Can't sleep? You might have a mental health problem that needs to be resolved. Read this.
Are you having problems going to sleep at night? If you can’t sleep, mental health issues may be the reason why you’re suffering through the problem. Relax! This doesn’t mean you’re losing your mind. It simply means that you might be suffering from mental issues with insomnia as the primary symptom.
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| Image by 1388843 from Pixabay |
Stress and Anxiety
Stress and anxiety are the two most common problems with sleep deprivation as a symptom. To put it simply, your nerves are so disturbed that the body finds it incapable to relax – hence the consistent ‘awake’ status of your mind. People suffering from stress and anxiety have a hard time coaxing their mental activity into ‘sleep mode’, keeping them awake throughout the night.
Since insomnia is essentially a symptom of the problem, it’s usually best to address the issue of stress and anxiety directly. What is causing the stress and anxiety and how can it be solved? Once the underlying problem is fixed, sleep deprivation as a symptom will also go away.
Possible Treatments
Of course, there are ways to address sleep issues directly, although these are mainly temporary techniques if you have stress/anxiety. One of the most common methods includes the use of sleeping pills, to be prescribed by your doctor. As much as possible, however, it’s best not to use this unless there is no other option.
Instead, you can opt for more natural methods starting with a relaxing bath at the end of the day. A warm bath helps relax the muscles, therefore making it easier for you to achieve sleep at night. Some people opt to exercise heavily first before the warm bath, ensuring that they’re sufficiently tired for sleep. Warm milk is also a safe option as well as the use of relaxing music during sleep. The sound of the ocean or trickling water is a very common soundtrack used by people who want to relax and fall asleep quickly.
Other options include meditation which puts the mind into a very relaxed stated. Individuals who meditate at least 7 minutes before going to sleep find it easier to slumber and do so continuously for the rest of the night.
Note that if you can’t sleep, mental health problems may worsen, affecting your day to day life. Insufficient hours of sleep can make you weak, irritable, and disoriented during the days. There are also instances when continuous lack of sleep leads to mental problems. For example, there’s a study that suggests that persistent lack of sleep causes anxiety.
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