What causes insomnia in males? 5 Reasons Explained with Diagnostic Tips– Sleepon
For many men like you, you might think sleep is never important as your work, your career, or your life goals. But the reality is that sleep is the best medicine, and if you start to feel loss of sleep, it means you are more likely to have the negative correlation between lack of sleep and mental health. More than that, less sleep will cause stress.
Therefore, if you are experiencing insomnia, which is defined as having a hard time to go to sleep, waking up too early, or feeling unrested after nights of sleep, you might want to figure out what causes your insomnia and maybe do a sleep study by yourself because sleep and wellness are highly correlated.
What are the symptoms of insomnia in men?
Mayo Clinic summarizes some common symptoms of insomnia:
- Difficulty falling asleep at night
- Waking up during the night
- Waking up too early
- Not feeling well-rested after a night’s sleep
- Daytime tiredness or sleepiness
- Irritability, depression, or anxiety
- Difficulty paying attention, focusing on tasks or remembering
- Increased errors or accidents
- Ongoing worries about sleep
If you have been dealing with one of the symptoms above for a while now, you probably have insomnia already. It may sound horrendous, but you still might first want to know what the causes of insomnia in men can be, to eventually help you get back to your sleep health.
What causes insomnia in men?
To be honest, sometimes even though we have some sort of sleep disruptions or a hard to fall asleep, we tend not to think we have insomnia. In reality, a lot of men like you might lack of awareness of not having healthy sleep hours or sleep hygiene. The following insomnia causes might be an alarm for you:
5 Common Insomnia Causes in Men
Stress from Environment
According to Young Men’s Health, here are some factors that may cause you having stress which leads to insomnia:
- Moving to a new home, school, or job
- Getting into arguments with family members or friends
- Having big tests or projects coming up
- Anything else in your life that makes you worry a lot
Growth Hormone
Renew Youth indicates that growth hormone has a positive correlation with your sleep. Its production grows when you are sleeping. If you have insomnia, and when your sleep is disrupted, the hormone production will also be affected. And a low level of hormone production will then disrupt your sleep.
Mood disorders, such as anxiety and depression, are more likely to happen among women, which causes them to be more vulnerable to sleep problems.
That’s because many of the chemicals that are supposed to regulate your sleep in the brain can be affected by mood disorders
Caffeine & Alcohol Intake
Caffeine can disrupt your sleep, especially if taken within several hours before going to sleep. Alcohol, on the other hand, may make you fall asleep fast, but it can cause you to wake up too early and not be able to fall back asleep.
Poor Sleep Habits
Irregular sleep schedule, long naps during the day, an uncomfortable sleep environment, and too much screen time just before bed can interfere with your healthy sleep hours.
Eating Dinner Too Late
Eating too late may cause you to feel physically uncomfortable while lying down. It can also lead to an upset stomach and restless sleep.
How to do insomnia diagnosis in men?
There is no specific way of insomnia diagnosis, but you could try the following tips to diagnose your sleep problems before rushing to see the doctor:
- Keep a sleep diary. Write down your sleep routine for one to two weeks (bedtime, wake time, naps, caffeine use, etc.) like you write a diary. This information can help you or your health provider understand patterns or behaviors that interfere with rest.
- Complete a sleep study. If you decide to go to your doctor for the insomnia that may be caused by sleep apnea or other sleep disorders, you may be referred to a sleep study test center.
- Get a sleep tracker. In general, a sleep study test cost can be very high so to better understand your blood oxygen during sleep, which could help you do a sleep study by yourself. Overall, it is a cheap but efficient option.
Go2sleep could be a choice if you are in need. It can track sleep data all night, provide comprehensive sleep report with accurate data. Besides that, it is small and light. More importantly, it can offer you the best value. Sleep Foundation named it the best value sleep tracker of 2022.
Conclusion
No matter if you male or female, sleep health is always important in our lives because it can affect not only our physical health but also mental health. That’s why you should be concerned if you have insomnia.
This article has summarized 5 common symptoms of insomnia, the causes, and insomnia diagnosis in men.
Overall, proper self-diagnosis may help you understand your sleep habit and your sleep health better; and it is very convenient to get a cheap but effective sleep tracker by yourself. Then follow up with some insomnia treatment so that you can eventually overcome insomnia
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