Is Thyroid Imbalance Taking Away Your Good Night Sleep?

You are familiar that changes in hormones can affect your good night sleep.

You face sleep problems during hormonal fluctuations which can lead to insomnia.

A woman can face sleep problems during menopause.

But, there is another problem that women are facing, which is thyroid imbalance. The thyroid imbalance can cause sleep problem throughout your life.

If you don’t have any health problems and everything is balanced in your life, but still you are not getting good night sleep, then you might be having hormonal imbalance.

Thyroid is a gland located in the neck and helps to control body’s metabolism and energy. Hypothyroidism is a problem in which the thyroid is underactive and hormone levels too low. Everything slows down in hypothyroidism and you feel extreme fatigue.

If a person gets seven hours of sleep, he or she wakes up refreshed in the morning, but with hypothyroidism the person feels fatigue even after eight, nine or ten hours of sleep. If you have hypothyroidism, your sleep will be unrefreshed, means you feel exhausted.

You always feel to sleep after coming from work or to do any house hold work to store energy for the rest of the work on that day. Excess sleep and fatigue are due to the metabolism slow down which are associated with hypothyroidism.

If you are suffering with hypothyroidism and not taking proper treatment, you are more likely to suffer from sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a condition in which your breathing stops due to airway obstruction.

Every time your breathing stops, you have to wake up for breathing. Therefore, your sleep pattern is interrupted.

If you have hypothyroidism, you have lack of stage four sleep which is called deep sleep. Deficiency in stage 4 sleep can result in sleep deprivation.

If you have hyperthyroidism, your thyroid gland will be overactive and thyroid hormone will be excess. With hyperthyroidism, you can feel restlessness, insomnia, anxiety, restless leg syndrome and frequent waking which can disrupt your good night sleep.

Some patients report that they are energetic, but some of them go to bed exhausted and find difficulty in getting good night sleep.

The other thyroid problem that affects good night sleep is transient thyroiditis. It occurs due to the inflammation of the thyroid gland. It mostly occurs at pre-menopausal and menopausal stages.

The symptoms you can get with thyroiditis are pain in neck and throat, weight changes and hair loss.

Care to prevent thyroidism:

Blood test is conducted for thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and antibodies test to evaluate autoimmunity for thorough examination is done.

Once your thyroid is identified, proper treatment should be taken to balance the thyroid and resolve sleep problems.

Along with the treatment, you have to follow sleep hygiene to get a good night sleep. Avoid napping in the late afternoons, stay away from stimulants and practice relaxation techniques before going to sleep.