After a hectic day at work, reviewing several complicated 10-page documents, and sweating over a host of other work-related stuff, all you want to do is to return home, have dinner, and get your head down. Unfortunately for you, after closing hours, you still need to beat the overwhelming rush hour traffic to get home and finally rest.
After the mad rush, you eventually get home, hoping to rest and ease the stress of the day’s work. But, you end up sleeping for an hour, which has been the norm for a few months.
You see, because sleep is key to your health, you need to ensure that you get enough rest. And if this isn’t the case, you need to figure out the reason and do something about it. Here is where this article comes into the equation.
If you have been having a tough time getting enough sleep, here are the common 5 reasons why. But, before we delve into that, let’s beat around the bush a little. And we’ll do that by looking at the importance of sleep.
Why is sleep important?
The primary reason we sleep every night is that our body needs sleep as much as it needs nutrients to stay healthy. Sleep remains a vital function that allows your body to reboot, leaving you energized and alert when you wake up.
Without adequate sleep, your brain, which is the engine of your body, cannot function optimally. The results are usually unpleasant, and they range from inability to think clearly to severe tiredness and a host of other conditions.
That said, you may want to ask, “How many hours of sleep do adults need?” If you are an adult, you’ll need about seven to nine hours of sleep. What of children? If you have kids, you need to ensure that they sleep more, especially if they are younger than five years.
In light of this revelation, if you aren’t sleeping as you should, I bet you know that there is a problem. And one of the best ways to face this problem head-on is by determining its roots, which is what we are going to do by highlighting 5 reasons you aren’t getting enough sleep
1. Alcohol
A few cups of alcohol is necessary sometimes, especially when we need to relax, celebrate, and socialize. However, when your intake becomes too much, you won’t only be damaging your liver, but you’ll also be keeping sleep at bay.
Kill the urge to take a lot of alcohol before bedtime, regardless of how tempting it is. Filling your system with alcohol before you sleep is detrimental to your sleep cycle. That said, keep your alcohol intake at a minimum to improve your sleep and wake up feeling refreshed and alive the following day.
2. Poor sleeping habit
Sometimes, your inability to sleep well isn’t down to some issues with your body. Instead, it is due to your bad sleeping habits. How do you expect to have a sound and uninterrupted sleep when you stay up too late? Remember, you aren’t a machine, so you expect your body to react to whatever it is subjected to, including indulging in poor sleeping habits.
Common bad sleeping habits are:
- Having an inconsistent sleep schedule
- Failure to do away with gadgets while in bed
- Watching TV in bed
- Staying up past bedtime
Lucky for you, these issues can be tackled by making small adjustments to your nightly habits. And remember, the earlier you make these changes, the better for you.
3. Underlying condition
Here is one of the most common reasons why people don’t get enough sleep. There are several health issues that could hinder sound sleep. Below are some of the most common in older age:
Severe pain: Imagine sleeping with a nail lodged in your foot. Impossible, right? Well, that is how it is when you try to get sound sleep while in severe pain. The best solution here will be to attack the source of the pain.
Anxiety or depression: Worrying too much or being depressed can make it hard to sleep. Your mind needs to be clear for your sleep button to turn on. The best solution here will be to forgo whatever is troubling you.
Enlarged prostate gland (benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH): Men with BPH often find it hard to sleep as a typical human should, and this is usually down to the constant urge to empty the bladder.
Sleep apnea: Disturbing snoring, including brief awakenings during the night, may be indications you have sleep apnea, which causes short halts in breathing at night and results in daytime sleepiness. The best solution here will be to purchase a CPAP mask from a CPAP supplier. Doing so should restore your usual sleeping pattern and raise your total time of asleep by preventing breathing pauses.
4. Sharing your bed space
Imagine sleeping with someone who snores like a Yamaha YTR-2330S trumpet were attached to their nostrils. Or an individual who hugs you like you are his momma while sleeping. Don’t you think such interruptions would affect the quality of your sleep?
To have the night rest that you deserve, you need to cut all sources of interruption. This includes individuals who have the habit of snoring loudly or pets who would often tug at you while asleep.
Aside from sleeping with someone who’s snoring is as loud as a JBL boombox portable speaker or taking several shots before bed, your environment can also interfere with your sleep, resulting in you not getting enough sleep.
5. Poor sleep environment
According to sleep experts, you are to keep your bedroom at a moderate 65 to 72 degrees at night. However, some individuals—especially those conscious of their energy bills—often choose to reduce the thermostat to the freeze zone during the winter and turn off the AC during summer, resulting in a hot bedroom.
Both of these extremes affect your wonderful trip to la-la land. Always remember that your body needs to stay chilled (a little bit) at night for the most refreshing sleep, which is farfetched in a sweltering bedroom. A freezing bedroom, on the flip side, will surely jerk you off your bed. How do you expect to sleep in a room as cold as a winter night?
Conclusion
There is nothing ok with not sleeping as you ought to. Such abnormality is a sign that you are doing something wrong, or you are suffering from a sleeping disorder. Thus, if you find it hard to enjoy a night of uninterrupted sleep, you need to check yourself. If you aren’t sure of what is wrong, then it makes sense to see your doctor.
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