Why Does Kidney Disease Give You Insomnia?

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1. Decreasing or avoiding alcohol, sodium (salt), and caffeine.
2. Go to sleep and wakeup regularly! Having regular sleep patterns can help a lot for people with restless legs syndrome.
3. Home remedies such as ice packs or heat pads applied to the legs. Hot baths and leg massages can help, too.
4. Some medicines are also available to help ease restless legs syndrome such as dopaminergic medicines and anticonvulsants.

Lack of physical activity

Having chronic disease such as kidney disease can put you at greater chance of becoming a sedentary individual.  And lack of physical activity can worsen other complications of the disease. It may also contribute to make you difficult to sleep at night.

In fact people with adequate physical activity are likely to have better sleep than others with low physical activity. For instance, people feel more alert during the day and sleep significantly better if they have at least 150 minutes of exercise per week – according to one study.

So even though you have kidney disease, it’s still recommended to remain active as much as you could!

High blood pressure (hypertension)

High blood pressure can quietly damage many organs in the body, including heart and kidneys, for years before the symptom develops. Kidney disease can be a cause and a consequence of hypertension – so both conditions can affect each other.

Hypertension can be another contributing factor to make you difficult to sleep at night. For example, it is associated with the risk of obstructive sleep apnea, a sleep disorder in which you have difficulty breathing during sleep. High blood pressure may also make you feel uncomfortable at night.

And the bad news, poor sleep can worsen hypertension and other symptoms of kidney disease. Even in healthy individuals, sleep deprivation may harm kidneys too!

Psychological problems

Having chronic and serious condition such as kidney disease can increase the risk of some psychological problems.

You may worry about the prognosis of the disease or the cost of the treatment. Furthermore, it’s also not easy to cope with the symptoms of the disease. These can cause stress, depression, or anxiety. And psychological problems can affect your sleep.

Changes in sleep patterns

Factors mentioned above can cause frequent disruption in your sleep. And this eventually affects your normal sleep patterns. As a result you’re difficult to sleep normally.

In addition, your diet has an effect, too. Cut back on caffeine and alcohol! And avoid tobacco smoke, both from active and passive smoking!

It seems that kidney disease can affect your sleep and give you insomnia in several different ways. If your sleep problem lasts longer than what you expect, see a doctor for more guidance!