What Causes Insomnia and Fatigue?

Insomnia can be either a condition or a symptom of a condition, and fatigue can be a symptom of a condition or just a consequence of a lack of sleep.

Generally, insomnia is caused by:

– Disrupted circadian rhythms or changes in sleep patterns
– Poor sleep habits or bad habits like eating too much too late in the evening
– Caffeine, nicotine, or alcohol
– A mental health disorder like an anxiety disorder or depression, or sometimes just stress
– A particular prescription medication like an antidepressant or an asthma medication
– A medical condition like chronic pain, cancer, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), or an
– Overactive thyroid
– A sleep-related disorder like restless leg syndrome or sleep apnea

It’s common for fatigue to be caused by one of the issues above or another issue like:

– A lack of regular exercise
– Too much sleep
– Sleep disturbances
– A poor diet

You might have insomnia or be fatigued if you’re unable to sleep well or possibly even at all. You may have other issues too like having difficulty falling asleep, waking up often at night, struggling to get back to sleep, waking up too early in the morning, or feeling tired after waking up. It can be hard to tell if you have insomnia, and it may be difficult or impossible to treat the condition yourself. You should see a sleep professional about the matter.

A sleep professional can perform evaluations like a physical exam or a blood test to determine what the problem could be and if there’s an underlying cause like sleep apnea. A sleep study can help in many cases too. After the professional understands the matter better, the professional can provide treatment.

Treatment depends on the cause in your particular case of insomnia or fatigue. Sometimes all that’s necessary is to change your sleep habits or address an issue like stress. Other times and for more severe cases of insomnia or fatigue, behavioral therapy, medications, and other professional treatments are better. There’s actually a form of behavioral therapy specifically for insomnia, and it’s called cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). It may work especially well for you.

In many cases, like when insomnia is a symptom of a condition like sleep apnea, the best treatment for the patient is oral appliance therapy. This treatment can actually address the condition and thus relieve the symptom. Oral appliance therapy is approved by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and we provide it here at Koala® Center For Sleep & TMJ Disorders.

Yes! We offer many treatments for insomnia and fatigue, including oral appliance therapy, and we can network with other professionals, like neurologists, if we need their services to treat insomnia. To get started, call our clinic today at (855) 977-0400 or book a consultation with us on our Appointments page. Koala® Center For Sleep & TMJ Disorders has multiple locations in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Texas and Wisconsin.