The 16 Most Common Causes of Insomnia.

In order to find a cure to your sleep problems it is important to firstly understand the causes behind your insomnia.

Make a list if you have to – it’s one thing that worked well for me – but do whatever it takes to get a close, objective look at your lifestyle to determine what isn’t working in your life.

Now, you may say you have an extremely successful marriage, a good business or enjoyable career, a lively circle of friends, and a steady bank account, but look beneath the surface just a bit. What, really, is going on physically or in that restless unconscious of yours?

You probably wouldn’t be reading this article if you were perfectly healthy and happy and could fall asleep at the drop of a pillow. You’re struggling to function at your peak, and you’re fighting something that you may feel you can’t control.

The good news is that you can control many causes of insomnia. These are the most common:

• A change in diet, or a poor diet;
• Generalised or specific stressors;
• Depression and anxiety;
• A recent traumatic experience;
• Any new medications;
• Additional health problems, or new health problems;
• A change in your everyday routine;
• Frequent travel, or recent travel, particularly crossing time zones;
• Lack of exercise, or being overweight or underweight;
• A poor sleep environment, with noise or too much external stimulus;
• An irregular sleep schedule;
• A negative/hopeless attitude about sleep, and a dread of bedtime for fear that you won’t sleep;
• Clockwatching;
• Shallow or ineffective breathing;
• Use or overuse of over-the-counter, prescription, or herbal supplements to aid in sleep, which often disturbs the quality of sleep; and
• Smoking, drinking alcohol, or taking in too much caffeine.

So try to identify the cause or causes that most apply to you, and then look towards altering that aspect of your life.

Remember, getting the right kind of sleep is as crucial to maintaining your health as breathing. As you age, your ability to withstand life’s stressors reduces. It is critically important that the first step you take toward reconditioning your body and mind is to make sleep a priority.

The best sleep occurs when you are comfortable and not over stimulated or distracted. To help get to sleep and stay that way, you need to firstly identify which aspect of your life is causing this distraction or stimulation and then begin to work towards changing it.


Dan Kennedy has written a free ebook on how to Cure Your Insomnia. To download it visit www.cure-your-insomnia.com