Common causes of insomnia
For Jenny Smith*, her insomnia started
when her daughters were young. “I don’t know if I ever had more than a
three-hour stretch,” recalls the 54-year-old Toronto speech-language
pathologist. “Our youngest daughter came into our room regularly in the
middle of the night until she was 10.”
These days, a different family member is keeping her awake: “My husband has sleep apnea and snores, and it bothers me when I’m going to sleep or when I wake up at night.” Smith usually clocks only 61/2 hours of sleep each night, and she pays for it by feeling zonked the next day. “I drive a lot to see clients and I get really tired after lunch,” she says. “Sometimes I have to pull over in a gas station parking lot to take a 15-minute power nap.”
Like Smith, many women just aren’t getting the sleep they need to feel rested. “Women are much more likely to have sleep problems than men,” says Dr. Meir Kryger, a Canadian physician and professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT. “A large part of it is due to reproductive hormones and stage of life; even in this day and age, it’s usually the woman who ends up taking care of kids or aging family members in the night.” Women are also more likely to have depression and anxiety, which are linked to sleep disorders.
Insomnia – difficulty falling asleep or getting back to sleep or the inability to stay asleep – is the most common sleep disorder for women. It affects about 40 percent of the general population in Canada, and women are 11/2 times more likely to experience it than men, according to a Canadian survey published in The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.
Not catching enough zzzs can have serious health consequences. Poor sleep has been linked to diabetes, cancer and heart disease and makes you more prone to weight gain by affecting the hormones that control hunger and satiety. It can hurt your mental health, too. “Besides making you irritable, sleep deprivation increases your likelihood of developing depression,” says Dr. Kryger.
These days, a different family member is keeping her awake: “My husband has sleep apnea and snores, and it bothers me when I’m going to sleep or when I wake up at night.” Smith usually clocks only 61/2 hours of sleep each night, and she pays for it by feeling zonked the next day. “I drive a lot to see clients and I get really tired after lunch,” she says. “Sometimes I have to pull over in a gas station parking lot to take a 15-minute power nap.”
Like Smith, many women just aren’t getting the sleep they need to feel rested. “Women are much more likely to have sleep problems than men,” says Dr. Meir Kryger, a Canadian physician and professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, CT. “A large part of it is due to reproductive hormones and stage of life; even in this day and age, it’s usually the woman who ends up taking care of kids or aging family members in the night.” Women are also more likely to have depression and anxiety, which are linked to sleep disorders.
Insomnia – difficulty falling asleep or getting back to sleep or the inability to stay asleep – is the most common sleep disorder for women. It affects about 40 percent of the general population in Canada, and women are 11/2 times more likely to experience it than men, according to a Canadian survey published in The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.
Not catching enough zzzs can have serious health consequences. Poor sleep has been linked to diabetes, cancer and heart disease and makes you more prone to weight gain by affecting the hormones that control hunger and satiety. It can hurt your mental health, too. “Besides making you irritable, sleep deprivation increases your likelihood of developing depression,” says Dr. Kryger.
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