What are the biggest 'Sleep Stealers'?
Psychological Factors
Stress is considered by most sleep experts to be the No. 1 cause of short-term sleeping difficulties. Common triggers include school- or job-related pressures, a family or marriage problem, and a serious illness or death in the family.
Lifestyle Stressors
Without realizing it, you may be doing things during the day or night that can work against getting a good night's sleep.
These include drinking alcohol or beverages containing caffeine in the afternoon or evening, exercising close to bedtime, following an irregular morning and nighttime schedule, and working or doing other mentally intense activities right before or after getting into bed.
Shift Work
Shift work forces you to try to sleep when activities around you - and your own 'biological rhythms' - signal you to be awake.
Still another sleep stealer is jet lag, an inability to sleep caused when you travel across several time zones and your biological rhythms get 'out of sync.'
Environmental Interferences
A distracting sleep environment such as a room that's too hot or cold, too noisy or too brightly lit can be a barrier to sound sleep. And interruptions from children or other family members can also disrupt sleep.
Other influences to pay attention to are the comfort and size of your bed and the habits of your sleep partner.
Physical Factors
A number of physical problems can interfere with your ability to fall or stay asleep. For example, arthritis and other conditions that cause pain, backache, or discomfort can make it difficult to sleep well.
Sleep apnea, which is recognized by snoring and interrupted breathing, causes brief awakenings (often unnoticed) and excessive daytime sleepiness.
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