Difficulty falling asleep, why do we have that as a problem? Why should something so natural and part of our lives be problematic? Why can't we just go to sleep? I will share some of the answers with you.

Stress is one of the main reasons why we can not get to sleep at night. As there are different kinds of stress there are different solutions as well. The most common form of stress is acute stress, it is what we are usually referring to when we say that we are stressed. It is the everyday stress, the big project at work, the problems with the spouse, the bad report card you have to read, etc.

Beyond the everyday things there are the much more difficult things to deal with, the long term issues. This is chronic stress, the things that stay with us, that do not go away. They seem to build up and up day after day making sleep (and other things in our life) much more difficult. The causes of this briefly can be anything that we have to deal with on a long term basis. Medical issues (ours or a family members), family problems (the kind where they continue for a long period of time such as divorce), a job that you hate, etc.

Another big cause can be our environment. When one says environment certain things come to mind, the rainforest, global warming and the like. What is meant here is a much more individual and personal environment, our bedroom (or place that we sleep). Take a second to think about your bedroom and how conducive it is to sleeping. Do you have a TV on when you sleep? Or a radio? Are the curtains or blinds open, with some light streaming in? Is there anything that can distract you?

So what do u do to beat it? The answer is very simple even if the application of it does not seem like it. Relax. That is it. The more relaxed you are the easier and better you sleep. I know that it is not as easy as it sounds though. I am one of the people who lies down, closes my eyes and then it seems the brain kicks into overdrive with things that I do not want to think about. It can be so hard to let go of it to actually fall asleep.