Are there times in your daily life when you cannot fall asleep, sleep too much, have your sleep frequently interrupted, cannot rest even if you sleep, or feel very tired and sleepy during the day?
Sleep is important for our health and for maintaining a quality life.
Quality sleep is very important in protecting our mental health, physical health and dream quality. Sleep problems can cause impairment in functionality and decreased quality of life. While it can be a symptom of a physical or mental illness, it can also be seen as a disease in itself.
Sleep not only physically rests the body, but also helps to accumulate energy during sleep throughout the night, helps the body secrete growth hormone, cell regeneration, and makes the learned information permanent. Sleep disorders can cause disharmony in the social environment, decreased academic or professional performance, and accidents.
As a result of sleep disorders ,
The body's defenses against physiological and psychological disorders may weaken, irritability and intolerance may increase, blood sugar balance may be disrupted, forgetfulness may occur,
Stress hormones may increase, vision and speech disorders may occur. Breathing balance may be disrupted.
Psychological Disorders and Sleep Problems?
Sleep disorders can be due to many reasons. While sleep problems can be seen in many psychiatric disorders such as psychosis, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders and alcohol/substance use, these problems can also occur in chronic diseases such as cancer or as a result of environmental problems.
Depression, anxiety and stress are among the biggest causes of sleep problems.
It can make it difficult to fall asleep because the brain is constantly trying to figure out the source of stress. Individuals with depression may experience problems such as waking up early and difficulty sleeping again. Some people diagnosed with depression may sleep excessively.
In anxiety disorders, they have difficulty falling asleep, falling asleep again and staying asleep. Insomnia can increase the severity of anxiety disorders.
In psychotic disorders, individuals generally sleep late and wake up late.
People with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) may have difficulty falling and staying asleep. They may have nightmares about the trauma and are in a constant state of alertness.
Excessive alcohol and caffeine use may be one of the factors affecting it.
What Should We Do?
The most common form of treatment for insomnia is medication. Since these drugs can cause addiction, they should be used under the supervision of a doctor, in the prescribed manner and for the specified duration. Medicines used in the treatment of insomnia enable people to fall asleep and sleep uninterrupted. Once this problem is overcome, the use of medications should be discontinued.
One of the effective methods is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The aim is to recognize and control the problems, thoughts and emotions that cause insomnia. This problem can be overcome with methods such as breathing exercises and coping with problematic thoughts used in CBT.
In addition, people can take some precautions themselves to solve this problem. Caffeine-containing drinks such as tea, coffee, and alcohol should not be consumed before going to bed. Care should be taken not to sleep during the daytime. A certain time and routine should be determined for sleeping and waking up. Factors such as sound and light should be taken into consideration during sleep.
In order to make a diagnosis, it must first be determined whether the cause is psychological or physical. If it is not caused by a physical cause, the problem may be psychological. For this, you can contact psychiatrists/psychologists.
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