HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE RESEARCH & NEWS

The Subtle Effects of Low-T

How Low Testosterone Can Slowly Degrade Psychological, Physical, and Sexual Health

A lot of men resign themselves to the decline associated with aging. What they don't realize is that a large number of symptoms most people associate with the aging process are actually the result of underlying hormone deficiencies. Because of their slow onset during mid-life, most men don't realize that the changes in their life are powerfully affected by these changes in hormone production.

The goal of this article is to help you realize the symptoms of Testosterone Deficiency so that you can recognize the signs early and seek treatment to extend the pep and vitality of your life.

Subtle Signs of Low-T

Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy has been shown to lead to miraculous changes in health for men that suffer from Low-T. Testosterone HRT has been shown to effectively reduce fatigue, increase libido, and improve mood. It is incredibly easy to resolve an underlying Testosterone Deficiency, so if you qualify for treatment, there is no reason not to consider it.

In order to qualify for Testosterone Replacement with the Conscious Evolution Institute, you have to pass three important criteria:

• You Must Have Clinically Low Testosterone Levels

• You Must Display Manifest Symptoms of Low-T

• You Must be Over the Age of Thirty

It should be noted that Low-T alone does not warrant medical treatment. Many men actually have Low Testosterone and don't display symptoms. For this reason, in order to qualify for Testosterone Replacement, you must actually be experiencing symptoms of Low-T. This means that Testosterone Replacement can only be used as a treatment and not as a preventative measure.

Before starting Testosterone Treatments, it is also important to recognize that the therapy does have certain side-effects associated with it, and there is a limited pool of data regarding the long term benefits and risks of treatment. If you think Testosterone Replacement Therapy may be the correct course of action for you, talk to a professional, like those at the Conscious Evolution Institute.

Signs of Testosterone Deficiency

Although the signs of Testosterone Deficiency are quite obvious when you actually take the time to acknowledge them, their effects over time can be incredibly subtle. Testosterone Deficiency is a spectrum disorder, meaning that dependant upon the level of deficiency, you will experience a different range of symptoms.

The severity of the symptoms also depends upon the severity of the deficiency. This means that as Testosterone Levels first start to decline you will feel absolutely no noticeable change, but as months and years continue to pass, the accumulated effects of continuous changes in Testosterone Concentration will have an ever-growing affect on your life.

Think of it like the old science experiment involving the toad. If a toad is placed in excessively hot water, it will immediately jump to safety. On the other hand, if you place the toad in water and slowly increase the temperature to dangerous levels, it will not realize the change in temperature and will not jump out to save its life. Hormone Deficiency acts in the same way. It happens so incrementally that there is significant chance that you are suffering from it and don't even realize it!

All men experience Testosterone Decline in a similar way. Men have healthy levels of Testosterone and HGH throughout the teens and twenties, but the ability to produce Testosterone slowly starts to decline as we grow older. Depending on your own personal sensitivity to hormone deficiency, as well as the unique rate at which your T-Levels decline, you may experience noticeable symptoms sooner than later.

Below are some of the common symptoms of Testosterone Deficiency:

Low Energy and Fatigue

Over the course of Testosterone Decline, the body becomes less and less effective and generating energy and positive metabolism. As a result of this, you will eventually start to have trouble keeping your energy levels in the black, causing you to tire out more easily, or be less able to engage in strenuous physical activity.

Low Libido

Testosterone is intricately involved with the male Sex Drive. When we are young, our veins are pulsing with Testosterone, which contributes to our voracious appetite for sex and romance when we are young. As we get older, however, our ability to generate that psychological spark slowly fades. Men often think their decline in libido is a natural result of age. Wives often think their husbands are simply losing interest. If you are unable to get excited for your lover, there is a significant chance that it isn't you, or her, it's your T-Levels.

Erectile Dysfunction

Many men also confuse Low Libido for a lack of ability to become sufficiently aroused. ED is the symptom of Testosterone Deficiency which is easily the most noticeable, but many men experience this issue and still don't think their problem is simply Low-T.

