body needs. It tends to attract less concern than insomnia, but is linked to both poor mental health and physical conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.

Nightmares. Frightening dreams intense enough to wake you, sometimes with a racing heart or genuine fear on waking. Frequent nightmares can create anxiety about falling asleep at all, which can develop into insomnia.

Sleep paralysis. Waking while briefly unable to move or speak, because the hormones that keep you still during sleep have not yet worn off. It is not dangerous, but it can be a frightening experience, lasting from a few seconds to a few minutes.

Sleepwalking. Moving, talking or carrying out simple activities while still asleep. Not dangerous in itself unless it leads to an injury, but it disrupts the quality of the sleep it interrupts.

What is behind it

Lifestyle factors are the most common and the most fixable: an irregular sleep routine, an uncomfortable or noisy sleep environment, shift work or travel disrupting your body clock, or caffeine, alcohol and other stimulants too close to bedtime.

Mental health factors include developing an anxiety about sleep itself after a bad patch, ongoing stress or worry about a specific issue, and the after-effects of trauma, which can disturb sleep for a long time, particularly if the trauma happened in childhood.

Physical health factors include pain or discomfort, a sleep-specific condition such as snoring or sleep apnoea, a hormonal or neurological condition, and medication side effects, including some antidepressants and drugs used for epilepsy or asthma.

When to get help

If one or more of these has been affecting you for an extended period, it is worth putting a plan in place rather than waiting it out, and worth seeing your GP if you are not sure where the cause lies. If the sleep problem seems clearly tied to stress, anxiety or a past trauma, InsideOut® can help address that directly.