Waking up at night: causes, reasons for concern, ways to combat it

Typically, when people think about sleep quality, they think about overall sleep duration and the time it took to fall asleep. But besides this, it is important to have uninterrupted and sound sleep. Therefore, if you wake up at night, this should alert you.

How waking up at night affects quality of life

A healthy adult usually needs 7-9 hours of sleep. This time is enough to relax and recover, and then feel energetic and healthy throughout the day.

If sleep is interrupted, a person will not get enough sleep. It only takes five unnoticed awakenings in an hour to feel sleepy the next day. The result is concentration and attention. are decreasing. At best, productivity, academic performance, and personal relationships will suffer as a result. At worst, you can get into an accident or become a victim of an industrial accident.

Over time, insufficient sleep can bring to negative consequences:

• Type 2 diabetes. Lack of sleep is associated with an increased risk of developing the disease. How long and how well a person sleeps affects glycosylated hemoglobin, an important marker for controlling blood sugar levels.
• Cardiovascular diseases. Hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease and irregular heartbeat are more common in people with sleep problems than in their peers without the problem.
• Obesity. Short sleep leads to metabolic disturbances that may be associated with disease.
• Depression. Scientists have an assumption that the longer a person suffers from sleep disorders, the stronger the symptoms of the disorder.

What affects night awakenings?

There are many reasons why a person may suffer from interrupted sleep.

Health problems

Many chronic diseases and conditions lead to loss of sound sleep. Here are the most common reasons:

• Anxiety or depression can not only interfere with falling asleep, but also cause you to wake up in the middle of the night.
• Enlarged prostate glandwhich wakes men up in the middle of the night with the urge to empty their bladder.
• Pain It can both interfere with sleep and wake you up. And the next day, due to sleep disturbances, the symptom may intensify.
• Neuropathy. Tingling, numbness, or pain in your hands and feet may cause you to wake up frequently.
• Sleep apnea – temporary cessation of breathing. Its signs include loud snoring and short-term awakenings.
• Nocturiain which a person rises several times a night to go pee.
• Restless legs syndrome – a condition in which the urge to move the legs appears at rest. This can also happen during sleep.

Taking certain medications

Certain drugs I can be Cause of night awakenings:

• Beta blockers used primarily to treat hypertension. Medicines can affect sleep by suppressing melatonin, a hormone that helps you fall asleep.
• Antidepressants used to treat mental disorders. Medicines may cause side effects, one of which is problems sleeping.
• Alcohol-containing drugs Colds can increase heart rate and blood pressure.
• Corticosteroids to treat inflammation or asthma. Side effects of the drugs include excitability, tremors and headaches. They affect the quality of sleep.
• Diuretics help reduce blood pressure by reducing the amount of water in the body. And they do this by forcing a person to urinate more often, including at night.

Stress

Increased stress levels influences on the duration of different phases of sleep. Because of this, people spend less time in deep and more time in fast. And in this phase it is easier to wake a person up.

Uncomfortable bedroom

This includes external factors that can wake you up in the middle of the night: street noise, partner snoring, plenty of light, pets snuggled in bed. An uncomfortable mattress or inappropriate room temperature can also have an impact.

Aging

With age in the body are happening changes that reduce deep sleep time. And in the superficial phase, as we have already said, a person wakes up easier. Even the lungs can be disturbed urge to the toilet.

Fluctuating hormone levels

Women may arise night awakenings associated with the menstrual cycle. Some people notice problems with sleep before their period begins.

Intermittent sleep due to fever, rapid heartbeat, sweating, stress and anxiety may speak and the onset of menopause. Moreover, sometimes these symptoms occur several years before menstruation stops.

Pregnant wake up at night due to many reasons: swollen legs, back pain, frequent urination, heartburn and fetal movements.

Lifestyle

influence can:

• Poor sleep schedule – for example, if you always go to bed and get up at different times or take naps during the day.
• Eating shortly before going to bed. Lying down with a full stomach can cause heartburn.
• Too much caffeine – more 400 mg per day. That’s about 4 Americanos. The time at which you drink the drink can also have an impact: the last cup should be at least 12 hours before bedtime.
• Drinking alcohol 4 hours before bedtime or less.
• Habit stick on your phone or computer before bed.

When to see a doctor

If you realize that you are starting to wake up at night just like that or, for example, to go to the toilet, you need to go to the doctor. True, most people even does not notice short night awakenings, so there may be other reasons for visiting a specialist symptoms:

• your loved ones complain about your snoring;
• you wake up gasping for breath;
• in the morning there is pain in the head and throat, as well as dry mouth;
• you wake up feeling unrested or exhausted, despite spending more than 7 hours in bed;
• you have trouble thinking clearly or remembering.

