Night sweats and insomnia often occur together, with stress, anxiety, pregnancy, menopause, infections, hormonal imbalances, sleep apnea, and medications being common causes. Treatment options include reducing underlying stress, addressing hormonal imbalances, and changing medications.
Many common conditions create night sweats and insomnia. First, night sweats often lead to insomnia because episodes of heavy sweating can cause the individual to wake up at night. He may need to change his clothes or sheets because they are soaked in sweat. This nocturnal disruption disrupts the sleep cycle and makes it difficult to get back to sleep, resulting in exhaustion. In other cases, things like stress and anxiety disorders, pregnancy or menopause, infections, hormonal imbalances, sleep apnea, or medications are more commonly associated with the simultaneous occurrence of these two conditions.
Stress or anxiety disorders are linked to night sweats and insomnia, which means that most people can be vulnerable at some point in their lives to developing these symptoms. Night sweats don’t necessarily happen to all people with anxiety, but they can be another unpleasant symptom that makes sleep problems worse. The key to symptom relief is reducing the underlying stress, which might involve a variety of self-help or therapeutic treatments.
Women who have experienced pregnancy or menopause can attest to the challenges of these symptoms. For perimenopausal women, frequent hot flashes often affect the ability to sleep. Night sweats also increase stress levels, so the body may be less likely to get adequate sleep.
A variety of common infections can cause temporary night sweats and insomnia. Any type of virus accompanied by a fever can cause excessive sweating and extreme wakefulness, and these conditions usually resolve when the body effectively clears the virus. Some viruses, such as HIV, cannot be cured and may continue to produce these symptoms. Bacterial infections are also known to cause trouble sleeping and sweating, and some more commonly associated with these symptoms include tuberculosis and any infection that causes cysts or organ inflammation. Symptoms are usually temporary and go away with treatment.
Hormonal imbalances create night sweats and poor sleep. One of the most common offenders, aside from hormonal changes in pregnancy and menopause, is higher than normal thyroid hormone levels or hyperthyroidism. Thyroid hormones regulate body temperature, and high levels can significantly raise body temperature.
Other sleep disturbances have been associated with these symptoms. Some sleep apnea sufferers report these problems, and this condition often complicates matters because it already makes it difficult for a person to get a good night’s sleep. However, treatment of sleep apnea can resolve all symptoms.
Many people take medications that affect sleep. Night sweats and insomnia have been associated with a variety of antidepressants, corticosteroids such as prednisone, and medications such as tamoxifen. Not all people taking these drugs report excessive sweating and insomnia as side effects. People who experience these symptoms on a regular basis may wish to speak to a doctor to discuss possible medication changes.
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