Waking Up in the Middle of the Night

Sleep Interrupted!

There is a surprising number of Americans that have difficulty getting a full, uninterrupted nights rest. Even though many people don’t have any trouble falling asleep, some people find that they wake up several times a night and have trouble falling back asleep. As time drags on and the minutes slowly tick away on your alarm clock the worrying begins. All you can think of is how much time you have before you need to go to get up and go to work and how exhausted you are going to be in the morning if you can’t get back to sleep. There are many causes for interrupted sleep ranging from various medical conditions and the medicines that treat them, insomnia and even the racing mind. Here are some really simple tips to help improve and lengthen the time between sleep disruptions and get a good night of sleep.

Don’t Nap During the Day

Naps, if abused, can throw off our internal clocks and confuse our bodies’ rhythm. While studies have shown how powerful and effective even a 15 to 30 minute nap can be to your circadian rhythm, some people don’t have the will power to wake up after their nap period is over. This is especially true of heavy sleepers. Some heavy sleepers just don’t react to external stimulus such as light and noise as well as other people do when they are sleeping, and a short nap could end up lasting a couple hours – which can absolutely awaken you ruining your sleep schedule.

Exercise Regularly

Exercise is beneficial for a lot of reasons, but many people overlook the fact that exercise helps to regulate our sleeping schedules. By burning energy and breaking down muscle tissue, exercise will naturally tire out your body and encourage sleep to begin the healing process. You shouldn’t exercise within a few hours before going to bed, though. This can elevate the heart rate, body’s metabolism, and even rouse your mind making hard to get relaxed sleep.

Cut Down on Alcohol

Though some people think that a drink or two will help them get to sleep, it is actually incredibly bad for you in the long run. Some people build a dependence on alcohol to sleep because alcohol suppresses the nervous system. After an individual gets used to falling asleep with a suppressed nervous system, it can be hard to readjust. That’s why one of the symptoms of withdrawal is an erratic sleep schedule and the difficulty falling asleep. Alcohol suppresses thoughts as you try to fall asleep, but after building a dependency, you will find it hard to quiet your mind without alcohol.

Don’t Eat a Large Meal before Bed

Eating a large meal before bed time can keep you up longer and even cause you to wake up during the night. If you eat too much, you could have stomach pains that wake you up several times throughout the night. Also, your body will need to do a lot of work to digest the food you ate. Furthermore, it is generally unhealthy since all of the energy from your meal will be stored as fat since your body isn’t burning that energy as you are sleeping.