At first, Low-T simply reduces the frequency of erections, but over time, it can severely affect the firmness of the erection. The lack of blood flow reduces both the effectiveness of the erection and the pleasure gained through sexual activity. In cases of severe Testosterone Deficiency, the male will often lose the total ability to experience an erection.

Cognitive Complications

Most men don't realize that Low-T can have a negative effect upon psychological health as well as sexual health. Healthy Testosterone Levels have been strongly correlated with healthy cognitive activity. As Testosterone Deficiency worsens, it can become more difficult to focus and concentrate on completing tasks. These concentration difficulties may be the result of general fatigue which impacts a man's stamina in all aspects of life.

Depression and Dysthymia

Testosterone can also negatively impact psychological well-being. In men, Testosterone plays a role in maintaining a healthy baseline of happiness, and Testosterone Deficiency can negatively impact the release of pleasure chemicals in the brain which stimulate happiness. There are many men that mistakenly take anti-depressants, when they should be taking Testosterone.

Short Temper and Irritability

Low-T is directly correlated with an increase in the hormone, cortisol. Although Cortisol is a necessary hormone, men with Low-T start to produce way too much of it, which contributes to even further reductions in Testosterone Concentration. Increased cortisol levels induce stress on the body and mind, causing men to experience elevated levels of stress which contribute to increased anxiety issues. The cool, calm, collected influence of Testosterone is stripped down, leaving a man in a persistent and unhealthy beta-state.

Loss of Muscle Mass

As men grow older and their Testosterone Levels Decline, their muscle strength starts to fade. This is because Testosterone sustains male muscle mass. It's the single biological reason why men are stronger than women. Testosterone Deficiency reduces this natural advantage in muscle building power, however. Most men simply think that aging causes the muscles to weaken, but it's actually mostly the result of changes in hormone balance in the male body.

Increase in Bellyfat

This is another symptom that is frequently the result of Testosterone Deficiency, but most men resign the symptom to aging. Testosterone enhances general metabolism, helping to burn fat and maintain a healthy muscle-fat ratio. This is one reason why women naturally have a higher body fat percentage than men.

Their lower level of metabolism encourages them to distribute fat differently. Their natural, healthy hormone balance encourages this. Men with Low-T often start to pack on the pounds, and this extra belly fat has the capacity to further drain T-Levels because fat cells have the natural ability to convert Testosterone into Estrogen and Cortisol.

Reduced Perception of Self

All of these symptoms combine together and contribute to a general loss of self-worth. Testosterone Deficiency causes a slow drain of manhood which can have various negative impacts on overall health. As you are likely realizing by now, the symptoms of Testosterone Deficiency contribute heavily to what we perceive as simply aging, but it encourages an accelerated form of aging which has enhanced negative impact on all aspects of self.

Low-T Impacts Every Aspect of Health and Wellness

The thing that combines all of these symptoms is that they all come on slowly, and the cause of each symptom on its own could be the result of multiple different factors. What makes Testosterone Deficiency easy to recognize is that it impacts various systems at the same time, contributing to a slew of symptoms that all negatively impact health.

If you are experiencing any of the above symptoms you may be experiencing Testosterone Deficiency. The more symptoms you are dealing with, the more likely that Low-T is a real and terrible problem for you. The good news is that Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy has the capability to return a stronger sex drive and a greater sense of youthfulness and health!

Methods of Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy

One of the great things about Testosterone HRT is that there are a number of different ways to get treated, simply dependant upon your personal preference. Below is a list of treatment options available to any man that suffers from Testosterone Deficiency:

Testosterone Creams and Gels- One of the simplest forms of Testosterone Treatment is Topical Testosterone. Testosterone Gels and Creams are absorbed directly into the skin, and require a daily treatment. Popular Testosterone Gels are Testim and AndroGel.

Testosterone Sprays- This form of Testosterone Treatment is similar to Testosterone Gels, but the Testosterone is aerated and applied using a pump mechanism. This simplifies the process of application and makes sure that you only apply Testosterone where you need it. Popular Testosterone Sprays are Fortesta and Axiron.

Testosterone Patches Testosterone is also available via transdermal patches, which provide Testosterone steadily over the course on an entire day. These patches are generally worn on the upper torso or arm. Like Testosterone Gels, they are applied on a daily basis.

