If You Are Waking Up In The Middle Of The Night, Fix These 8 Things ASAP
You can be soundly asleep one moment and then awake in the middle of the night the next. Does that sound familiar?
You may have previously encountered this type of insomnia, unless you are fortunate enough to wake up like the most resolute of logs.
It’s not unusual to wake up in the middle of the night; according to a Sleep Medicine study of 8,937 people, roughly one-third of American adults wake up in the middle of the night at least three times per week, and more than 40% of them may experience difficulty falling back asleep (a condition sometimes called sleep maintenance insomnia).
What is the reason for your nighttime awakenings, and how can you prevent them? Here are eight typical causes and tips for getting a good night’s sleep.
1. Your room is too hot, cold, noisy, or bright.
Rita Aouad, M.D., a sleep medicine specialist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, tells SELF that your arousal threshold—or how easily something might wake you up—varies based on your sleep stage.
Your body goes through several stages of sleep, including rapid-eye movement (REM), 1, 2, 3, and 4. (Some schools of thought combine stages three and four into one.)
According to Dr. Aouad, the initial stage of sleep is the lightest.
You’re more likely to be startled awake at that time by a slamming door, headlights from a passing automobile shining into your window, or other environmental factors like your room being excessively hot or chilly.
When you sleep, your room should ideally be quiet, dark, and comfortably cool. You may not be able to manage all of this, but you can take steps like purchasing a fan if your room is stuffy or blocking out distracting light and noise with an eye mask and earplugs.
2. You have anxiety.
“Anxiety can absolutely wake you up at night,” Nesochi Okeke-Igbokwe, M.D., a physician in New York, tells SELF. In fact, trouble sleeping is one of the most common symptoms of an anxiety disorder, according to the Mayo Clinic. That’s because you can experience anxiety-induced issues that are severe enough to wake you, like a galloping heartbeat or nightmares.
“Additionally, there are people who may experience what are called nocturnal panic attacks, meaning they may have transient episodes of intense panic that wake them up from their slumber,” Dr. Okeke-Igbokwe says.
Dr. Okeke-Igbokwe advises discussing your anxiety with your physician if it causes you to wake up frequently. Your physician should be able to assist you in identifying any underlying anxiety or panic problem that may be at work.
Cognitive behavioral therapy, anti-anxiety drugs, or a mix of the two may be used to achieve this. “Meditation and deep breathing exercises can also sometimes alleviate symptoms in some people,” Dr. Okeke-Igbokwe says.
3. Your full bladder can’t wait until the morning.
It seems to be pretty common to have nocturia, which is commonly defined as waking up at least once throughout the night to urinate, but other experts believe that’s not always enough to qualify.
According to a study published in the International Neurourology Journal, nocturia affected about 29% of men and 23% of women out of 856 respondents.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, nocturia can be caused by an overactive bladder, urinary tract infections, and excessive fluid consumption before bed. According to the Mayo Clinic, untreated type 1 or type 2 diabetes may also play a role.
When blood sugar levels are too high, the body has to draw fluid from the tissues, which causes thirst and may lead to increased drinking and urination.
Ask a doctor about other potential causes if reducing your evening fluid intake doesn’t result in fewer nighttime bathroom excursions.
4. You had a couple of alcoholic drinks.
Alcohol can certainly help you fall asleep, even if you’re not in your bed but rather, say, on a friend’s couch. However, it can also lead to restless sleep.
This is due to the fact that alcohol can alter your sleep cycles in a number of ways. For example, it appears that drinking alcohol causes more stage 1 sleep than normal during the second half of the night.
Recall that stage 1 sleep is the time when environmental events are most likely to cause you to wake up. Thus, it’s worthwhile to consider your alcohol intake if you want to get good sleep-through-the-night sleep.
Depending on their body size, food, and genetics, each person metabolizes alcohol in a unique way.
To give their bodies time to digest the alcohol, Alexea Gaffney Adams, M.D., a board-certified internist at Stony Brook Medicine, advises patients to stop drinking at least three hours before bed.
