Do you toss and turn a lot when you sleep? This situation can occur just when you try to fall asleep (for minutes or even hours) or also later, when you wake up and realize that you have moved all the sheets and taken the bed apart.

But why is this happening? Its causes can be very varied, and include life habits, inappropriate behaviors, characteristic behavior patterns, disorders… In this article we will see 7 possible causes that explain the fact of tossing and turning a lot, and as a consequence, not getting good rest.

Why do I toss and turn in my sleep? Possible causes

Having a deep and restful sleep is essential for us to lead a normal life and enjoy a good quality of life.

Not having it can make us feel tired all day long, that we can’t fulfill our obligations… and, in short, that we can’t enjoy things. That’s why it’s so important to get a good night’s sleep. Many people, however, suffer from sleep problems, which can turn into real sleep disorders .

In this article we will talk about those people who toss and turn when they sleep, both when they are trying to fall asleep (without succeeding), and when they succeed but keep moving around a lot. Why does this happen? Here we will see the main causes that could explain it:

1. Accumulated Fatigue

One of the causes that may be causing you to toss and turn when you sleep is accumulated tiredness. Although it seems paradoxical, and we think that being very tired we will sleep better, it is not always so.

Sometimes being so tired from the day, or even from days spent together, can make our dreams more fragmented and less restful , which causes us to turn over in bed a lot.

2. Anxiety

Anxiety is another possible cause of not stopping moving in bed when we go to sleep . Let’s remember that anxiety consists of an altered psycho-physiological state that makes it difficult for us to have a good quality of life, and that includes sleep.

In addition to anxiety itself, if it manifests itself in excess and is accompanied by other symptoms, we can even speak of an anxiety disorder. We found several that could explain why we toss and turn in bed when we sleep; Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) (this one especially), agoraphobia, panic disorder, etc.

3. Rituals

When we talk about rituals, we’re referring to a series of behaviors that we “must” constantly repeat in order to decrease some kind of associated anxiety or discomfort; in fact, rituals are found in the famous OCD, or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (in this case they’re called compulsions), although they can also appear in isolation, and not necessarily in the context of an underlying mental disorder such as OCD.

Well, the rituals before going to sleep can also interfere with our rest , because if we feel that we have not carried them out correctly, or simply “need” to repeat them again, that can make us get up, feel restless, etc. If, beyond manifesting simple rituals, we also suffer from OCD, the problem becomes worse.

4. Concerns

Worries are another possible cause (in fact, one of the most common) that would explain why we toss and turn so much in our sleep.

In other words, the fact of “having a lot of things on your mind”, and tossing and turning them just when you go to sleep , can make us not rest well and toss and turn in bed a lot. Even having a single worry that worries you (it doesn’t have to be more than one) can have the same effect.

5. Thinking too much

Related to the above cause, thinking too much can also have the same effect as tossing and turning. Thus, it would not be exactly the same as the previous cause, although it would have great parallels.

One thing is to be worried about something, and the other is simply to think a lot about what has happened during the day , about plans we want to make, about ideas that come to mind… (without the negative connotation associated with worry). There are people who are like that, who think a lot even when they have to “stop” to rest.

6. Sleep disorder

Another possible cause that explains why you toss and turn when you sleep is the fact that you have a sleep disorder.

There are multiple sleep disorders; some that could explain this symptom would be: insomnia disorder (insomnia), restless leg syndrome (RLS), nightmares, night terrors, REM sleep behavior disorder, bruxism, etc. In practically all of these cases an anticipatory anxiety can develop that makes it difficult to fall asleep or to sleep deeply.

Two of these disorders deserve special attention:

6.1 Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS)

Restless Legs Syndrome (along with insomnia) is a common cause of excessive tossing and turning. The main symptom of this sleep disorder is an urgent need to move our legs, which is accompanied by uncomfortable and unpleasant sensations in this part of the body. This causes us not to rest well and we wake up with pain in our legs or with a feeling of heaviness in them .

However, it should be noted that this is a rare occurrence.

6.2. Insomnia disorder

Insomnia is a very frequent disorder in the population (between 1-10% of the adult population suffers from it; it is more frequent as age increases, and in women), which entails a great interference in the day-to-day life, wearing out our quality of life (because it produces a lot of tiredness).

Specifically, insomnia involves dissatisfaction with the quantity or quality of sleep, and is associated with different symptoms, which may be: difficulty in initiating or maintaining sleep and/or an early morning awakening, coupled with the inability to go back to sleep. Thus, insomnia could be either the cause of many tosses and turns when we sleep, or its consequence.

7. Poor sleep hygiene

Finally, poor sleep hygiene may also explain why we toss and turn when we sleep. Let’s remember that sleep hygiene is composed of all those guidelines, habits and behaviours that we carry out just before going to sleep, and that favour an easy, deep and repairing sleep .

Some examples of these are: drinking a glass of warm milk before going to bed, playing relaxing music, reading a little, going to bed at the same time each day (and getting up at the same time), not taking stimulant substances before going to bed (such as coffee or soft drinks), etc.

Well, if our sleep hygiene is not good (for example if we eat too much before going to sleep, if we spend many hours in front of the mobile phone or computer, etc.), this can interfere very negatively with our quantity and quality of sleep, and can also cause us to toss and turn.

Bibliographic references:

  • American Psychiatric Association (APA) (2014). DSM-5. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Madrid: Panamericana.
  • Buela-Casal, G., Navarro Humanes, J.F. (1990). Advances in Sleep Research and its Disorders. Siglo XXI, Madrid.
  • Gállego Pérez-Larraya, J., Toledo, J.B., Urrestarazu, E. and Iriarte, J. (2007). Classification of sleep disorders. Anales Sis San Navarra, 30(suppl.1): 19-36.
  • WHO (2000). ICD-10. International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Edition. Madrid. Pan-American.