Testosterone Oral Patches One of the newest forms of Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy provides Testosterone via a patch attached to the gums. This form of Testosterone Replacement is easy to conceal, and requires twice daily treatment to be effective. It works by releasing the hormone directly into the blood stream via the sensitive tissues of the mouth. The most popular Low-T Oral Patch is known as Striant.

Testosterone Implants Another newer form of Testosterone Replacement is Testosterone Subdermal Pellets. In this form of treatment, pellets of Testosterone are implanted just below the skin, where they release Testosterone steadily over an extended period of time. Testosterone Pellets last far longer than other forms of Testosterone Treatment. One dose can last three to six months! Although Testosterone Implantation is a minor surgical procedure, you trade one session of surgery for months of treatment.

Testosterone Injections Testosterone Injections were the original form of Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy, and are still quite popular today. With this form of treatment, Injections deliver Testosterone directly into muscle tissue, where it slowly works its way into your system. Testosterone Shots come in various forms. Some require multiple administrations per week, while others T-Injections can last for up to two weeks!

Why Isn't There a Testosterone Pill?

Testosterone Pills are simply not a viable form of Testosterone Treatment. When Testosterone is ingested orally, acids and enzymes in the stomach break down Testosterone into its component parts, preventing you from experiencing the full benefits of treatment.

This biological breakdown of Testosterone can also harm your liver over time, because the organ is not designed to handle such high concentrations of the amino acid fragments which cycle through the liver after injection.

All other forms of Testosterone Treatment directly deliver Testosterone to the bloodstream, bypassing the liver and providing treatment directly to the body.

Performance-Enhancing Anabolics vs. Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy

There is a widely spread misconception that Testosterone HRT is the equivalent of taking Steroids for Performance Enhancement. This simply isn't true. It certainly is true that Testosterone can and has been used for the purpose of enhancing athletic performance, but when used by patients with a medical need, it functions quite differently.

The goal of Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy isn't to rejuvenate the body by pumping it up with unnatural levels of Testosterone, the goal is simply to restore Testosterone to the healthy levels associated with optimal, healthy function. Testosterone Abuse does provide gains to muscle mass and cuts fat, but it also has a number of negative side-effects.

Testosterone HRT for men with Diagnosed Testosterone Deficiency is a safe and effective way to restore health and vitality! Although some men may experience certain side-effects, these side-effects are generally mild, and can be easily treated and reversed simply by adjusting dosage.

Don't Let Testosterone Deficiency Sneak Up on You!

To treat Low-T quickly and minimize the negative impact that it can have upon your health and well-being, it is important to be aware of both your own health circumstances and the Signs of Low-T. By recognizing the signs, you can talk to a qualified physician quickly and monitor your Testosterone Levels. By doing this, you can start Treating Low-T as soon as you become symptomatic optimizing your health and longevity!

If you think you may be a candidate for Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy, we encourage you to contact the Conscious Evolution Institute today. We have a staff of Board-Certified Physicians, and a well-trained clinical staff that can help you restore optimal hormone balance.

Testosterone Deficiency and Erectile Dysfunction

If you are suffering from Low Testosterone, this means that your testes are no longer producing enough Testosterone in order to promote optimal health and physiological function. One of the most noticeable physical symptoms of Low Testosterone is Erectile Dysfunction. Erectile Dysfunction is a general term meant to describe any set of circumstances which leads a man to be unable to effectively produce an erection that is suitable for sexual activity.

For some men, this means that you won't be able to get it up at all. For other men, Erectile Dysfunction makes it hard to become fully erect and aroused, little to difficult and unsatisfying sexual activity. A third group of men may be able to become aroused sometimes, but are not sufficiently in control of their sexual function.

The same processes which inhibit sexual ability also inhibit sexual desire itself. Testosterone is intricately involved in male libido, and without enough Testosterone, your interest in sex may start to slack. Men with severe Testosterone Deficiency experience both of these issues simultaneously, but men with mild to moderate Low-T will likely experience a loss of sex drive before they begin to fully lose the capability to maintain a full erection.

