Insomnia Causes

Insomnia causes you to toss and turn or try to count sheep or even to drink endless cups of warm milk. Insomnia is a sleep disorder resulting in no sleep or very little restful sleep. It can be very debilitating in its most severe form.

There are infinite insomnia causes to keep you awake at night. However, general insomnia causes are somewhat well defined and can be discussed in further detail.

Regulation of sleep patterns occurs in the brain and brainstem.  The pineal gland in the brain releases a hormone called melatonin which is implicated in the sleep wake cycle.  The brainstem has a cluster of nuclei called the reticular activating system.  Disturbances in melatonin cycling, formation, or secretion will interfere with sleeping and may be one of the insomnia causes.  Disruption of the normal activity of the reticular activating system is definitely one of the prime insomnia causes.  Laboratory experiments clearly demonstrated that stimulation of this area resulted in wakefulness.  If signaling capability was removed from this area, the subject could not be wakened.  These are extreme examples but minor disruptions to either of these central sleep controls would rank at the top of insomnia causes and are very difficult to treat.

Other insomnia causes from external sources can be nearly anything.  Physical pain can signal sleeplessness as effectively as a tense argument hours before bedtime.  The physical and psychological insomnia causes are most easily cured though the difficulty in sorting through those insomnia causes is discovering them.

Insomnia Causes

There are no hard and fast rules for determining insomnia causes.  Speaking honestly with a medical professional and reviewing lifestyle choices and daily patterns is often a very good start.  Insomnia causes the days to be too long and discovering the source can be a very long journey.