What to do if you wake up at night

These tips will help to those who realized that they woke up:

• Don’t lie in bed if you can’t sleep. Get up, walk around through the rooms, do something quiet and calm in dim lighting, but do not turn on your smartphone or computer. Return to bed only when you feel sleepy.
• Keep your bedroom dark, quiet and cool. Ventilate bedroom, take earplugs, curtain the windows or wear a mask.
• Meditate. To do this you can use special audio recordings or just try to concentrate on the present and breathe deeply with your diaphragm.
• Use progressive muscle relaxation. Tighten your face for 10 seconds, and then relax it as much as possible. Repeat the process with the muscles of the shoulders, arms and hands, abdomen, thighs and feet.
• Try the relaxation method used by the military. Find a comfortable position and relax every part of your face. Let your arms rest at your sides and lower your shoulders. Start taking deep breaths to relax your chest and the rest of your torso. Then begin to relax the lower half of your body, moving from your hips down through each leg to your feet. Imagine a tranquil setting, such as a beautiful countryside.

What happens if you don’t go to bed after waking up in the night?

If you find it difficult to fall asleep after waking up in the middle of the night, you may be tempted to not go to bed at all. But this is not the best idea.

Staying awake during the day causes the same effects as a blood alcohol concentration of 0.1%. This is like a gram of ethyl alcohol contained in 100 ml of beer or 50 ml of wine. Anxiety and agitation arise, productivity decreases, and people make more mistakes. And also is changing visual perception: it becomes more difficult to understand object shapes, sizes and depth.

If you don’t sleep for 36 hours, your symptoms will continue to get worse. will arise aggression, feelings of euphoria, difficulty regulating stress and emotions. You may also experience confusion and hallucinations.

A person who has not slept for two days may experience the symptoms described above. be added also depersonalization. In this condition, a person doesn’t perceive body and thoughts as your own. He may feel like he is watching a character in a game or watching a movie. Because of this, negligence and a tendency to take risky actions appear.

After 48 hours of wakefulness they can also arise microdreams. The person falls asleep for about 30 seconds, but does not even realize it. Microsleep is unpredictable and can happen at any time. For example, while driving on the highway.

How to get rid of night awakenings

Most often, sleep improves if a little adjust Lifestyle.

Make your bedroom comfortable

Before going to bed, ventilate the room and ask Don’t make noise at home. You can also use Earplugs or a white noise machine to drown out disturbing sounds.

It’s also worth investing in a comfortable mattress and nice bed linen. And some people claim that a weighted blanket helps them fall asleep.

Dim the lights

In the dark, the body produces melatonin, a hormone that causes sleepiness. To make this process easier, turn it down light, close the curtains tightly and put away the phone 30-60 minutes before going to bed.

Stick to a sleep-wake schedule

Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, including weekends. An unstable schedule prevents you from getting into a rhythm. And this way you will accustom your body to order.

Create an evening ritual

Create a special evening for yourself ritual: change into pajamas, wash your face, put on a face mask, play soft meditation music. Over time, the brain will get used to the fact that this sequence signals going to bed.

Drink less coffee

Refuse You need to drink the drink in the afternoon. Because caffeine is a stimulant, it can keep you on edge even when you want to relax.

Give up alcohol

Although it seems that alcohol causes drowsiness, in fact it reduces the quality of sleep. The negative effect will appear after two servings in men and one in women – this approximately 150 ml wine or 50 ml vodka.

Don’t overeat before bed

Feeling hungry can make it difficult to fall asleep. So if your stomach is growling, and instead of sheep you are counting sandwiches, you should get up and have a snack. But you don’t need to overeat, because this can cause heartburn and reflux – the backflow of food into the esophagus.

To satisfy your hunger, choose something light: fruits, nuts, milk or cherry juice. Avoid spicy, sour and fatty foods.

Be physically active

Exercises reduce level of stress and anxiety. If you exercise outside, natural light will help promote a good sleep-wake cycle. All this allows you to reduce the time it takes to fall asleep and improve the quality of your sleep.

Moderate and light exercise can be done fulfill at any time, even right before bed.

Understand diseases and medications

If sleep disturbances occur due to a chronic disease or condition, you should seek help from your doctor. He will find out the cause and suggest treatment. For example, cognitive behavioral therapy will help with depression, and apnea Weight loss, a device that keeps the airway open while you sleep, or even surgery may be needed.

It is also worth seeing a doctor if you think you are waking up frequently due to taking medications. Consult a specialist about changing the drug.