REASONS FOR POOR SLEEP

Your specific sleeping pattern may take one of several forms. You may lie awake for hours every night feeling miserable and anxious because you can’t get to sleep. Then finally you sleep for a few hours. Or you may fall asleep immediately after you go to bed, but awaken in the middle of the night and stay awake until it’s time for you to get up. Or you may sleep off and on for only a few minutes at a time. In each case you arise in the morning feeling exhausted because the amount or quality of sleep you had was inadequate. You feel the need for a more complete rest…rest that will make it possible for you to spend your waking hours productively without feeling fatigued.

Whatever your sleeping pattern may be, it has a particular cause. The following are deterrents to a good night’s sleep:

You don’t sleep because conditions that require medical attention or professional counseling have not been cleared up. These include alcohol or chemical dependency, chronic depression, chronic twitching or aching of your legs when you are in bed, and snoring accompanied by the need to gasp for air (Sleep Apnea).

You don’t sleep at night because you consume too many stimulants (coffee, black tea, soft drinks with caffeine)during the day. You can’t expect to include caffeine in large amounts in your daily diet and then slip into a state of total relaxation at night.

You don’t sleep at night because you take a nap during the day. This throws off your sleeping/waking pattern and your body will not readily adjust to sleeping throughout the night.

You don’t sleep at night because you participate in stimulating physical or mental activity just prior to going to bed. You can’t run a couple of miles, work out, have a highly-charged charged conversation, or engage in a demanding mental exercise, and then plop into bed and easily doze off.