If you are suffering from insomnia, knowing what is causing the insomnia symptom or symptoms you are experiencing will help you treat your insomnia effectively. Basically there are five basic causes of insomnia. They are psychological causes, insomnia related to medical conditions, lifestyle-related causes, or insomnia caused by poor sleep habits.

Psychological Causes

Anxiety and stress may be causing your stress. If you often feel upset, tense or get irritated easily and frequently, or if you find it hard to relax, the cause of your insomnia be anxiety or stress. Do you worry a lot about current problems or the future, find it hard to concentrate or focus. If so, it's possible that anxiety is the causing your insomnia. Are you in the midst of a career change or a move, or have there been any job-related problems or family crises recently? Any of these could trigger insomnia.

Medical Causes

You may be suffering from a medical condition that is causing your insomnia. Back or arthritis pains may prevent you from getting to sleep, or they may wake you during the night. Indigestion, allergies, congestion can disturb your sleep. If you do have a medical condition and are taking medication to treat it, it is also possible that the medication you are taking may be causing your insomnia. Medications containing amphetamine, caffeine or ephedrine can prevent you from getting a full night's sleep. Check with your doctor to make sure that a medical condition and/or medication for your condition may be what are giving you sleepless nights.

Lifestyle Causes

Sometimes the way we live is what brings on insomnia. Diet, lack of exercise, work and leisure schedules can all play a part in stealing sleep. For example, if you're a smoker, drink a lot of coffee, tea or other caffeine-laced beverages, you are a prime candidate for insomnia. If you get little or no regular exercise, you are also at risk of developing sleep problems. If you are a workaholic who works more than 10 hours per day or more than 6 days per week, you may be bringing on your own insomnia problem. If you seldom take time out of your busy schedule to relax and "smell the daisies", you may be programming yourself to be an insomniac. It may be worth your time to examine your lifestyle to see whether or not it is causing your insomnia.

Poor Sleep Habits

It is possible that the way you think about sleep and the sleep routines you have established are causing your insomnia. Do you think you need a minimum of 8 hours of sleep per night? If you buy into this myth, you are giving yourself messages that can create sleep-robbing anxiety. Do you stay in bed after you have awakened trying to catch up on sleep that you lost? Doing this will disrupt your sleep rhythms and make your insomnia problem even worse. Do you try to solve all your problems (ie worry about them) when you lie down to sleep? Worrying will only exacerbate your sleep difficulties.

Whatever the cause of your insomnia, you need to identify it. If it's psychological, you may need to get some counseling. If it's medical, your physician can help you. If the cause is lifestyle, you'll need to make some lifestyle changes. If you have developed poor sleep habits, you'll need to identify them and change your thinking about sleep in order to find the right insomnia treatment for you. Once you've done what you need to do, you'll be able to take the necessary steps toward curing your insomnia and banishing it from your life.