Like I mentioned previously, this is the short-term insomnia that usually happens for a few days. There are a various amount of reasons this could happen, but the main reason is usually stress or reacting to a change.
It can be as simple as these stresses…
- Short term Illness/Cold/Flu
- Surgery or some kind of injury
- Death in the family or loved one
- Lost job
But it can also occur from relatively minor things…
- Traveling
- Exams/Deadlines
- Stress from work
- Extreme changes in weather
For the vast majority of people, sleep will always come back when the stress resolves itself, when you adapt to the change or change the situation. It all depends on who you are really. Stress and change affect all people differently, but these are typical reasons people will experience insomnia. Others may not.
Females, on the other hand, can have a much more hormonal reason why they will experience insomnia. These are also temporary forms…
- Menstruation - A certain sleep hormone (progesterone) actually decreases during this time, which may result in insomnia.
- Pregnancy - The same sleep hormone actually gets disrupted during the first and last trimesters, which means there will be a disruption in sleeping patterns.
- Menopause - During the first phase of menopause, there are a lot of fluctuations in hormones. Insomnia typically will happen in one form or another. It can be a completely hormonal experience or it can be stress caused by hot flashes, sweating and increased anxiety.
The sleeping environment and general disruptions can be causing this transient insomnia. Studies have shown that a significant amount of people have reduced quality of sleep based on the environment in which they sleep.
- Too Much Light - Light is an important factor on us biologically. We have an internal clock that maintains itself by the light. Naturally, we're supposed to get up with the sun and go to sleep when it is dark. When you have a lot of light in your sleeping environment, you actually change the way the body functions and it can't properly figure out when it should be awake and when it should sleep.
- Lack of Day Light - To fit in with your biology, you need to get a significant amount of regular daylight. Studies have shown that when you experience more daylight, you're more likely to have more of the sleep hormones triggered when it gets dark.
There are some other reasons that this could be happening, which don't really classify so much as problems.
- Jet Lag - When you're traveling across time zones, you're obviously going to have to adjust. This is typically only experienced for typically a few days at most.
- Stimulants - Caffeine and nicotine are probably the two biggest stimulants that can interfere with your sleeping. Caffeine is easier to deal with because it's in our coffee and soft drinks. Nicotine can be a little trickier because it is in cigarettes and quitting can cause insomnia.
- Sleeping Partner - Most people have their spouse in bed with them and this can be a problem. When the other person moves, this can wake you up. Snoring is also a big one that can reduce the quality of sleep for the person having to listen to it.
- Medication - Some medications will keep you up and the only real solution to that is talking to a doctor about it.