Causes of sleep deprivation can be divided into four broad areas: lifestyle, health complications, medication side effects and clinical disorders. Finding out the cause of your sleep disorder is important because it will determine the type of treatment you need. For example, while those with lifestyle habits that affect their sleep will simply need to alter their lifestyle, those on medication or people who suffer from clinical disorders may need to switch their medications.

Your Lifestyle

One of the main causes is the lifestyle you lead. This includes eating a poor diet and drinking alcohol regularly or excessively. Drinking too much caffeine leads to the inability to sleep well. Working late night shifts throws off the internal clock; the body has a more difficult time sleeping with light. Normal circadian patterns are altered when you can’t sleep during the night.

Those unsure of what is behind their sleep deprivation should keep a sleep journal. Record what you ate, what you did and what happened when you tried to go to sleep each day. Over a period of weeks or a month, patterns develop showing you what could be behind your sleep deprivation.

Medical Conditions

Some medical conditions lead to sleep deprivation. This can be a symptom of a much larger problem. These medical conditions can affect both your emotional state and physical state, causing deprivation indirectly.

Severe asthma can trigger attacks during the evening, keeping you from regular sleep. Other medical conditions can be physiological, such as depression. Doctors have also found post traumatic stress disorder is the cause of insomnia in affected people.

Medications

Medication can interfere with the body’s natural rhythms, causing restlessness, insomnia and tiredness. Unfortunately, some turn to sleeping pills to try to get the rest they need. However, taken over long periods of time, sleeping pills lose their effectiveness and also interfere with the body’s natural rest patterns.

Consequently, if you have just started a new medication and find that it is negatively affecting your sleep, talk to your doctor about alternative medications you can take for your particular condition. While you may experience a few restless nights as your body adjusts to new medicines, your sleep shouldn’t suffer a few weeks into a medication regimen. Read on to learn more about the relationship between sleep and medication.

Clinical Sleep Disorders

When sleep deprivation causes aren’t as obvious, it could be you are suffering from a clinical sleep disorder. Disorders such as insomnia and narcolepsy can be underlying problems for individuals suffering from sleep deprivation. One such medical problem includes sleep apnea where the fatty tissues around the throat close off for very short amounts of time as you sleep. You are jarred awake, over and over throughout the night, though you may not realize it. In return, you are always tired, never rested.

The causes of sleep deprivation often dictate when you should seek help. If you believe medication or medical condition is the underlying problem, immediate help is necessary. Those whose lifestyle is the cause should make changes to that lifestyle as much as possible to insure the body has the ability to sleep as it needs to.