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Sleep has always been a part of my day that I really look forward to.
I used to sleep through the night too with no issues.
I used to sleep well, but then I started waking up around 3am and would lie awake for hours, thinking of my to-do lists
Like most people, over the years Ive had my fair share of random 3am or 4am wake-ups.
But the fact that I kept waking up, night after night, was bothering me.
Why do I keep waking up in the middle of the night?
I used to sleep well, but then I started waking up around 3am and would lie awake for hours, thinking of my to-do lists
Eachstage of sleepis equally as important.
The 5 most common causes of waking in the middle of the night
1.
Sleep environment
It would take some time to mentally process a new sleep environment or sudden changes in life.
Setting the ideal temperature and investing in thebest mattressfor your body and sleeping position is crucial to prevent discomfort.
This can let you sleep later than usual (sleep latency) or cause disruptions.
Eating too much sugar or food items with high glycemic index has also beenlinkedto sleep issues.
In fact, some sleep experts believe waking up at night was considered a normalsleep habit of our ancestors.
Stop looking at your phone
According to Dr Browning, this is my biggest mistake.
The first thing to do is to take deep slow breaths to induce a sense of calm.
The trick is to use any cognitive distraction technique to slowly fall back into sleep, says Dr Browning.
Try getting up and moving around or doing something like reading or listening to gentle music.
This helps disrupt your restless patterns even something as small asflipping your pillowmight help.
“Get up when you feel like youre struggling to sleep, rather than focusing on the time.
Taking a shower before bed too hasprovento promote sound sleep.
However, when do you know that your nighttime wakings is a symptom of a bigger sleep issue?
“If this happens for a month, it is acute insomnia.
If it becomes three months, then it qualifies as chronic insomnia, explains Dr Browning.
Treatments for this include the gold standard Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-I).
It’s therefore best to talk to your doctor or a sleep expert if your sleep issues persist.
