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Why can't I sleep at night?

212 Answers
Last Updated: 05/05/2022 at 11:00pm
1 Tip to Feel Better
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Jennifer Patterson, LMFT

Art Therapist

Life can be messy. Sometimes you need a little support to make your way through it. I love to help guide people through their challenges & to find the beauty in our messes.

Top Rated Answers
Anonymous
August 15th, 2018 5:09pm
You may have anxiety or depression and your thoughts could be why you can’t sleep. Or it could be something else
compassionateBeauty81
August 18th, 2018 3:51pm
Im not sure about your specific situation but some people use music to listen to or calming sound Effects. You could try that or is all else fails you could try an over the counter sleep aid like NyQuil and see if that works for you. Your not sleeping could be because of any stress or anxiety you might have or it could be something greater. If you would like you could go to a medical professional to see if they can treat you’re sleeping issue. I really hope you get through this problem and if you would like to talk about it more there are many listeners to help you.
Anonymous
September 9th, 2018 6:32am
Could be many factors. Main one being, your brain is too alert. You need to make sure there is a comfortable enough sleeping environment for you to be able to switch off completely. In order for your brain to release the right amount of Melatonin, you will need complete darkness. That means mobile phones and laptops put on silent and placed elsewhere. Your room should ideally be at a cooler temperature (especially females). The reason why you're having so much trouble is distraction and disturbance of the mind. That can be put at ease by silent meditation or simple deep breathing exercises.
Diya83
November 3rd, 2018 3:02pm
Maybe you are stressed and your mind is overwhelmed, if you try to relax and put away things that could add to your stress, like your phone or any other devices that you do things on and instead listen to music you enjoy or you find calming and try to not stress as much you could get a better night's sleep. If you also do things that you enjoy and you feel happier before you sleep it could help you to fall asleep faster
Brittneym101
November 24th, 2018 4:11am
Everyone is different so you may have a different cause as to why you can't sleep. I can't really pin point exactly why you are having those issues, but people often get sleep studies done. It may be within your best interest to get one. Maybe you have a lot on your mind and it could be that your brain doesn't want to turn off. This answer will depend on a lot of different factors. Some say that warm milk can help. It may be time to visit a doctor is this is something that happens often. Good luck
Anonymous
November 24th, 2018 4:35am
You may not be able to sleep at night if you have a lot on your mind. Whether it's something that happened a week ago, worrying about something that may happen in the future, if its on your mind you won't be able to sleep! To help with this, You should take 15-20 minutes of you day and assign it "Worry time". Use this time to think about your worries, think of solutions, think of why it's making you worry etc. It is very effective! If you are struggling throughout the day to stop worrying, try writing your worry down and referring back to it during your "Worry time" You'd be surprised how much this can help !
youshouldsmile
December 17th, 2018 9:27am
Most of the time we are spending with the phone in our hands so first of all - let's turn the night shift what I mean is from the blue light to yellow which doesn't trigger our brain that much and makes our eyes to feel more rested. Since blue light is bad for us, then our brain can't make hormones for sleep. Also, try to do not think, try to clear your minds (but it's so hard you would say) yes, it is hard but just trying for ten minutes you finally will be asleep. Or at least that's what I do when I can't.
Matthew2414
January 18th, 2019 3:54am
There are many possible causes. 1. Physical causes. A doctor can do tests to determine hormonal or thyroid issues that may be the cause. 2. Environmental causes. Too much light in the room, too warm, too much noise, excessive electromagnetic radiation such as from appliances or powerlines. 3. Poor sleep hygiene. Go to bed and get up and regular times. Do not uses digital devices 3 hours before bedtime. Get light and exercise in the morning. 4. Nutritional deficiencies. D3 deficiency. Take D3 supplement in morning per doctor's instructions based on your current D3 level determined by blood test. 5. Anxiety. Natural supplements like L-Theanine and Lemon Balm Extract can help. 6. Excessive caffeine intake. Don't drink caffeinated beverages after 3 pm.
