The Most Common External Causes of Insomnia

External causes of insomnia are not linked to factors originating from within us. Rather, they are the result of outside influences. Once they are addressed, individuals can usually resolve their insomnia issues and get better sleep. Causes of insomnia which have their origin from within a person are covered on the page focused on The Biological Causes of Insomnia.

The modern society has a bad impact on our quality of sleep in a variety of ways. This is because there are multiple factors contributing to insomnia and sleep deprivation. This sleep deficiency is caused by four key factors which shall be discussed in detail on this page. Moreover, these factors include continuous artificial light exposure, regularized temperatures and elevated consumption of sleep disrupting products such as caffeine and alcohol.

How Continuous Artificial Light Exposure Causes Insomnia

A Historical Overview of Human Sleeping Habits

In ancient times most of the activity of humans ceased when the sun set. This is because we are predominantly visual creatures relying on daylight to function. This made us dependent on our planet’s natural twenty-four-hour cycle of light and dark. With the invention of candles and later on gas- and oil-burning lamps we started to reengineer our sleep patterns. As entire city districts started to become illuminated all over the world we gradually advanced towards later bedtimes.

The Impact of the Invention of Electrical Light on Our Sleep Patterns

Things drastically changed when Thomas Edison’s company started production of reliable incandescent light bulbs and later on fluorescent light bulbs. This guaranteed modern humans to no longer spend much of the night in darkness. Even though, this had been the case for thousands of years. Unfortunately, this technological evolution has had a drastic impact on our overall sleep patterns. This is because electric lighting has put an end to the natural order of things as it tricks our brain that it is still day. As a result, the release of melatonin in our brain, is delayed by several hours. More information on the importance of melatonin can be found on the page focused on the Essential Sleep Mechanisms.

The Connection Between Artificial Light and Insomnia

In ancient times we would go to sleep at around eight to ten pm. However, nowadays in modern times our twenty-four-hour clock is pushed forward by two or three hours. This is caused by the exposure to artificial light in the evening which delays the release of melatonin in the brain. As a result, this makes it much harder for us to go to sleep at a reasonable time. Furthermore, artificial evening and nighttime light is a big cause of insomnia for many people around the world. Even a small bedside lamp can significant delay the release of melatonin at night, resulting in a later onset of sleep.

The Benefits and Disadvantages of Blue LED Lights

The invention of light-emitting diodes or blue LED lights in 1997 made the situation far worse. Blue LED lights offer considerable advantages over incandescent lamps as they require less energy and have a longer life span. However, they are far more harmful for our sleep health. This is because blue LED lights double the suppression of nighttime melatonin release, relative to incandescent light bulbs. This is because the light receptors in our eyes are much more sensitive to short-wavelength light within the blue spectrum.

The Widespread Use of Blue LED Lights in Modern Society

Nowadays, blue LED lights are everywhere in our daily lives. Modern humans stare for many hours each night at LED-powered laptops, smart phones and tablets. Often, these devices are only a few inches away from our retinas. Studies indicate that over 90 percent of American adults use some form of portable electronic device sixty minutes or less before bedtime. This has severe negative consequences.

The Negative Effects of Late Night Blue Light Exposure

In depth research illustrates that reading on an iPad during the hours prior to bed, suppresses the release of melatonin by over 50 percent more compared to reading a printed book. Consequently, this causes these individuals to take much longer to fall asleep. Furthermore, the same study shows that reading on an iPad at night has two additional negative consequences.

1. Firstly, late night iPad use causes individuals to lose a significant amount of REM sleep. As a result they feel less rested and sleepier throughout the next day.
2. Secondly, these individuals suffer from a digital hangover effect. For several days after iPad use, they experience a ninety-minute lag in their evening rising levels of melatonin, even when iPad use ended.

These modern devices are a wonderful piece of technology. They enrich our lives by providing easy access to information and valuable education. However, it is important to be aware that the blue light they emit has a significantly damaging effect on our sleep.

How to Avoid the Negative Effects of Artificial Blue Light

It is important to limit exposure to artificial light at night. This is crucial to prevent the disruption of our circadian rhythm and prevent insomnia from occurring. Luckily there are many things we can do to prevent and/or reduce the negative effects of blue light. The most obvious one is to avoid using LED devices prior to bed. Other examples include using specialized dimmed lights at night and wearing blue light blocking glasses in the evening.

