Sleep problems

Having a bad night’s sleep reminds you of just how important a good night’s sleep is. When you’re sleeping well you feel refreshed and alert during the day, but the occasional restless night leaves you feeling sluggish and lacklustre; much less able to concentrate on tasks or cope with the pressures and stresses of everyday life.

It’s when sleepless nights become a regular event that you have a problem. Lack of quality sleep can cause much more than just tiredness and lethargy. It can disrupt your work, personal relationships and family life. It can affect your health and mental wellbeing, and even lead to an accident.

What are the symptoms of a sleeping problem?

Everyone experiences sleepless nights from time-to-time. You may have a cold, or a tight deadline at work, or a worry you can’t resolve. But eventually, your sleep pattern will return to normal, once the issue has been resolved. It’s when you can’t get your sleep back on track after many days and experience difficulty sleeping every night over a long period, that you know you have a sleeping problem.

If you really have a chronic sleep problem or disorder, there will be warning signs in the form of particular behaviours during the day.

Do you…
• Often feel irritable?
• Feel sleepy in the daytime?
• Have difficulty staying awake when sitting down, watching television or reading?
• Have difficulty concentrating?
• Frequently get told that you look tired?
• Have slow reactions?
• Have emotional outbursts?
• Feel like taking a nap most days?
• Need lots of coffee to keep going?
• Feel very tired or even fall asleep while driving?

You should seek medical help if sleep deprivation has badly affected your daytime functionality for more than a month.

What causes sleep problems?

Short-term or acute insomnia can be caused by life stresses, such as an illness, losing your job, moving house, the death of a loved one, or even environmental issues such as noise, light, or extreme temperatures.

Long-term or chronic insomnia – occurring at least three nights a week for a month or more – can be caused by factors such as depression, chronic stress, and pain or discomfort at night.

Common causes of sleeping difficulties include:

• Physical problems (ulcers, for example)
• Medical problems (such as asthma)
• Psychiatric disturbance (depression and anxiety disorders, for example)
• Lifestyle issues (such as excessive drinking)
Other factors that can disrupt sleep include:
• Narcolepsy, which is a neurological disorder that affects the regulation of sleep and wakefulness
• Night-shift workers often cannot get to sleep when they start to feel drowsy, because their working hours contradict their biological clock
• Medications often interfere with sleep, especially certain antidepressants, blood pressure medication, and over-the-counter cold medicine
• Aging leads to sleep disorders in roughly half of people over 65. It’s not clear if this is a normal result of aging or is due to the medications that older people commonly use

Although causes differ, the result of all sleep disorders is that the body's natural cycle of slumber and daytime wakefulness is disrupted or exaggerated.

What treatments are there for sleeplessness?

Don't be embarrassed to ask for help when you're sleeping badly following a stressful event such as a death in the family. A physician may suggest short-term use of a sedative to help you sleep at night. Getting a good night’s sleep will enable you cope better during the day and stop the problem escalating into a long-term sleep disorder.

Whatever the reason for your sleeping problem, be aware that it's not always easy to get evaluation and treatment. Doctors in some countries receive only two hours of instruction on this topic during four years of medical school, and many primary care physicians do not routinely ask their patients about sleep. So you may have to persevere to get the help you need.