Erectile Dysfunction has Numerous Causes

Although Testosterone Deficiency (Also referred to as Male Hypogonadism) is a frequent cause of Erectile Dysfunction, it is important to recognize that there are multiple other reasons why Erectile Dysfunction occurs, and this is why it is important to see a specialist, so he or she can perform a medical assessment in order to pinpoint the source of your bedroom struggles.

Almost all forms of Erectile Dysfunction lead to a single particular and profound symptom: the ability to develop an erection is inhibited as a result of restricted or diminished blood circulation to the penis. There is an elaborate interplay of hormone release which precludes an erection, but ultimately, Testosterone leads to the formation of an erection by stimulating the release of nitric oxide, which encourages the vasodilation which sends blood rushing to the penis.

Many other conditions which restrict blood flow have an inhibitory effect upon erection stimulation. A few other common contributors to Erectile Dysfunction are elevated cholesterol levels, hypertension, and hardened arteries. Hardened arteries prevent the heart from pumping as hard as it needs to effectively circulate blood. Hypertension and high cholesterol cause Erectile Dysfunction because they restrict blood flow at the vascular level.

Although many of the primary sources of Erectile Deficiency are the direct result of physiological complications there are many psychological causes of Erectile Dysfunction as well. Anxiety can prevent you from focusing your attentions effectively on pleasure, preventing you from being interested in sex. Depression can cause you to lose your self-confidence and desire.

One incredibly common cause of Erectile Dysfunction and lack of sex drive is simply relationship complications. If you are unhappy with your current relationship, or are simply going through a rough patch in your relationship, then you may temporarily lose your desire or physical ability to have sex with your partner.

A few rarer causes of Erectile Dysfunction are spinal cord injuries, neurological problems, or multiple sclerosis.

The Connection Between Testosterone Deficiency and Erectile Dysfunction

The male erection is entirely dependent upon Testosterone, but scientists and medical researchers have not yet completely established how the two are interconnected. Although many of the basic processes are understood, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about Testosterone and ED.

Low-T and Erectile Dysfunction are powerfully linked, but the correlation is not quite as strong as you might think. For example, some men are able to have a healthy and active sex life even though they have Testosterone Levels far below normal. Other men experience sexual issues even though their Testosterone Production appears to be well within the normal range. It is true that at a certain threshold, Low-T will completely inhibit sexual activity, but in the end, every man has a different threshold for sexual function.

Erections depend on testosterone, but the relationship between the two is complex and not fully understood. Some men have healthy erections despite testosterone levels well below the normal range.

One thing that is crystal clear is that Low-T is correlated with several chronic medical issues which can inhibit healthy erectile function, including heart disease, obesity, and Type-2 Diabetes.

Erectile Dysfunction and Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy

If you are experiencing issues with Erectile Dysfunction, and your Testosterone Production is in the normal and healthy range, Testosterone Treatments will likely have a negligible effect upon your Erectile Dysfunction. In this case, the underlying issue inhibiting Erectile Function will have to be discovered and treated.

For males that do have abnormally low Testosterone Production, Physician-monitored Bio-Identical Hormone Replacement Therapy is most likely the most effective method by far at helping you to both restore libido and restore your ability to participate in normal sexual activity. It can even help you in a number of other ways that you didn't even realize. Testosterone Treatments have the capability to provide the following benefits to men with Testosterone Deficiency:

• Reduce Body fat

• Increase Lean Muscle Mass

• Strengthen the Bones

• Alleviate Mild Anxiety and Depression

• Increase Energy

• Decrease Fatigue

Because Testosterone Deficiency has multiple negative impacts upon normal health, it is important to treat Low-T with Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy even if you still need other forms of treatment to restore your sexual ability.

Testosterone Replacement and PDE-5 Inhibitors

Most men that take Testosterone HRT say that the treatments have a positive effect upon their sex drive, but many men still need supplemental treatments to fully restore function. These supplemental treatments generally take the form of Erectile Dysfunction Medications referred to as PDE-5 Inhibitors. You've definitely heard of a few of them:

• Cialis

• Levitral

• Viagra

• Stendra

For men with significant issues with blood flow that aren't related to the processes which directly stimulate erection, PDE-5 medications have the ability to increase circulation of blood to the penis. This doesn't mean that men that need PDE-5 inhibitors don't need Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy, it simply means that it may take both treatments simultaneously to both restore optimal sexual function and contribute to greater overall health.

