Struggling to Sleep? Four Possible Reasons #healthy2020 #sleepissues #goodnightrest

My #Healthy2020 initiative continues...with a look at the importance of healthy sleep. Sleep issues are very common...and this can lead to negative health consequences. To solve sleep issues, it's important to get to the root cause. Today, The Weekend Gourmet correspondent is sharing four common reasons for chronic sleep issues. This article may contain affiliate links.

It's very common for people of all ages to find themselves struggling to sleep. Whether you've always had problems with sleeping well -- or whether sleep issues are starting to happen now for the first time -- it's something that can profoundly affect your life, health, and emotions. That's good reason to ensure you're not allowing sleep issues to continue. To get to the bottom of your sleep issues, it may help to look at some common reasons why you might be struggling to sleep.

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Anxiety

One of the most common causes of poor sleep, or lack of sleep, is anxiety. Anxiety doesn’t have to be something that you're distinctly aware of. In fact, anxiety is hidden in many cases it is hidden. You might not be aware that you have anxiety until it's already negatively affecting you. One thing that anxiety can do is affect your ability to sleep. If you're struggling to sleep, ask yourself whether you're anxious. If so, try to get to the bottom of why you're experiencing stress.

Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that may cause you negative issues. In fact, you can have apnea for years without ever knowing about it. If you live alone and nobody has heard you sleep, then you may have sleep apnea -- and not know it. Sleep apnea is simply a disorder of breathing where you have repetitive pauses in breathing during sleep. There are several types of sleep apnea, but they all affect the breathing in some way or another. This in return effects your sleep too. Think you might have sleep apnea? It might be worth going to a sleep clinic to get this checked out...just in case.

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Environmental Conditions

In order to sleep well, you need to make sure the environment is conducive to good sleep. That means that the room needs to be at a comfortable, regular temperature -- not too hot or cold. There also needs to be an absence of noise or light. If you don’t have these optimal conditions present in your life, you're probably going to struggle to sleep well. However, some people are more affected by sleep environment than others. It’s definitely something to consider if you've been struggling to sleep recently.

Depression

Depression is the most common mental ailment in the world. It can affect you in a number of ways, including the inability to sleep well. As with anxiety, you might not even be aware you're depressed at first. However, if you have an inkling that you might be clinically depressed, then you see your doctor OR seek help in the form of counselling. Treating depression could help you sleep much better in no time at all -- which will, in turn, help the depression improve over time.