8 ways to fall back asleep after waking in the night
(CNN)It could be nature's call, the pitter-patter of little feet (No, honey, it's not daytime yet, go back to bed) or a squirrel scampering loudly across the roof over your bedroom -- and suddenly you are awake. Very awake.
Then
before you know it, your mind is flooded with things you forgot to do,
worries over finances or reliving an unpleasant experience you planned
to forget. Sleep is a lost cause -- or is it?
Here
are eight tips from sleep and anxiety experts on how to shut down that
whirling dervish of a brain and coax your body back into much-needed
sleep.
1. Use deep breathing
Deep breathing is a well-known method of stress reduction and relaxation, if done correctly.
Start
by putting your hand on your stomach. Close your eyes and take a slow,
deep breath through your nose, making sure that you can feel your
abdomen rise. Try to breathe in for a slow count of six. Now release
that breath very slowly -- to the same count of six -- through your
mouth.
"Taking
slow deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth using
our main respiratory muscle, the diaphragm can help relax the body and
mind," said sleep specialist Dr. Raj Dasgupta, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.
2. Try guided sleep meditations and muscle relaxation
Meditation,
of course, is a great way to calm the mind. But if you're not a
practiced meditator, the act of trying to keep your mind focused might
become a source of stress.
You could try a guided sleep app, "some of which actually embed delta sleep waves," said stress management expert Dr. Cynthia Ackrill, an editor for Contentment magazine, produced by the American Institute of Stress.
"Put
it on loop so you don't wake up," Ackrill said. "Lie there and listen
and slow your breathing down. Keep focused on their guidance or if you
are just listening to a music/white noise, focus on your breath. Your
mind will interrupt — don't judge it, but keep coming back to your
breath."
If
your body is still tense, try adding progressive muscle relaxation to
your breathing. Starting with your toes, breath in and tense the muscles
in that area, holding the tension for up to 10 seconds. Release the
tension quickly, all at once, and imagine breathing through that part of
the body as you exhale. Move from your toes to your feet, calves, upper
thighs and the rest of the muscle groups in the body.
3. Stop the blame game
There
is a whole channel in your brain dedicated to judging your inability to
sleep, and it loves to play the "blame and shame" game, said Ackrill, a
former family physician who is also trained in neuroscience, wellness
and leadership coaching.
"If
you have had the issue for any length of time, you have probably
researched or discovered that not sleeping is not good for you. So
besides your brain turning on about whatever worries are front and
center, you also start repeatedly worrying about the effects of lack of
sleep. And as with most worries, you probably judge yourself for it,"
Ackrill said.
"Throw yourself a little compassion," she advised. "It's not a reflection of your worth."
Then,
to prevent the mind from revving up at night, give your brain a break a
few times during the workday: "If your brain has been in high gear all
day, it has a harder time shutting down. Bring it back to neutral at
least a couple of times a day with 5-minute breaks of breath work," said
Ackrill.
4. Avoid clock watching
Want
to feel even more anxious and guilty about not sleeping? That's what
clock watching will do. So don't keep checking the time -- really.
"It's
important not to get worked up about one bad night's sleep because
anxiety itself makes it difficult to fall back asleep," said USC's Dasgupta.
It can also be overstimulating, said Dr. Bhanu Kolla, an addiction psychiatrist and sleep medicine expert at the Mayo Clinic.
"You
usually end up trying to determine how much time you have left to sleep
and worrying about whether you will fall back to sleep in a reasonable
amount of time," Kolla said. "This can in fact make the process of
returning to sleep more difficult."
Don't grab a sneak peak when you go back to bed, either. Seeing the time may only rev you up again.
5. Don't drink alcohol before bed
Don't drink before bed, said Kolla, who studies the interaction between sleep disturbances and addictive disorders.
"As alcohol is metabolized it forms acetaldehyde which
is stimulating," he told CNN. "Therefore if you drink too much alcohol
right before going to bed, in about four hours it is converted to
aldehyde which can disrupt sleep and wake you up."
In
addition to awakenings during the night, alcohol can cause "frequent
trips to the bathroom because it inhibits a hormone called anti-diuretic
hormone (ADH), resulting in increased urination," Dasgupta added.
6. Write down your worries
It's best to try to get rid of your worries -- as much as possible -- well before bed, experts say.
"Close
the day by capturing anything left to do tomorrow -- so you don't have
to work on that at 3 am -- and bullet point ongoing issues so you have a
clear picture," Ackrill said. "Reflect on what went well (that day) and
be grateful. This is good to do at end of work day or after dinner,
before evening relaxation."
However,
it you missed that step or your brain still doesn't want to let go
despite the use of relaxation techniques, try "dumping" as a method of
stress reduction, Ackrill said.
"Keep
a pad and low light next to the bed and write the list down," she said.
"If that doesn't work -- your mind is really on -- get up. Leave the
bedroom and do a quick writing dump of worries, thoughts and ideas. If
you are really upset, write to exhaustion."
7. Beware of blue light and stimulation
Don't use a computer, smartphone or tablet to jot down your worries, though, experts warn.
In fact, the No. 1 rule is "no computers, cell phones, and PDAs in bed and at least one hour prior to bed time," said Dr. Vsevolod Polotsky,
who directs sleep basic research in the division of pulmonary and
critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Instead,
write your to-do or worry list on paper, using only a dim light, he
advised. And if you decide to read to put yourself to sleep, make sure
you read in a dim light off from a real book, not a tablet or an
e-reader.
That's
because "any LED spectrum light source may further suppress melatonin
levels," Polotsky said. Melatonin, secreted in a daily 24-hour circadian
rhythm, is often referred to as a "sleep hormone," because we sleep
better during the night when levels peak.
"Digital light will suppress the circadian drive," Polotsky said, while a "dim reading light will not."
Oh,
and one more thing, Polotsky said: "Grab the most boring paper book you
can find," because you don't want to read or do anything stimulating
when you are trying to fall back asleep.
Surprise! That includes taking a warm shower or bath, he added. Why ever not?
"Because
it is a significant activity, which may further disrupt sleep,"
Polotsky said. "By the same token, I had some patients going for a short
stroll in the middle of the night or doing dishes -- no to both."
8. Get up after 20 minutes
Don't
just lie there staring at the ceiling, experts say. If you can't get
back to sleep after 15 or 20 minutes, get out of bed and go into another
room where there is dim light and do something calming until you feel
drowsy again.
(Note: We have already learned that dishes, strolls and warm baths are not calming.)
"Maybe
read a boring book and try a little Sudoko, but avoid picking up that
cell phone or going on your computer," Dasgupta said. In addition to
blue light, "the temptation to go on social media or check your work
e-mails might prevecnt your mind from relaxing," he said.
Do
those boring activities until you start feeling drowsy, and "only then
return to bed," Mayo's Kolla said. "If you do not fall asleep in another
10 minutes, again get out of bed and do the same thing. The idea is to
avoid long times in bed where you are not sleeping."
Why is lying in bed a problem?
"We
do not want what we call 'dead time' in bed, time where you are in bed
trying to fall asleep but not sleeping," Kolla explained. "This tends to
cause some frustration and anxiety.
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"In
addition we want the bed to be a place that you associate with sleep,"
Kolla added. "The more you do other things including lay awake trying to
fall asleep, the weaker this association gets and the more difficult it
is to fall back asleep."
That's
one of the reasons that all sleep experts advise against using a laptop
or tablet in bed, watching television from your bed, or frankly not
much of anything except ...
"Bed is only for sleep and sexual activity, nothing else!" Polotsky said.
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