5 Common Signs of Insomnia You’re Ignoring (But Shouldn’t)
Are you wondering if you have insomnia? What are the common signs of insomnia?
In this post, we’ll discuss the common signs of insomnia
Insomnia is a common sleep disorder. At its core, insomnia is characterized but sleep problems. You tend to have trouble falling and sustaining restful sleep.
But the signs vary from person to person. And these signs often go beyond sleep itself.
So what are these signs? Let’s dive in.
1. Tiredness and sleepiness during the day
Because of the lack of sleep at night, insomniacs may constantly feel tired during the day.
How do you know if your daytime sleepiness is a symptom of insomnia?
Researchers had a simple test in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.
To distinguish daytime fatigue from sleepiness, they asked one clarifying:
Since you feel tired/fatigued, if given a chance would you be able to sleep during the day?
They found that nearly all of the patients with chronic insomnia report the inability to sleep during the day even if they had the opportunity to do so.
2. Difficulty falling asleep
One of the primary symptoms of insomnia is chronic difficulty in falling asleep. You consistently toss and turn in bed for hours.
And the more you lay in bed, the longer it takes you to fall asleep. The effects of insomnia mean it may often take you hours to finally fall asleep.
One study found that over 40 percent of people with insomnia have trouble falling asleep.
True, most have us don’t fall asleep immediately after we get to bed. It takes a few minutes.
But if you continue to toss and turn in bed for several hours, it may be a sign of insomnia.
3. Gastrointestinal symptoms
Do you have constant bloating or pain when you wake up at night?
While these in themselves could mean a lot of things, not getting enough sleep makes it worse
When we eat, food enters the stomach. Our stomach muscles then mix the food and liquid with digestive juices. And slowly as this process is completed, the stomach passes on its content to the small intestines.
Getting enough restorative sleep is vital for the body to rejuvenate itself and help with digestion.
4. Not getting enough restorative sleep
There are four stages to our sleep cycle. Stage 3 is the stage where the body restores itself through muscle and tissue repair.
Getting enough sleep at this stage is essential as the process enables us to develop stronger muscles, bones, and improved immunity.
Insomniacs often don’t get enough sleep at this stage. This is why they wake up and still do not feel refreshed or rested.
In one study, nearly 50 percent of over 1,000 adolescents reported nonrestorative sleep. And that could lead to more fatigue after waking up.
This lack of restorative sleep affects productivity during the day and may impair the cognitive ability to do simple tasks.
5. Inability to focus and concentrate during the day
Sleep is not only an end in itself, but it is also a means to another end. This other end is how we perform after sleep.
One of the common signs of insomnia is the inability to focus and concentrate. Let me explain.
We not only want to feel refreshed and rejuvenated after sleeping, but we also want to be sharper, more energized, and more productive.
Studies show that insomnia has negative effects on cognitive performance.
This is because of the constant loss of sleep.
One study showed that losing even one night of sleep affects our ability to perform cognitive tasks.
If you have insomnia, here are a few cognitive functions that are affected:
- You’re not able to recall words
- You have a poor attention span
- It’s difficult for you to listen
- You have a slow reaction time to simple things
- You’re not able to recognize faces
- You tend to make bad decisions or choices
Takeaway
About 30 percent of people experience some form of insomnia. In this article, we’ve discussed the common signs of insomnia.
If your form of insomnia is aggressive and persistent, make sure to consult with your doctor.
In another article, we discussed some common treatments of insomnia as a starting point.
Either, sleep is vital to our physical and mental well-being and so get help if you’re not having enough sleep.
