Buzz
Many people struggle with sleep. Approximately 70 million Americans experience sleep disorders, and an additional 100 million in the U.S. are chronically sleep-deprived. This issue has worsened during the pandemic, as noted by the Cleveland Clinic.
As a nation, we are chronically tired. Even if you don't have a formal sleep disorder, you're likely familiar with waking up in the middle of the night and having trouble falling asleep again. This phenomenon, often called 'sleep maintenance insomnia,' can bring its own set of frustrations.
There are various approaches you can try to manage those restless nights when sleep is hard to come by. A combination of these techniques may help make getting back to sleep a much smoother and less stressful experience.
Don't obsess over the time.
You’ve likely woken up in the middle of the night because you're feeling anxious about something. Don't make it worse by staring at the clock, worrying about how little sleep you’re getting. That will only intensify the mental pressure of trying to rest. Instead, avoid glancing at the time on your phone (and for many reasons, you’ll want to steer clear of your phone altogether). If you have an alarm clock, turn it away from you. What you truly need is peace, and stressing over the time will only stand in your way.
Minimize exposure to blue light and screen time before sleep.
While scrolling through Instagram to wind down can feel pleasant, the blue light your phone emits can interfere with melatonin production—the hormone that regulates your sleep-wake cycle.
As Harvard Medical School explains:
While any type of light can inhibit melatonin production,
blue lightat night has a stronger effect. Researchers from Harvard and their collaborators conducted an experiment to compare the impact of 6.5 hours of exposure to blue light with green light of similar brightness. The blue light reduced melatonin levels for about twice as long as green light and caused a more significant shift in circadian rhythms (3 hours compared to 1.5 hours).
To improve your chances of falling asleep, try putting your phone away an hour before bed—or at the very least, adjust its settings to reduce screen brightness and limit blue light emissions before sleep. This will give your brain a better chance to produce melatonin naturally. Although we're constantly attached to our devices, setting them aside before bed is crucial, and neglecting this may hinder both falling asleep and staying asleep.
Calming both your muscles and mind is essential
This is the dilemma faced by many when trying to achieve peaceful sleep: you know that relaxation is necessary, but waking up in the middle of the night often adds to the frustration. Despite this, it’s crucial to relax in order to fall back asleep.
You can try deep breathing exercises, counting backwards, or a muscle relaxation routine, among other techniques. According to Johns Hopkins University, a helpful method involves 'progressive muscle relaxation,' as detailed below:
Work through various muscle groups in your body, such as your arms, legs, torso, and face. Tense the muscles in each group at around three-quarters strength for about five seconds, then release the tension all at once. If you experience any pain, skip that muscle group. Focus on contracting the muscles individually, for instance, isolating your arms instead of tensing your chest muscles while doing so. Remember to breathe deeply and slowly between muscle groups.
Leave your current room and move to another one, then attempt to fall asleep again.
Many experts suggest following the 20-minute rule—if you’ve been lying in bed for 20 minutes without sleep, get up, move to a different part of your home, and engage in a relaxing activity.
You can read a book, solve a crossword puzzle, flip through a magazine, or listen to an audiobook or podcast—anything that could help you feel drowsy again. Some experts recommend choosing an activity that you find dull, as boredom may prompt you to drift into sleep more easily than something stimulating.
The key is to leave the bedroom when you do this—staying in bed could train your brain and body to associate your bed with wakefulness instead of sleep, according to Luis F. Buenaver, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins.
Avoid drinking alcohol before bedtime.
Drinking alcohol can also negatively affect your ability to achieve uninterrupted sleep. While alcohol is a depressant that slows brain activity and makes you feel sluggish and heavy, it can have an opposite effect once you fall asleep.
As neurologist Bhanu Kolla from the Mayo Clinic mentioned to CNN:
When alcohol is processed by the body, it turns into acetaldehyde
, a substance that stimulates the body. So, if you consume too much alcohol right before bed, within a few hours it will be converted into aldehyde, which can disrupt your sleep and cause you to wake up.
Implementing a few of these strategies, either separately or together, may not immediately resolve your nighttime awakenings, but with time, they will help you establish a routine that will allow you to fall back asleep before morning light.
