Always waking up in the night? 7 expert tips to help you fall back to sleep fast
FEW of us can achieve solid, unbroken sleep every night.
According to research in the Twinings 2023 Sleep Census, only 9 per cent of Brits admitted to enjoying regular undisturbed sleep, with the other 91 per cent experiencing prolonged wake-ups regularly.
It can become increasingly frustrating when your body and mind decides you won’t be going back to sleep.
Instead, you might find yourself awake for hours, tossing and turning as the minutes tick by and your morning alarm looms ever closer.
According to Twinings, instead of focusing on getting back to sleep, 41 per cent of those who regularly wake in the night are turning to screens.
In fact, just over a fifth jump straight onto emails and 15 per cent play around with online banking.
Online shopping is another popular middle-of-the-night choice while others (8 per cent) decide to tidy the house.
So why are we waking up, what should we do when our mind decides it’s not going back to sleep, and how can we settle ourselves back into a deep slumber?
Dr Guy Meadows, sleep expert and founder of the Sleep School, says: “While it’s expected people will wake up momentarily in the night, when they are waking for an extended period of time it can significantly impact wellbeing and mood.
“How you respond to night time waking determines whether you shift into a state of active wakefulness, akin to the daytime, or remain in quiet wakefulness, the bridge state to sleep.”
Why are we waking?
Dr Meadows explains sleep is made up of three stages – light, deep and Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep.
He says: “Each stage has a different job including growth and repair, mood regulation and memory processing.
“Human evolution has meant you cycle between all three sleep stages every 1.5 to two hours – hence why you wake at 3:30am every night!”
He adds: “It’s hypothesised that such brief awakenings are a survival mechanism, allowing us to check for danger.
“This explains why it is perfectly normal to wake in the night and why you might find yourself even more awake than normal during stressful times.”
Dr Meadows explains that around two hours before your natural wake time, your body clock will begin to wake you up ready for the day ahead by gently increasing your core body temperature and releasing cortisol, the stress hormone that wakes us up.
He says: “If you wake up at this time it can be tricky to fall back to sleep because we feel alert.”
If you do wake up in the night, there’s a few things you can do to stay rested and hopefully drift back off…
1. Practise body meditation
Dr Meadows says: “If you wake up in the night for a prolonged period, it’s important to try to stay in bed and rest as it conserves energy, helps repair you physically, and consolidates memories.”
He recommends a simple meditation you can do lying in bed: “Scan your body from head to toe, noticing where it makes physical contact with the bed such as your head on the pillow, arm on the mattress etc.
“If your mind wanders onto thoughts, gently acknowledge their arrival into your mind before returning your attention back to focusing on your body again.”
2. Keep the lights off
It’s tempting to switch on the lights, but these will only disrupt your circadian rhythm, making it even harder to fall asleep.
Stay in darkness until you need to get up.
3. Be bored
Instead of engaging your mind by thinking about work, your to-do list or your potential response to an email, think of the most mundane, boring thing you can.
Research has found that being bored can actually induce sleepiness.
Counting sheep is the classic go-to.
4. Change your relationship with time
Waking up in the night and watching the hours tick by can often lead to panic triggered by how little time you have left to sleep.
Dr Meadows says: “We teach people how to change their relationship with time.
“Time thoughts such as, ‘Oh no it’s 3am, I’ll never fall back to sleep now’, are very common and fuel sleep anxiety and insomnia.
“We teach our clients to objectively notice time thoughts when they arrive by saying, ‘I am noticing my mind telling me the ‘Time’ thoughts’.
“This helps them to create a mental perspective between them and their thoughts, lessening feelings of anxiety and hyperarousal.”
If you do have a clock or an alarm clock, make sure it’s not too bright and won’t disturb the darkening down of your room.
Dr Meadows says: “Darkening down helps to inform the body clock that the day is over and triggers the release of the sleep-promoting hormone, melatonin.
“Have a dark bedroom and wear an eye mask, fitting shutters, or a blackout blind if you need to and turn off any unwanted standby lights.”
5. Stop struggling
Dr Meadows says: “Sleep is a natural biological process that can’t be controlled and trying to do so only wakes you up more.”
He recommends the use of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or ACT: “Accept that you’re awake.
“Once you can change the way you think and feel about not sleeping, you begin to remove the obstacles in the way of your sleep.”
6. Don’t get up!
Dr Meadows says: “Unsurprisingly, engaging in daytime activities such as checking emails or social media on your phone only acts to wake you up further.
“In contrast, choosing to stay in bed and rest in a state of quiet wakefulness offers many benefits similar to sleep including energy conservation, repair and memory consolidation.”
Not to mention it conserves your valuable energy for the day ahead.
It may feel like you’re wasting time, but remember, these are dedicated rest hours, so enjoy them!
7. Manage a disruptive partner…
Dr Meadows says: “Sleeping in a bed with a restless partner can be a challenge.
“One solution is to invest in a mattress that doesn’t transmit movement.
“It’s best to visit a bed specialist, who will be able to recommend the ideal mattress for your comfort and movement needs.
“Another option is to place two single mattresses in a double bed frame or two single beds together.
“If you do opt for a double mattress, make sure it is big enough, allowing enough sleep space for each person to move around and not be disturbed.”
You could also use separate bedding such as single sheets, duvets and quilts, as this reduces the chance of being woken up by a restless partner constantly pulling on the covers.