Generally, there are several possible causes of insomnia. If you used to visit a sleep specialist in a clinic near your home, you would be given a questionnaire to fill in. And the questionnaire would be covering your medical history, past history, eating and drinking habits, recent life story, your sleep pattern and etc.
Also, you might be questioned where you, who with, and about your relationship with that person. In this way, a very complete picture would be created, in order to disentangle what's causing your insomnia
Sometimes, simple answers are discovered such as drinking too much tea or coffee. Sometimes the reasons are more worrying, like alcoholism or drug addiction. Very often the casuses relate to emotional stress, including worry about the insomnia itself.
Although insomnia is most commonly related to emotional stress, somtimes the cause can be partly or even totally physical or environment. Mind and body are interdependent: our brains and nervous systems, for example, are affected by chemical factors including food and pollution, both of which can trigger mental stress.
These are some of the conditions which could be possible causes of insomnia:
- Alcoholism
- Allegies
- Anorexia nervosa
- Apnea
- Caffeine addiction
- Environment factors
- Heavy metal poisoning
- Hyper-thyroidism
- Latrogenic problems
- The menopause
- Pain
- Restless legs
- Sudden weight loss
References:
DiGeronimo, T. F. (1997) Insomnia 50 Essential Things to Do. New Jersey: The Penguin Group
Courtenay, A. (1990) Natural Sleep: How to beat insomnia without drugs. Northamptonshire: Thorsons Publishers Limited
