Question: How do people develop insomnia?

Nicholas Pearce answered on 7 Nov 2015:

Hello,

There a quite a few ways a person may become an insomniac.
Some of these are more obvious, for example, drinking a cup of coffee before going to bed is probably not a great way to get a full night’s sleep. Other causes like exercising before bed, being in pain or worrying about something the next day can often keep someone up at night.

More complicated causes can be due to a disruption of the circadian rhythm. This is the body’s clock, that will tell you to be sleepy at night and wake up in the morning. This is done through chemicals in the brain, which tell your brain when to feel sleepy and when to wake up. The levels of these chemicals can change with the amount of daylight you get which can result in insomnia if the rhythm is changed somehow, for example if you have a night job or are jet-lagged.