Human beings can enjoy their life most when they get plenty of sleep. Most doctors say that you should get about 7-8 hours per night as an adult, but not everyone gets that much. Some people cannot accomplish that particular feat, and if you can’t, you might struggle in your day-to-day activities.

Several factors might impact your life so that you are not getting as much sleep as you should. Let’s look at some of those right now. If you can identify these factors, you might make changes in your life to get the proper rest amount that medical science says you should.

Your Job

There are all kinds of jobs where you might put in a ton of hours, and if you work more than you should, that means you’re not sleeping as much as your body needs. Think about the trucking industry, for instance. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration mentions that driver fatigue impacts 13% of commercial truck accidents.  

Whether you’re a truck driver, a lawyer, a food service worker, or anything else, if you’re working more than 40 hours every week, you’re probably going to need to cut back sooner rather than later. You might be able to work overtime a couple of nights each week or put in a few doubles, but all that is going to catch up with you eventually. 

That can lead to you making a critical mistake at work or while you’re driving home, and you may injure yourself or another driver if that happens.

Your Kids

Maybe your kids are also contributing to you not getting as much sleep as you otherwise would. For instance, if you have a new baby in the family who will not sleep through the night yet, you might only average 4-5 hours of sleep per night for a while.

In that scenario, there is not a whole lot you can do. After all, you need to care for the child, so that means sacrificing sleep until they grow out of that phase.

The thing to do is to try to split the childcare with your partner or spouse, assuming you are co-parenting with someone. You might take turns getting up to feed the baby and walk around with them until they’re sleepy again.

Insomnia

You might have a situation where you want to sleep more than the number of hours you’re getting. You may go to bed on time to get your eight hours, but then, you lie there unable to sleep for hours on end. This is insomnia, where your body won’t shut down, and your mind is active.

You can combat this in a few different ways. You might try to make it as dark in the room as possible since some people can’t sleep as well unless it’s very dark. You can get a smartphone app that makes soothing, ambient noises that will help you drift off.

You might also try some over-the-counter sleep medication. Taking a pill can put you out if nothing else seems to work. You can speak to your doctor about the issue as well.

Partying

Maybe you are not sleeping as much as you should because you turned 21 recently, so you’re spending a lot of time out at bars or partying with your friends. If you can drink legally for the first time, that might excite you. You may want a chance to show off your legal ID and do some bar drinking as often as possible.

If you’re also trying to get to class or hold down a job, though, you need to temper your partying so you can get enough sleep. This is another lifestyle that will quickly catch up with you if you let it get out of control.

Depression

Some people sleep a lot if they’re dealing with depression, but others hardly sleep at all. If you’ve got a lot on your mind, and you can’t seem to find a healthy mental space, you might find yourself sitting up on the couch at three in the morning playing video games or watching infomercials.

If you’re experiencing depression, you should see someone about it. Talking to a therapist can help you considerably. They might be able to put you on medication that can help your mood and improve your sleep cycle.

The bottom line is that if you can make any changes in your life to sleep better, you should do so.