Anonymous
January 19th, 2019 11:18pm
It could be that you have insomnia. Insomnia has many possible causes, including stress, anxiety, depression, poor sleep habits, circadian rhythm disorders (such as jet lag), and taking certain medications. Sometimes, just a lot of anxiety or stress causes us to stay awake without insomnia too. There are two types of insomnia, primary insomnia and secondary insomnia. Primary insomnia is insomnia that isn’t caused by anything, that’s been there most of your life, and can be treated with a variety of therapies or medications. Secondary insomnia is insomnia that’s caused by a second, underlying issue. Some factors could be stress, depression, anxiety, and so on. This can also be treated with therapies and medications, but would be focused on the underlying issues rather than the actual sleeplessness
AishaD
April 3rd, 2019 4:32am
Not being able to sleep at night is most often categorized as insomnia. Insomnia can be a result of many factors, and it can be acute or chronic (both are treatable). Some of the symptoms you are probably facing right now are general tiredness, irritability, problems with concentration, and sleepiness throughout the day. Some causes of this can be because of a significant life stress (new job, moving, etc.), illnesses, interference in your sleep schedule, and/or environmental factors. You should talk to your doctor about this and work out the root of this problem. Try listening to some relaxing music before you sleep, meditating, or maintaining a healthier diet.
MimiEcouteAuCoinDuFeu
September 1st, 2019 8:31pm
It may be hard to find sleep for lots of reasons. First : are you in your bed ? If the answer is no : you should wonder why it’s hard for you to go to your bed. I experienced several reasons, like : (1) doing intensive cardio training late in the day, (2) not being tired because I woke up late in the morning, (3) not being tired because I woke too early, had a long day at school, and then took a long nap just before diner, (4) don't want to stop doing something, like reading, or playing. For the 4th reason, I decided to use my internet box parameters to turn wifi off past a certain hour. Now, if it's hard to find sleep when you are in bed : maybe you think in circles, remembering bad memories, (as if your brain was picking the worst chapters of the story of your life) or anticipating bad news... It warms up the body and prevent from finding sleep. I never achieved to stop my brain, but happily it’s easy to cool my body down : I stand 5 minutes in front of the open window, take fresh air, and then return to my bed (which cooled down too). And then it’s so much easier to fall asleep ! Hope it might help you !
Shanekilmartin
September 29th, 2019 10:54pm
There are many factors why you wouldn’t be sleeping at night. The most common is insomnia which is a sleeping disorder. But also being stressed can make you stay up so can anxiety depression or being on the phone before you sleep. Leaving phone away from your bedroom is always advisable it’s good to go to bed with a clear mind and wake up with one too. Going to be stressed is never a good idea having a hot shower or listening to music can help significantly or going for a walk in fresh air
Anonymous
October 20th, 2019 11:15pm
Many people cannot sleep at night because of constant worrying and over analyzing about what happened during the course of the day. I was guilty of this for a long time. I would lye in bed for hours on end with nothing on my brain but worries- worries about being late to work, about being a bad mom, and worrying about how tired I was going to be the next day from all of this! I was stuck in a negative spiral until I finally became so tired of it and started doing some research to see if I could improve my situation. I learned that many suffer from lack of sleep due to constant worrying and that developing a "bed time" routine can ease your mind so you can actually fall and stay asleep. It takes a while to develop a routine that works best for you but it can be done and it changed my life!
Anonymous
November 1st, 2019 4:34am
Sometimes the burden of regrets and feeling of worthlessness can do that. I went through not sleeping that way i used to lay awake sometimes crying looking at the ceiling. Wishing that someone can come and stop this. Don't worry just talk about it or keep a diary and tell yourself about it. You will overcome it one day. BEST OF LUCK If you need help ask for it. 7 cups is here for you always remember that. You are not alone we are here. I think you can start by admitting you mistakes and failures. Really helpful. Accept them as they are. Don't wish they were different
DanielPetru
January 4th, 2020 10:24pm
Well there are a multitude of factors that could prevent you from having a good sleeping pattern, maybe something is on your mind lately that keeps you preoccupied if it is so and you wish to talk to someone you are on the right platform, you may consume to much sugar during your eavning and so your body is to engaged to be able to find sleep or maybe you have been going to sleep later and later and so you are to awake to go to sleep at what now is early, for this you have to slowly move back your bedtime in order to regain a normal sleeping hour, if you feel like you do not relate to these answers you can check others listeners answers or check in with your doctor.
