Causes of sleep deprivation

Posted on July 4, 2007 in Uncategorized

Causes of sleep deprivation can be classified into divided into four areas. These include lifestyle, health complications, medication side effects and clinical disorders.

Fatigue and sleeplessness are due to lifestyle choices. One of the common causes of sleep deprivation is drinking caffeine or alcohol before bedtime. Night shifts can change normal circadian patterns though it is unavoidable.

Often medication can interfere with natural rhythms in your body. This can lead to restlessness, insomnia and tiredness. If you use sleeping pills over long periods of time, it can lose its effect. Pills interfere with the natural rest patterns of the body.
Some health problems can create fatigue when it interferes with the sleep patterns in the body. Some physical health problems may make sleeping difficult. Asthma can do that to your sleep. Mental health problems like depression and post-traumatic stress disorder leads to insomnia. The three common sleeping disorders include Narcolepsy, parasomnia and apnea. More than seventy different types of such cases exist and can pose serious health risks. This also requires good medical treatment. By keeping a daily record of sleeping habits, you can tell the doctor about the disturbance patterns. Your sleeping pattern is your bedtime schedules.

Apart from recording your schedule, you should note how good the quality of your rest periods is. You need to record what you ate that day, especially before bedtime. You also need to note down if you have had caffeine or alcohol. You can list any daytime activities. Your emotional state before bed has to be noted down. By maintaining a diary, you can allow you and your doctor to detect disturbing in your rest period.
Sleep deprivation is more because of the lifestyle choices you make in life. Today, sleeping is seen as an inconvenience since it takes time from working or playing. People who suffer from sleep deprivation have only seventy percent of their productivity.

These causes of sleep deprivation can be cured with appropriate measures. Some of the common causes of sleep deprivation in the day include work shifts. Since shift work involves long work hours in the night, the bodies’ internal clocks are under assumption that we should be resting. Shift work reverses natural order of sleep. The body does not completely adapt to the change.

You do have a solution for this. You can keep your schedule as regular as often as you can. You can go to bed and wake up in regular timings.

Substance abuse can also be other causes of sleep deprivation. The use of stimulants like cocaine can stop you from getting the rest you need. These depressants confuse the body. This also causes sleepiness at odd times of the day.

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