It’s always unpleasant to wake up in the middle of the night, toss and turn for a long time, and feel that you can’t get back to sleep. Circadian rhythm disorders, anxiety or depression, hormonal imbalance, and a decrease in blood sugar levels can cause this. Whatever the reason, you need to know how to help yourself fall asleep after waking up at night. Here are some strategies that will help with this.
7 Tips for falling asleep faster if you wake up at night
1. Use the technique of deep breathing
Deep breathing is a well—known method of stress relief and relaxation. It is handy when you wake up in the middle of the night and feel anxious. Place your hand on your stomach, close your eyes, and take a slow, deep breath through your nose. Make sure that your stomach is inflating like a balloon. Count to six while you inhale, and then exhale smoothly and steadily on the exact count to six. Make a few “approaches” to feel relaxed and peaceful. Or maybe you won’t notice how you fall into a deep sleep.
2. Perform muscle relaxation
If your mind and body are tense during the awakening, you should perform muscle relaxation. Take a deep breath, tighten your toes for ten seconds, and then relax them. After that, alternately strain the shins, thighs, abdomen, and other body parts upward, lingering for ten seconds.
This will help you relax and distract your attention from the disturbing thoughts that appear after you wake up. Visit. A F R I N I K. C O M .For the full article. If you don’t like straining individual parts of your body, try using all the muscles simultaneously and then relax them.
3. Show yourself a little compassion
Our brain has a whole system responsible for assessing the inability to sleep. If you often wake up at night, you may have noticed that you involuntarily begin to switch to any anxiety triggers that relate to lack of sleep or current problems. But the more you give in to anxious thoughts, the longer you can’t sleep.
After waking up at night, it is necessary not to blame yourself for what happened and not to think about the unpleasant consequences but to show compassion. Think about something pleasant that brings you positive emotions and helps you relax. Deliberately drown out thoughts that cause anxiety to grow to enormous proportions — you will notice that thanks to this practice, it is much easier to fall asleep.
4. Don’t look at the clock
Do you want to feel even more anxious and guilty because you woke up in the middle of the night? Look at the clock. And if not, put away the alarm clock and gadgets. They not only reinforce anxiety but also contribute to additional stimulation because to make out the numbers on the dial, you will have to concentrate. Concentration is a feeling characteristic of cheerfulness, so it definitely won’t help you fall asleep.
5. Don’t lie in bed until you win
It may seem that the best way to fall asleep is to stay in bed and lie with your eyes closed for as long as possible. However, this approach often does not lead to the desired result. If you lie down for a long time and sleep doesn’t come, get out of bed and go to another room to do something relaxing.
For example, you can water indoor plants if you forget to do it during the day or try to draw something in your notebook. Any monotonous and calm activity will sooner or later make you feel sluggish, and that’s when you should go back to bed. And we want to point out once again: resist the urge to turn on the TV or look at your smartphone.
6. Don’t turn on the light
You might wake up in the middle of the night because of a nightmare. Even if you are anxious and scared, do not turn on the light, especially the chandelier under the room’s ceiling. Why? A bright flash of light will become an additional source of stress and will also make you cheerful, which obviously will not help you fall asleep. In addition, light can suppress melatonin production and disrupt your circadian rhythm.
Try to calm down in the dark or get a dim night light, preferably on the remote control, and place it under the bed. Or put it so that the light does not hit your eyes, and try to turn it off as soon as possible after you realize the nightmare is not real.
7. Add noises to the playlist that help you fall asleep
Try turning on white, pink, or brown noise to tune in to sleep faster. If you don’t like these sounds, calm, slow music is also suitable. The main thing is that it should not be too loud and should not be interrupted abruptly. In addition, if you feel that you cannot fall asleep again because of the noise of cars outside the window or the sounds from the neighbors’ apartment, put earplugs on the bedside table and use them during night awakenings.