More in-depth information on this topic can be found on the page focused on Light Exposure. Furthermore, the pages focused on Sleep Products, Bedroom and SleepTech provide numerous useful light-related product recommendations.

One of the most effective ways to significantly reduce the negative effects of blue light is by wearing blue light blocking glasses in the evening hours of the day. Choosing the right pair of glasses can be overwhelming as there are so many options available on the market. But don’t worry, we’ve made your life easier. Check out our full guide about the 7 Best Blue Light Blocking Glasses to Prevent Insomnia and Sleep Better At Night. 

How Regularized Temperatures of Our Sleeping Environment Causes Insomnia

An Overview How Our Sleeping Practices Have Changed Compared to Our Ancestors

One of the most underestimated factors which causes insomnia is the temperature of our environment. In modern times our sleeping practices have significantly been altered compared to our ancestors. Moreover, our forefathers slept semi-naked in porous huts with minimal bedding. Nowadays, we sleep in an ambient room temperature with warm bedding and night clothing.

The Connection Between Temperature and Sleep Onset

In order for our body to successfully initiate sleep, our core body temperature needs to decrease by 2- or 3-degrees Fahrenheit or around 1 degree Celsius. For this reason, you will always find it easier to fall asleep in a room that is too cold rather than too hot. This is because your body is at least being pushed in the correct temperature direction for sleep. The reason why is because melatonin is released not only when it is dark but also when a drop in temperature is detected. Furthermore, this temperature drop coincides with the setting of the sun.

How Our Current Sleep Environment is Harming Our Sleep

Nowadays, we created a sleep environment for ourselves with only very limited variations in temperature. This is the result of our climate-controlled homes with central heating and air-conditioning. Additionally, this is because of the common use of warm and cozy bedcovers and pajama’s. Consequently, our brains do not receive adequate cooling signals to start producing melatonin at night. Studies indicate that higher bedroom temperatures are linked to shorter sleep duration, later sleep onset and lower sleep quality

The body usually lowers its core temperature actively through the surface of the skin. However, as a result of our regulated sleep environment our skin has difficulties ventilating properly. As a result, this makes the transition to sleep much more difficult. More information on how to manage temperature to prevent insomnia can be found on the page focused on the Temperature of Our Sleep Environment.

How Consumption of Caffeine Impacts Sleep and Causes Insomnia

Description of Caffeine and Its Prevalence Within Society

Caffeine is a psychoactive stimulant and the second most traded commodity on the planet (after oil). Besides coffee it is also prevalent in many other products. These include some teas, energy drinks, sodas, dark chocolate, ice cream and some types of medication such as weight-loss pills and pain relievers. Moreover, it is important to be aware that de-caffeinated coffee still contains coffee. It is not caffeine free as many people think. One cup of decaf usually contains 15 to 30 percent of the dose of a regular cup of coffee.

The Effect of Caffeine on Our Sleep Mechanism

Caffeine blocks and effectively inactivates our body’s sleepiness signal, also called the adenosine receptors in the brain. In other words, caffeine prevents you from feeling tired. Despite the high levels of adenosine which would otherwise seduce you into sleep, coffee tricks you into feeling alert and awake. Once caffeine wears off however, the adenosine molecules will bind to the receptors with greater affinity. This will cause you to feel a crash as you suddenly feel very tired. 

The Connection Between Caffeine and Insomnia

Studies indicate that coffee has a bad impact on sleep mostly because of the persistence of coffee in our system. Coffee has an average half-life of five to seven hours. This is referring to the amount of time it takes for the body to remove 50 percent of the substance’s concentration.

For example, if you drink a cup of coffee after your dinner at 7:30 pm, this means that by 1:30 at night only half of the coffee in your body has been removed. The other 50 percent may still be actively circulating throughout your brain tissue. This will result in a night of severe difficulty falling asleep, bad quality of sleep and not being fully rested in the morning. This is why caffeine is a very common culprit for insomnia.

Most people simply do not realize the amount of time it takes for your body to process a single dose of caffeine. Therefore, they fail to make the connection between the bad night of sleep with the cup of coffee they had at dinner the previous day.