Jenn20
February 16th, 2020 4:54am
There can be may reasons to that question. But for me, I think it's due to anxiety over the next day or the things in the past. Is that the same for you? It also could be due to going on your phone or device for many hours, I know going on my phone makes it harder for me to sleep and it causes my eyes to hurt and I start to have a headache. If it your phone, I suggest putting it away during the night and try to read a book or something like that. Maybe drink a warm drink as well.
StarryNight2020
February 23rd, 2020 2:13am
1. You may be eating too late at night. 2. You may be going on your phone too late. Make sure to put away all screens at least an hour before going to bed. 3. You may be stressed about something. Try meditating, reading a good book, or going for a walk a while before bed. These will help to make you feel less stressed, and might also tire you out. 4. You may be drinking caffeine too late. You shouldn't drink any caffeine within five hours of when you're going to bed. (If you go to bed at 12AM, stop drinking caffeine at 7PM)
freshParadise8682
February 26th, 2020 9:35am
There are many reasons as to why sleep can be affected. Anxiety can be one fo the main reasons. When we’re in bed we are alone with our thoughts and it’s so easy for your mind to run away and over think things. It then affects you so much you can’t switch off and find yourself tossing and turning to try and get comfortable. Stress, anxiety and depression go hand in hand with symptoms like insomnia. They can leave you feeling agitated and you can’t get comfortable which then just frustrates you more. Emotions also play a part, if you’re upset it can be harder to get to sleep too
jhappyflowwr
March 19th, 2020 7:26am
Sometimes things that happen during the day or are going on in your life can be disturbing and may actively affect your sleeping schedule. Some of the best alternatives that work for majority of the people are listening to soothing music, reading to bed, practicing mindfulness, forming types of imagery in their mind, etc. You need to reflect back on your day and life and find out what is affecting you negatively. These solutions will only give temporary relief but the sleeping issue will be fixed only if you manage to figure out the cause and work towards solving it. Therefore, look at yourself, your life. Ask yourself what is disturbing you and your sleep. Get to know yourself better and then work on it.
courtney9310
March 21st, 2020 1:08am
A lot of people have trouble sleeping at night. This can be due to a variety of things whether it be insomnia or anxiety. if you feel you can't sleep because your mind is racing with thoughts at night it could be due to anxiety and might be something you want to speak to your doctor about. Another thing that could help anxiety is meditating or breathing exercises before bed time. This has personally helped me wind down before bed at night. Also, setting a time to put your phone down at night is a great way to make sure you aren't keeping yourself awake when you are really tired.
Carousel33
March 21st, 2020 1:27am
There are a variety of factors to consider if you are having difficulties falling asleep. Are you overstimulated? Are you anxious about past or upcoming events? Did you consume anything with caffeine? Caffeinated Soft-drink can contribute to that. Screens-time right before bed has also shown to contribute to the challenges. Medically, insomnia (to varying degrees) can also be the cause, Some strategies that may help include taking a bath before going to bed, having white noise in the background, meditating, or even taking Melatonin (available over the counter). Exercising before bed can also be an option if you want to tire your body out.
SirJayalot
April 2nd, 2020 2:15pm
Why can't I sleep at night? The answer might be like this: Anxiety, stress, and depression are some of the most common causes of chronic insomnia. Having difficulty sleeping can also make anxiety, stress, and depression symptoms worse. Other common emotional and psychological causes include anger, worry, grief, bipolar disorder, and trauma. But it can also be as easy, as looking at your screen (phone laptop desktop tv) before you want to sleep. So you might want to avoid that. You can try to read a book (a paper one) about 1 hour before bed. With just a little bit of light on in the room. It really changed a lot for me. Go give it a try!
walkingpresent
April 10th, 2020 2:23am
There are several ways to deduct on why you have trouble sleeping at night especially in this modern era. You may already know that the blue light from your phone and TV can trick your brain to think that it is not yet night time, causing you to feel refreshed even when you are sleepy before. This is why it is not recommended to spend your time playing with your phone or watching TV right before you go to sleep. Especially if the stimulation is so high that your brain will need some time to bring the stimulation down before you can fully relax to go to sleep. I recommend you to put away your phone at least 1 hour before your bed time to avoid this to happen. There is another reason which is more uncommon - You are having a lot of thought in your mind right now, so much that you can't stop thinking about them even when you are suppose to go to sleep. This won't go just like that, at least not in a short time. You can layout your bare thoughts on a paper and write it all down until you can't think of anything to write out. Had this experience before and it took me almost 20 minutes of non-stop writing just to get my thoughts out, well it is better than not having sleep at all.