We understand that drinking can be a positive time buffer because it frequently occurs at night. You may not require that much, depending on your individual circumstances and alcohol use.
Alcohol may not interfere with your sleep, though, if you have some sort of buffer and drink lots of water to make you more likely to drink in moderation.
Additionally, drinking alcohol right before bed will cause you to need to urinate, which increases the chance that you will wake up during the night to use the restroom, according to Dr. Gaffney Adams. This double-edged effect was significant.
5. You’ve got sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea may be the cause if you frequently wake up feeling like you need to catch your breath. This condition causes your breathing to slow or stop while you’re asleep.
According to the Mayo Clinic, obstructive sleep apnea is caused by excessive relaxation of the muscles in the throat, which narrows the airway and lowers oxygen levels.
This potentially dangerous dip in oxygen is caused by central sleep apnea, which occurs when your brain fails to communicate with the muscles that control your breathing. Both disorders’ traits are present in complex sleep apnea.
According to the Mayo Clinic, your doctor could ask you to participate in an overnight sleep study that tracks your breathing in order to identify sleep apnea.
A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, which is essentially a mask you wear while you sleep to help keep your airways open, is the most popular therapy for sleep apnea. However, if you need more information, your doctor can help you look into other options.
6. You have an overactive thyroid gland.
“This gland controls the function of several other organs,” Dr. Gaffney Adams tells SELF. According to the Mayo Clinic, when it is overactive (also known as hyperthyroidism), it produces an excessive amount of the hormone thyroxine, which can impact numerous bodily systems.
An elevated heart rate, anxiety, tremors, perspiration, even at night, and difficulty sleeping are all typical signs of an overactive thyroid.
Your blood can be tested to determine your hormone levels by your primary care physician or an endocrinologist, a specialist in hormones.
Your doctor can explain the many treatment options for an overactive thyroid, such as beta-blockers to lessen symptoms like a racing heartbeat and drugs to limit the thyroid’s hormone production.
7. You ate right before bedtime, or you didn’t eat recently enough before you went to sleep.
“Eating too heavy of a meal too close to bedtime can make it difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep,” Dr. Aouad says. One potential reason behind this is acid reflux, which is when your stomach acid moves up into your throat and causes painful nighttime heartburn. And if you eat food right before bed that makes you gassy, the resulting abdominal pain could drag you out of dreamland, too.
However, according to Dr. Aouad, this kind of insomnia can also result from skipping meals for an extended period of time before bed.
The first is that you can be awakened by your stomach’s growling and cramping. Additionally, hunger might affect blood sugar levels when you sleep, particularly if you have diabetes.
Hypoglycemia, a condition in which your blood sugar falls too low, can be brought on by going too long without eating. According to the Cleveland Clinic, this can cause problems including weakness or tremors, disorientation, and confusion, as well as disturbed sleep.
While anyone can experience hypoglycemia, diabetics are far more prone to do so. Work with your physician to develop a strategy for maintaining stable blood sugar levels, even while you sleep, if you have the illness.
8. You have restless legs syndrome.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) states that restless legs syndrome, or RLS, can cause your lower limbs to feel as though they are throbbing, itching, aching, pulling, or crawling, among other feelings.
An insatiable desire to move your legs is another symptom of RLS. These symptoms worsen during periods of inactivity, such as sleep, and are most prevalent in the evening and at night.
Although the exact origin of RLS is unknown, experts believe that a genetic component may be involved, according to the NINDS. Researchers are also looking into how RLS can be caused by problems with dopamine, a neurotransmitter that your muscles require to function properly.
RLS can occasionally be caused by additional underlying conditions, such as iron insufficiency.
Your doctor may recommend treatments like muscle relaxants or medications to raise your dopamine levels after determining that you have RLS through lab testing and questioning. They might also be able to provide you with advice on how to relax your muscles at home, such as taking warm baths.
