Many people find themselves waking up numerous times at night. Some of them won’t even notice since they quickly fall back asleep. However, the main problem arises when you can’t fall back asleep right after waking up. It could be due to stress, insomnia, lighter sleep cycles, or other underlying health condition.
Let’s take a look at the causes and solutions for regularly waking up during the night.
There are different sleep cycles in nighttime sleep. It is common to wake up repeatedly in the middle of the night during these cycles.
The stages of a sleep cycle are, going from wakefulness to sleep, light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep.
The duration of each stage varies. In REM sleep, you see dreams. You experience longer REM sleep cycles before morning and longer deep sleep cycles earlier at night.
Before moving forward, let’s explore the reasons for waking up during the night.
A recent increase in stress might cause you to lose your sleep or wake up at 3 a.m. Your body triggers the sympathetic nervous symptom when you are stressed, resulting in a jolt awake at odd times during the night. Increased blood pressure and heart rate also make it difficult for you to fall back asleep.
A major cause of sleeping problems is insomnia which disturbs your sleep patterns. If you have insomnia, like a large population of the world, you might even find it difficult to fall asleep after going to bed.
Sometimes it’s simply the aging process that is reducing your sleep. Certain medications you start taking when you get old also interfere with your night’s sleep, like antidepressants. Consult your doctor if you think medicine is not letting you sleep properly.
An enlarged prostate can also cause sleeping issues since you need to urinate frequently.
Other health conditions that can cause you to wake up are:
Depression, tingling on arms and legs, restless leg syndrome, inflammation from arthritis makes your joints painful, gastrointestinal reflux disease causes indigestion and heartburn, sleep apnea in which you have breathing breaks during sleep.
Inadequate sleep can lead to health complications like reduced memory, inability to function at normal levels, attention problems, poor motor skills, and other issues. To avoid that from happening, you can follow these tips to sleep better at night:
Don’t drink alcohol, quit smoking, have dinner several hours before sleeping, avoid tea, coffee, and other caffeinated beverages late in the day, don’t use mobile phones and other devices that emit blue light before bedtime. Exercise during the daytime, but don’t do it before going to sleep, choose a quiet, dark, and comfortable place for sleeping, and Follow a sleep and waking routine. Relax before bedtime by meditating or reading a book.
So, what did you learn about waking up at odd times in the middle of the night? How do you plan to improve your sleep quality? Let us know in the comments below and share this video to benefit from it.
Until Next Time,
Team Doctor ASKY!