Sleep problems

Most people have experienced difficulty sleeping at some point. Usually, the problems are temporary and thus do not cause major concerns. In the case of a sleep disorder, the difficulties are of such a degree that it feels as if one cannot function satisfactorily. The problems can manifest themselves in different ways, it can be about difficulty falling asleep or an inability to maintain sleep. Poor quality sleep is another common problem. The quality of our sleep is intimately connected to how we feel in general, and the underlying causes are often highly individual. There are often both physiological, mental and purely practical factors that contribute to sleep difficulties.

Sleep difficulties can be treated

Difficulty sleeping is often a first sign of stress, anxiety or depression. Common to most people who suffer from sleep difficulties is that they have developed a strong concern about their sleep. There are a number of different treatments for sleep. Some that have been shown to be effective are sleep restriction and stimulus control. This includes, among other things, mapping of sleep in the form of a sleep diary.

Routines when you have trouble falling asleep

It is important to find sleep routines that you always use because people who have sleep problems need to find good routines. Some points are:

• Don't wake up too late. If you wake up late one day, it is difficult to go to bed on time because the person needs to have been awake for a certain number of hours to get tired.

• Exercise, but not too late. It is good to exercise because, among other things, you "burn" stress hormones, which is good for sleep. It is important that it is not too late in the evening because exercise can make you feel "speedy" which can make it harder to fall asleep.

• Don't drink caffeine too late. It is extremely important not to drink caffeine too late at night as it makes it harder to fall asleep.

• Catch the sunlight. It is good to get up early in the morning and take in sunlight, because the shift between light and dark affects the body's production of melatonin, which is positive for the person's sleep.

• Use the bedroom for sleep. It is also important that the bedroom is only used for sleeping because otherwise the person may begin to associate the bedroom with waking state and awake activities. The room needs to be dark, cool and the bed needs to be comfortable and pleasant.

Sleep is a need that the body regulates

Sleep is a need and like all other needs, we want more of what we got too little of. Therefore, it is important that people with sleep problems do not sleep during the day and meet the need during the day, because then it will not have as great a need when it is bedtime. Many people underestimate how much they sleep and are pleasantly surprised when they see the sleep diary and the average time of sleep. It can also be reassuring to know that there is something called delta sleep, which means that we enter deep sleep more quickly on the second night after a night of little sleep. The body thus regulates our sleep based on our need. 

Sleep problems due to lack of sleep

For many people, sleep has become a big problem partly because of actual lack of sleep and because of concerns about the lack of sleep. Sleep and the bed begin to be associated with anxiety and sleep problems. The person may have had many sleep-deprived nights lying in bed and having catastrophic thoughts about not being able to fall asleep at night and not making it through the next day. These catastrophic thoughts make it harder to fall asleep and the person ends up in a vicious circle.

Recommendations for sleep disorders

There are a lot of tips and recommendations to start with to deal with sleep problems:

• Get up after fifteen minutes if you can't sleep and do something like read a book until you're tired and want to try going back to bed. Otherwise, there is a risk that you will start to associate the bed with being awake.

• Winding down a couple of hours before bedtime is also good.

• Remove screens and other things that trigger the brain. It is helpful in making the body understand that it should sleep.

• Keep in mind that you may need to get tired and ready by removing stimuli that make you alert such as work email, Facebook and so on.

Even stress can cause sleep problems because stress hormones are present in the body. It is difficult to fall into sleep mode when the body is still in fight or flight mode. Then you may need to treat the stress before you address the sleep problems you are experiencing.

When there is co-morbidity such as depression, stress or anxiety in connection with sleep problems, these need to be investigated. Sometimes you need to focus on that alone, alternatively in parallel with the treatment of sleep disorders, because it can be what disturbs sleep.