Restoring healthy Testosterone Levels can help add fire to your sex life by enhancing your drive for sex and improving your mood. For individuals that suffer in the bedroom as a combination of Low-T and mild depression, Testosterone Replacement can help resolve both issues simultaneously, sparking fire to his sex life.

Testosterone Replacement Treats the Whole Problem

Testosterone Restoration also has a protective effect upon sexual desire and ability because it treats a number of issues which have a negative impact on all aspects of sexuality. It can help improve aesthetic self-perception by increasing muscle mass and decreasing body fat.

In addition to improving one's sense of physical self-worth, this also safeguards the male body from the devastating effects of diabetes, which can be utterly detrimental to male sexuality. For patients with Low-T, Testosterone Replacement has the ability to increase the body's receptiveness for insulin.

Testosterone Replacement Side-Effects

Although Testosterone Replacement Therapy is highly effective, there are some side-effects which should be considered before starting treatment. Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy Side-Effects include:

• Smaller Testicles

• Reduced Fertility

• Acne

• Increased Breast Size

• Benign Prostate Enlargement

None of these side-effects are dangerous, and they can be relieved simply by adjusting the dosage or suspending therapy.

To date, there is no connection between Testosterone Hormone Replacement on the development of Testicular, Breast, or Prostate Cancer, although you will have to suspend therapy if you develop any of these forms of cancer. Because of the effect upon fertility, if you are interested in conceiving a child, you should look to other ways to treat your Erectile Dysfunction.

Take Testosterone for a Test Drive

If your physician comes to the conclusion that you are suffering from the effects of Testosterone Deficiency, he or she may provide you with access to short-term Testosterone Replacement Therapy in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment in restoring your sexual function. If it is indeed effective, your doctor can provide you with an extended prescription.

If you decide to take Testosterone Hormone Replacement Therapy, you will need to make appointments with your doctor on a bi-annual or annual basis so that he or she can monitor your hormone levels and make sure you are still getting exactly what you need in order to have a happy and healthy sex life.

Additional Steps to Improving Testosterone Levels

Your doctor may recommend taking other courses of action in addition to starting Testosterone HRT. Because of the positive effect that a healthy lifestyle has upon sexual function, your physician will suggest a number of different ways you can take charge of your own health in order to further boost your sexual function.

Because of the inhibitory effect of obesity and diabetes, it would benefit you to lose weight. Because of the stimulative effects of physical activity, it would benefit you to improve your exercise habits.

Finally, a healthy diet can improve your hormone profile by simultaneously improving your cholesterol profile, encouraging weight loss, and directly stimulating the release of Testosterone.

Recognizing Poor Sleeping Habits

We all know how it feels have a rough morning. You wake up from your slumber and it's so much easier just to turn over and hit the snooze button. Sometimes it can be a struggle to even open your eyes. Hopefully, you're one of those people that only feels that way every once in awhile, but we understand that a lot of people have significant amounts of trouble getting out of bed on a regular basis.

Some people think of it as a form of laziness, but there are a lot of reasons why poor sleeping habits can be chronic and problematic, without it necessarily being some sort of character flaw, as it is so often characterized.

How Did You Feel This Morning?

Think about how it felt to wake up this morning? Was it a struggle to throw off your blankets? What did you do yesterday? Did you spend the afternoon helping your friend move into a new apartment Maybe you were so exhausted that you needed to get a little extra rest to recover. Or maybe the room was particularly cold, and it felt so wonderful under the blankets that it took every ounce of your resolve to leave your wonderfully warm and comfortable bed. Maybe it was something going on in your head?

We've all had those nights we spent tossing and turning because of anxious thoughts we just couldn't evacuate from our minds. There are perfectly normal reasons why we have trouble sleeping sometimes, but there are a lot of reasons why we sleep poorly that can have a powerful effect upon your overall health and well-being.