The Role of Genetics on the Impact of Caffeine on Sleep

Genetics have an important role in determining the impact of caffeine consumption on an individual. Caffeine is removed from your system with the help of a specific enzyme in the liver which degrades it over time. Genetics have an impact on the effectiveness of this enzyme. Some people are able to clear caffeine more rapidly from the bloodstream then others. This is because some people have a faster or slower working version of this enzyme. Additionally, some people are more or less tolerant/sensitive to caffeine depending on the genetic variation of their adenosine receptors in the brain.

The Impact of Caffeine on Health

Studies indicate that the impact of caffeine on health is highly different from one person to another. For some people it can provide health benefits. While for others it can cause harm, for example by raising blood pressure. Every individual needs to determine for themselves through experimentation whether their body tolerates caffeine well or not. Generally, we become more sensitive to caffeine’s sleep-disrupting influence later in life. This is because the older we become the longer it takes our body to remove caffeine from our system.

How Consumption of Alcohol Impacts Sleep Quality

The Impact of Alcohol on the Brain and Wakefulness

Many people believe that alcohol helps them to fall asleep faster or sleep better at night. However, this couldn’t be further away from the truth. Alcohol affects sleep negatively in a variety of ways. Alcohol is a sedative as it binds to receptors within the brain, preventing neurons from firing their electrical impulses.

There is an obvious reason why people become livelier and more social while under the influence of alcohol. This is because during the early stages of drinking alcohol it sedates the frontal lobe region of the human brain. This part of the brain is responsible for controlling our impulses and restraining our behavior. As a result, we loosen up, become less controlled and more extroverted.

Later on, the sedation spreads to other parts of the brain. Consequently, you start to feel sluggish, and you lose the desire and ability to remain conscious. Eventually, you are likely to lose consciousness as the alcohol sedates you out of wakefulness. However, the state you enter in is not that of natural sleep. It can be regarded as a light form of anesthesia.

The Impact of Alcohol on Sleep

Studies indicate that the dismantling effects of consuming alcohol on an individual’s sleep is twofold.

• First of all, alcohol in the blood leads to sleep fragmentation. Individuals will briefly awaken numerous times throughout the night. These awakenings are mostly unnoticed by the sleeper. Additionally, alcohol consumption can worsen snoring and sleep apnea. As a result of these numerous sleep disruptions, alcohol consumers feel exhausted during the next day. Moreover, people fail to make the connection of this exhaustion with the alcohol consumption the night before.
• Secondly, alcohol is one of the most powerful suppressors of REM sleep. Even consuming moderate amounts of alcohol in the afternoon will deprive individuals of REM dream sleep.

Alcoholics go for long stretches without any identifiable REM sleep. Over time they build up a significant pressure to obtain REM sleep. Moreover, This inflicts a frightening consequence upon these individuals. As they are unable to obtain REM sleep during the night, their pent-up REM-sleep pressure erupts into aggressive dreaming while they are awake. This causes hallucinations, delusions and significant disorientation. This psychotic state is called “delirium tremens”.

The Impact of Alcohol on Memory

An important function of REM sleep is to facilitate memory integration and association. A comprehensive research studied the impact of alcohol on the ability to learn grammatical rules in a new language. This is just the type of memory task that REM sleep is known to promote.

Individuals who slept naturally and fully for a week after learning new grammatical rules on day 1 remembered everything they had originally learned. They even illustrated an enhancement of abstraction and retention of knowledge, as the result of good sleep for a week. However, individuals who drank alcohol on the first night after learning forgot more than 50 percent of all the original knowledge seven days later.

A third group of individuals had natural sleep on the first and second night after learning but got drunk on the third night. Interestingly, they also lost about 40 percent of the original knowledge seven days later. This research illustrates that alcohol significantly disrupts the complex memory assimilation of REM sleep. Furthermore, it also indicates that memories remain vulnerable to any disruption of sleep, including that from alcohol, for up to three nights after learning.

We can conclude that it is scientifically proven that the harmful effects of alcohol on sleep are significant. Therefore, it is recommended to minimize consumption of alcohol if you are suffering from sleep problems such as insomnia.