Nobody likes to wake up in the middle of a deep slumber. Be it just the need to use the loo, your hard-hitting anxiety, or simply a nightmare – it disturbs the sleep abruptly. Imagine the situation when you are sleeping like a baby at one minute while right at the next, you are wide awake. However, waking up in the middle of the night is not an uncommon incident. We have it programmed in our DNA. In fact, the cavemen often woke up at night to ensure that the predators were not prowling around. So, it is not a big deal if you wake up mid-sleep time and again at night. The key consideration here is whether you are able to go back to sleep.

The following are some reasons why you keep waking up in the middle of the night and are not able to go back to sleep again.

1. Your Room Is Too Bright, Noisy, Hot, or Cold

Based on what sleep stage you are in, your arousal threshold, which implies how easily you can be woken up by something, varies. Your body goes through different stages of sleep at the time of sleeping like stages 1,2,3,4 and Rapid Eye Movement (REM). The first stage of sleep is the lightest and that is when you can wake up suddenly when the door slams, or because the room you are living in is too hot or too cold or the passing car’s headlights shine through the window. Usually, the room should be comfortable cool, dark, and quiet when you are sleeping. This may or may not be under your control, but you can use earplugs and eye masks to block out the noise, and the light, and condition your room’s temperature to create the right sleeping ambiance.

2. You Are Stressed

Ideally, you should leave the financial stress back at the office. But unfortunately, the brain is still working even when you are dozing off. The way we maintain healthy sleep patterns are often disrupted by unexpected sleep. So, you should induce some stress-relieving activities like reading, meditating, and exercising, and so on.

3. You Are Waking Up to Go to the Bathroom

There are several reasons why a person needs to go to the bathroom at night – pre-diabetes, enlarged prostate, excessive, and fluid intake can all be the reasons for that. Here are some things that you should do when you need to go to the bathroom at the break of the night.

4. Don’t Turn on the Lights

You should have strategically placed the night lights that can lead you to the bathroom. You should also not turn the lights on when you are there. This is because if you do you will be telling your brain that it is already morning and time to wake up.

5. Do Not Look at the Clock

This is because this way you will immediately do that mental math and get anxious thinking that you have just a few hours to sleep.

6. Breathe Harder

To get at the state of unconsciousness your heart rate should be below 60. That is not very easy when you have just stood up to go to the restroom. So, you should practice a breathing method then. Sit in a comfortable position with eyes open or closed and after inhaling for 4 seconds, hold the breath for 7 seconds, and after that exhale slowly for about 8 seconds. You should repeat this several times.

7. You Have Alcohol before Going to Bed

It is true that a little booze can assist to make you doze off early. But it can also have a negative impact on the quality of sleep once you start sleeping. Consuming alcohol close to bedtime can also make you wake up several times in the middle of the night. In fact, vivid dreams and nightmares can be induced by alcohol and can worsen the sleep condition that you are going through like bed wetting, sleep apnea, sleep terrors, restless legs, and sleepwalking.

8. You Have Sleep Apnea

If you are a heavy snorer or you often find yourself to be jolted out of bed several times at night then chances are that you have sleep apnea. This disorder stops or slows your breathing while you are asleep. This makes the muscles in the throat relax too much that ends up narrowing the airways making the oxygen level drop. Complex sleep apnea features the characteristics of both of these conditions. Your doctor can recommend an overnight sleep study monitoring your breathing to diagnose this problem. Sleep apnea is often treated with the best snoring aids when it is not in a serious stage. The CPAP machine is also suggested when the patient does not respond well to the lighter techniques.

The above are some reasons that you are waking up mid-sleep. With a few lifestyle changes and some help from your doctor. You will be able to grab a good night’s sleep that can ensure you wake up refreshed the next day.

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Neer Tiwari

Neer Tiwari is a passionate social worker and blogger who has dedicated his mind and soul for bringing healing and standing by anyone who needs it. He has touched many lives throughout the years and has left no stones unturned in changing them for the better. Being a prolific blogger, he has come in contact with people from various social, professional and economic backgrounds and written on diverse topics ranging from human behavior, children’s health, counseling, nutrition, poverty, and relationship issues to dentistry, real estate, the medical field, and much more.

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