Sleeping difficulties are a major problem for a lot of men and women across the country. A lot of people don't really understand why they have trouble sleeping, but they know that it's having a negative effect upon their life. Specialists spend their entire careers working with patients in order to help promote healthier rest patterns. In terms of so many aspects of our health, healthy sleep is the lynchpin that helps maintain us in peak condition. The rest of this article will be concerned with various root causes which have a negative impact on normal sleeping habits.

Common Sleeping Problems

Not Enough Sleep

This should seem pretty obvious, but if you don't sleep the seven to nine hours that your body naturally requires, you will start to slip as a result. Your body goes through a natural cycle of sleep, slipping from REM sleep to multiple stages of deep sleep.

All of these stages of sleep are important and restorative, and if you don't sleep long enough, your body will suffer because you don't spend the necessary amount of time rejuvenating through each phase of sleep. Just restructuring your life to be able to sleep for a full night can do wonders for your health.

Abnormal Sleeping Patterns

There are a ton of careers out there that don't permit you to establish a normal and healthy pattern of sleep. Doctors and nurses work long hours and often are required to flip their entire schedules on a day's notice. Firefighters and EMTs have to remain on call for long hours, finding short respites of sleep interrupted by high adrenaline periods of activity. In order for sleep to be most restorative, your body must adhere to a healthy pattern.

Hormone levels rise and fall throughout the day, controlling hunger, fatigue, and energy levels, and if your schedule is too all over the place, you may find yourself with energy rushing through your veins just when you lay your head down to rest. Although there is only so much you can do in regard to regularize your sleeping patterns in many cases, make every effort to establish sleeping habits as close to normal as possible.

Atypical Circadian Rhythm

If you have allowed your sleeping habits to get off track, you may have actually hijacked your own Circadian Rhythm. The Circadian Rhythm is naturally optimized for nighttime rest, but if you work second or third shift, stay out too late with friends, or do anything that causes you to regularly fall asleep at a strange time, your body will actually re-adapt to your new circumstances.

This means that if you get a new 9-5 job or if you otherwise have to wake up at a normal and decent hour, your body will grind its gears, slow to recalibrate to sudden alterations in your sleep schedule.

Bad Sleep Hygiene

There are a lot of things that you do throughout the day that wreck your normal sleeping habits without you even realizing it. Do you watch Television in the bedroom? Do you drink caffeine within three hours of bedtime? Do you give in and take a nap in the afternoon? All of these seemingly innocuous decisions can prevent you from getting the most out of your night's rest.

Even having a large dinner, or exercising just before bed can have a severely negative impact upon your resting patterns. As you fall asleep, your muscles relax and your digestive system slows to a crawl. Falling asleep with a lot in your stomach or right after a long and hard workout can lead to a restless night.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Sleep Apnea is a severe medical condition that affects many men and women across the United States. Sleep Apnea primarily effects obese individuals, but can actually be a problem for anyone. Sleep Apnea is a condition caused by anything that obstructs your airways as you try to sleep. Minor Sleep Apnea can be as simple as a chronic snore, but for some people, it actually causes them to suffocate for brief periods throughout the night, before gasping for fresh air.

Sleep Apnea wreaks havoc upon the body, and is one of the leading causes of Testosterone Deficiency in males. It also disrupts Human Growth Hormone production, which can have a negative impact on energy levels of both sexes. Even though Sleep Apnea is a serious and potentially chronic condition, there are multiple effective ways to treat and alleviate the disorder.

For obese patients the best way to resolve Sleep Apnea is to lose weight. There are also masks which actively circulate fresh air into the nostrils and mouth, allowing you get all of the oxygen that you need to sleep soundly. For patients with severe sleep apnea not directly caused by obesity, surgery is also an available option.

Restless Leg Syndrome

Restless Leg Syndrome is a little-understood medical condition that can have a negative effect on healthy sleep. The primary symptom of RLS is exactly what it sounds like: during sleep, a patient feels sensations which cause them to compulsively want to move their legs or arms during sleep. The condition is obviously neurological in nature, but researchers have yet to discover a clear cause.

