Everyone has the occasional sleepless night. It’s not uncommon to have trouble sleeping the night before a job interview, for example. If, however, your sleeplessness lasts for more than a night or two, or if your life is zipping along just as you planned it and you’re still not sleeping well, you may have insomnia. And you might just be surprised by what can cause it.

One of the most frequent causes of insomnia is stress. Whether it’s transient stress from a one-time event or more persistent stress from job or family issues, it can and will play havoc with your sleep. Stress-induced insomnia breeds a vicious cycle because it adds worry about not sleeping to the original cause of the stress.

Relaxation exercises can help to overcome stress and help you sleep. Techniques such as meditation and yoga done as part of a sleep routine work to quiet both mind and body so that you are relaxed when you climb into bed.

Sleep disorders are another common cause of insomnia. This might sound strange since insomnia itself is a sleep disorder, but in many cases it is the secondary disorder caused by another, more serious, sleep disorder such as sleep apnea or restless leg syndrome.

In the case of sleep apnea, a person will actually stop breathing several times during the night. This causes them to wake up several times to restart the breathing process. It is the total effect of waking up several times during the night that causes insomnia.

Treatment for sleep apnea usually involves the use of a machine that keeps the patient’s airways open while he/she is sleeping. If you think you may have sleep apnea make sure your consult your health care practitioner.

Noise and other environmental factors will also affect how will you sleep. If you live on a busy street or have noisy neighbours (or both) you may have a hard time sleeping. One solution is to run a fan or a white noise machine to create a background noise that will drown out the external sounds.

The temperature of your bedroom can also be a cause of insomnia. If you are too hot or too cold you will have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. Experts suggest that the optimal room temperature for sleeping is between 60 and 70 degrees F. The best way to figure out your optimum sleeping temperature is to experiment until you find the best thermostat setting for your needs.

It is possible to eliminate insomnia from your life when you are able to identify its cause. The three causes of insomnia I’ve talked about here are by no means the only ones, but are among the more common. By taking steps to get rid of stress and environmental factors, and by getting treatment for other sleep disorders you are will on your way to achieving a good night’s sleep.

(c)2007 Ruth H. Ritchie

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A new study being presented today has found that there is a significant relationship between Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) and an increased risk for high blood pressure.

The study was conducted by an international team of researchers ledy by Dr. David Rye, Professor of Neurology at Emory University. Nine hundred Icelanders provided clinical information and the number of periodic leg movements of sleep (PLMs) they experienced per hour of sleep over a period of two to five nights.

Researchers found that the likelihood of hypertension increased with PLMs severity by 50 percent in participants who experienced more than 30 PLMs per hour of sleep.

According to Dr. Rye:

Of greatest import, these findings suggest that the clinical significance of PLMs extends beyond sleep disruption and sleepiness … Our findings indicate that in addition to treating RLS symptoms, effective treatments may also need to target PLMs, particularly in patients at high-risk for cardiovascular disease (e.g., those with strong family histories of premature cardiovascular disease, smoking, etc.)

Source: Researchers discover link between common sleep disorder and high blood pressure

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