The Impact of Insomnia on Mental Health:

People Facing Sleep Problems: Causes, Effects, and the Relationship with Mental Health

People facing sleep problems spend too much time awake in bed and fall asleep during the early hours or at dawn. Some people snooze day and night because they have sleep problems or suffer from insomnia.

Causes:

Insomnia is commonly under-sleeping or in other words, not getting enough sleep. Such people are awake for the most part of the night. This affects their daily cycle of study or work. Insomnia commonly gets out of control when work or performance deteriorates. They also find it difficult in concentrating on simple activities like operating machines, driving, cooking, etc. The effect thus resulting can be hazardous. The outcome can be dangerous such as accidents and even death.

Effects:

Oversleeping or staying in bed for more than eight hours can also be hazardous to life. Therefore, considering sleeping aids is recommended. It is a proven fact that our body needs eight hours of sleep during which the brain relaxes and the injured body tissues are repaired. The white blood cells, for example, produce larger amounts of antibodies while sleeping. This helps our body to fight against the pathogens that have entered our body during the day and thus avoid diseases.

Sleeping for the whole night or for the whole morning can affect the circadian rhythm of the body which is the biological clock telling our body when it’s time to eat, sleep, drink, etc. It is based on the number of daylight hours every day. If you have regular day-shift work, then your body is modified according to the circadian rhythm.

This is mainly because our wake-up time is synchronized with the sunrise. However, in the case of people working the night shift, they have a circadian rhythm wherein their sleep time is synchronized with the sunrise. They in this way rest during the day and work around evening time. Therefore, night-shift jobs are often associated with insomnia.

People suffering from insomnia, as per recent reports are more likely to suffer from mental health problems, cardiac problems, etc. As per a survey, nearly 30% of individuals in the study population suffered from depression, anxiety, and the like. It is likely that individuals working in night shift develop mood swings, become sensitive and emotional, etc. This indirectly spells out their general quality of life. In order to resolve these problems natural aids are recommended often.

The Importance of Seeking Professional Help for Insomnia:

Upon administration of the natural sleep aids, many patients were shown to get relief from depression and anxiety. It was also observed that some insomnia patients who did not return to their physicians for sleeping aids stayed in the same condition upon a follow-up after twelve months. Such patients may be assisted with sleeping aids only when consulting their physicians.

Sleep problems normally last for a time period ranging from a few months to a few years. Hence, it is important to seek help if your insomnia stays beyond a few nights. This is especially important from your good health point of view.