Anonymous
April 12th, 2020 10:24pm
Well there might be a lot of reasons why you aren't able to sleep at night. But my reason used to be cause my thoughts kept me awake at night. I kept replaying my day over and over again I my head. Thinking about every single mistake that I had made that day and about all the things that I should have done and should have said. And that made me feel really low and I was feeling like I didn't earn the sleep and that I'm just a failure and everyone hates me. But after a while I realized that that's not the case. You can't really change the past so why keep replying over and over again why not just move on.
Anonymous
April 23rd, 2020 9:45am
There are various reason you might struggle to fall asleep. The most common I think is having a lot of thought. To fall asleep your mind needs to be kind of turning off, so if you're constantly thinking of something, trying to find answers or something like this falling asleep is really hard. Another reason you can't sleep might be that you're scared to sleep. This might happen if you have a lot of nightmares, or scared of the dark. Fear of dark can get worse if your in a bad place mentally, because ou might project your struggles in the shdows making them even scarier. So, what can you do about this? Personally I suggest drinking camomile before going to bed and not whatching screens for half an hour before sleeping. If you're scared of the dark leave a light on, that's okay. Also, try to read someting before going to sleep so you think about the book instead of your life before sleeping. I hope I was helpful.
AlissaRose
April 26th, 2020 12:30am
Not being able to sleep at night seems like really worries you. It is understandable a person's sleep pattern affects his/her mood and overall wellbeing. It is important to understand that phenomenon from various perspectives and assess the situation more precisely. However, sleep hygiene might be helpful. It includes using the bed only for sleeping purposes, stop watching tv or working on the computer an hour before going to sleep, regular exercise might help you as you feel more tired. It is also recommended to avoid eating heavy food in the evening or sweets as it might spike your glucose level; as a result, you feel more energized. Relaxation music and meditation might help you too. If the problem is persistent and severe, it might be necessary to see a doctor.
Ebray90
April 30th, 2020 3:06pm
There could be quite a few different reasons. Anxiety or using technology too close to bedtime are some pretty common reasons. The light from tv, cell phones, tablets, etc. tell your brain to stay awake. Sometimes eating too close to bedtime can be an issue too. You might need to try tweaking a few of your activities before you figure out the cause. Try to stop technology use at least 30 minutes before bed. If you think you might be eating too close to bedtime, try to stop eating 2-3 before you plan to sleep. If you think it might be anxiety related, try to do the 4-7-8 breathing exercise. Breath in deeply for 4 seconds, hold it in for 7 seconds, and then slowly breath out for 8 seconds. This can be repeated 3-5 times to help steady your breathing and leave you feeling a bit more calm.
beautifulBerry9548
May 6th, 2020 12:42am
Unable to sleep at night can consist of a few things. Having caffeine to late can affect falling sleeping, exercising late, anxiety, stress, and depression. Unable to sleep can also make symptoms worse. You may want to make accommodations to your schedule during the day. Unable to sleep can also be an underlying mental or physical issue. Try to relax and take your mind off of racing thoughts, avoid technology (phones, computers, or TV) before bed, and good sleep hygiene (activities that signal the body to sleep at night). Also build a sleeping plan that focuses on the goals you want.
Anonymous
June 6th, 2020 10:49am
There could be many reasons why one can't sleep at night. Perhaps a lack of physical activity means your body has a lot of energy which it needs to use up. On the other end, if you're doing something physically intensive; your heart rate will be high which meas your brain is not in a "mood" to go to sleep. Staring at screens before sleeping has also been found to cause sleeping problems. Also, if you have something on your mind that worries you, that you could be overthinking about, means that your brain is more consumed by that matter than it is ready to sleep.
elizabethleap
June 24th, 2020 2:16am
Sometimes, we are so stressed that thoughts are constantly taking up space and energy. Maybe, you haven't eaten enough and that causes insomnia as well. One thing I would recommend is trying melatonin pills and see if that might help your sleep. Additionally, setting a normal sleep schedule is important for your body to get used to. For example, always sleeping at midnight and waking up at 8am. It is important to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep as an adult. Taking naps during the day that are longer than 20-30 minutes may mess up your sleep schedule.