Everybody sleep problems at one time or another. While it is relatively common for healthy people have difficulty falling asleep or experience daytime sleepiness, sleep disorders occur more frequently in people diagnosed with mesothelioma and other cancers.
In fact, the National Cancer Institute reported up to 50 percent of cancer patients have sleep problems. The most common sleep disorders in cancer patients include insomnia and abnormal sleep-wake cycle.
Sleep disorders can cause a number of problems for patients with cancer. Lack of sleep can affect decision making and can make it harder to remember the instructions on treatment. When we do not solve our problems sleeping, it can increase the risk of anxiety or depression.
It is important for mesothelioma patients to treat the underlying cause of their sleep problems. pain medications and cancer-related stress are some factors that can affect the quality of sleep.
Although many people immediately turn to sleeping pills when they are not getting enough rest, there are many ways to change your nighttime behavior to improve your sleep without medication.
What causes sleep problems?
A variety of factors may affect sleep in people with mesothelioma. Some common causes of sleep problems include:
- The physical discomfort of cancer or surgery
- The side effects of treatment and medicines
- The stress on the diagnosis
- the hospital
postoperative pain can interrupt sleep. Then may chemotherapy side effects such as nausea and gastro-intestinal problems.
Doctors often prescribe steroids to stimulate the appetite and help control the symptoms of mesothelioma, but these drugs can cause insomnia and restlessness.
Anxiety and depression related cancer diagnosis can also make sleep difficult. Symptoms of anxiety include worrying, agitation and racing thoughts.
Depression can lead to hypersomnia, a sleep disorder that causes people to sleep 12 to 16 hours and still feel fatigue and daytime sleepiness. Insomnia, or persistent difficulty, and stay asleep, is another sleep disorder to depression.
It is often difficult for people to sleep well at the hospital. Patients often have problems falling or staying asleep because of shared rooms, uncomfortable beds, room temperature or noise. Doctors and nurses often interrupt sleep when they provide drugs or perform regular checks.
Addressing the causes of sleep disorders
When the mesothelioma patients have sleep problems, the best approach is to find and treat the cause.
If the pain wakes you up at night or prevents you from falling asleep, you might receive better pain management. Your doctor may be able to prescribe stronger drugs or more action against pain.
When excessive worry or ruminating thoughts cause sleep problems, anxiety treatment with counseling or medication can help.
Doctors prescribe high doses of steroids in some patients with breathing problems, but a common side effect is physical and psychological overstimulation. While experts often suggest people try to change their habits and sleeping behaviors before taking sleeping pills, insomnia related to steroids is an exception.
behavioral sleep strategies are not as effective for insomnia caused by steroids. It is usually necessary for patients with steroid-related sleep disorders using a short-term prescription medication such as Ambien or Lunesta.
Strategies to help you sleep better
Get a good night sleep has significant benefits. Patients with well rested cancer tend to have more energy and better cope with the side effects of cancer and treatment.
sleep specialists and health professionals have developed strategies to improve sleep by changing the thoughts and sleep behaviors. In addition, to make some changes in your sleep environment can help you sleep better.
Stimulation Control
The anxiety about the lack of sleep often makes falling asleep more difficult. Many people worry too much about the amount of sleep they get and stay awake at night to watch the clock.
In the clock away from your bed or remove everything shown to help with this anxiety. Experts also suggest that you try to stop counting the number of hours of sleep and do not overreact about not getting enough sleep.
Planning and sleep restriction
When mesothelioma patients are being treated, they can have more irregular sleep schedules. effects or changes to the work schedule or normal side processing activity can make it difficult to get enough rest.
It is advantageous to waking up at the same time every day, even when your daily schedule does not require it. A regular schedule helps regulate your circadian rhythm, a 24-hour cycle that affects our sleep patterns.
If you have trouble falling asleep or getting enough sleep the whole, it may be useful to reduce the number of hours you sleep for days. This is called sleep restriction and it allows the body to build an increased need for sleep. Depriving yourself of sleep can make you get back on a regular sleep schedule.
Improved Sleep Hygiene
Change our habits of sleep and sleeping environments can also help us sleep better. Studies show that you should avoid eating large meals and avoid caffeine and nicotine in the evening because these activities involve difficulty falling asleep.
If your doctor has recommended an exercise routine, try to do your workout earlier in the day. The exercise within four hours before going to bed, it may be difficult to fall asleep.
Take time to wind down before bedtime by dimming the lights, turn down the volume on the TV and engage in quiet activities. Experts recommend that you use your bed for sleep and sex so your mind associates your bed with these activities.
optimal sleep occurs in rooms that are dark and slightly cool. Avoid light - especially blue light - the night because it disrupts sleep patterns. Watching TV in bed or using electronic devices such as tablets, smart phones or computers has shown to stimulate the brain at a time when we should be reducing brain stimulation.
If you need to read in bed before going to sleep, try reading a print book using soft light instead of reading on screen e-book reader, tablet or computer.
Good sleep is important
on average we spend a third of our lives sleeping. Even if we are not alert or active during sleep, getting enough sleep is important for our physical health and mental well-being.
sleep on Decades of research has produced some useful strategies for mesothelioma patients suffering from sleep disorders. Give some of these strategies a try before taking sleeping pills or ask your doctor for a prescription sedative.