Around one in ten people in the United States suffer from Restless Legs Syndrome. Although doctors don't have a firm idea of why RLS happens, there are ways to ease the symptoms of the condition, such as exercising more often, sleeping more regularly, decreasing caffeine use, or massaging the legs before bed.

Medical Side-Effects

There are many medications that can lead directly to disrupted sleeping habits. A few types of drugs that can disrupt healthy sleep are allergy medications, blood pressure medications, and anti-depressants.

If you are having trouble sleeping, consider what drugs you are currently on, and talk to your doctor about choosing another treatment option or changing the means that you take a medication. Some medicines, for example, can disrupt sleep when taken orally, but when delivered directly to the lungs has no disruptive effect.

Untreated Psychiatric Issues

Men and women with elevated levels of anxiety or depression are at higher risk of sleeping poorly, which can even exacerbate the primary condition. Psychological conditions have a nasty tendency of making the brain go into overdrive at the worst times, especially when you are alone with yourself.

If you are chronically depressed or sad, getting treatment can help you sleep better, and the combination of therapeutic treatment and improved sleeping habits can improve both your health and your outlook on life significantly.

Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder and Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder

As researchers learn more about conditions related to Circadian Rhythm Disruption, they find that there are underlying biological reasons why their sleeping patterns are different than the norm. A few examples of conditions caused by a disruption of the Circadian Rhythm are Advanced Sleep Phase Disorder and Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder.

ASDP is a condition in which individuals start to get sleepy very early and have a tendency to wake up early than normal. DSPD is caused when individuals have trouble falling asleep until later than normal, and wake up later as well.

These conditions are believed to be the result of a biological clock that is simply out of time with the majority of human beings. Although these disorders are often chalked up to poor habits, they can actually be biologically-induced conditions.

These conditions are also correlated with an increased risk of serious medical disorders such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Diabetes has also been strongly correlated with an increased risk of sleep apnea.

Sleep Often Troubled by Multiple Issues

Although all of these issues can have a negative effect upon sleep, the problem is that most people that sleep poorly have trouble for multiple reasons. The more sophisticated that views on poor sleep become in the medical community, the more it becomes clear that many issues which have a disruptive effect on sleep are interconnected and finding the root cause or causes of poor sleep are the most effective ways of contributing to a normal night's sleep.

What Can I Do to Sleep Better?

Sleeping well is undeniably important to living a healthy life. If you are having trouble sleeping well, read through this list of common causes and see which issues apply to you. If your sleeping problems are clearly the result of an underlying medical condition such as sleep apnea or medications you are taking, don't be afraid to talk to a doctor.

If you feel that your sleeping problems are the result of your own taking healthy sleep for granted, the following are some healthy steps to get your sleep patterns back on track:

Make a concerted effort to sleep better- One of the most important things that you can do is simply prioritize sleep more highly, making the conscientious choice to sleep better.

Lights Out The healthiest sleep occurs in the darkest of night. Eliminate all sources of light from your sleeping area. Even cover up your alarm clock.

No Caffeine after 4pm Caffeine stays in your system for a notoriously long time. By avoiding caffeine in the early and late evening, you can detox and make it easier to sleep.

Have a Light Dinner A heavy stomach can make sleep very restless. The digestive system works slowly at night, and falling asleep with a full stomach is far from optimal.

No Work or Play in the Bedroom The brain is a complex thing. If you like to watch television, work on your homework, or play on your phone in bed, this can prevent your brain from properly associated the bedroom with sleep.

Consider Melatonin- If you are in the process of correcting poor sleeping habits, Melatonin can be a useful tool to recalibrate your system. Only use recommended doses however, because taking too much can have a negative effect on sleep.

For most people, a combination of these steps will be quite successful in improving your sleeping habits and your ability to wake up ready for anything. If you still have trouble sleeping even after taking these proactive measures, your doctor can work with you to uncover any underlying conditions which may be impacting your sleep.

If All Else Fails, Talk to Your Doctor!

Remember: There is no reason to resign yourself to a lifetime of poor sleep. You will age faster, be less productive, and ultimately less happy. Take the necessary steps to optimize your sleep to necessities of your life, and your body and mind will thank you for it in the long run.