Many of the causes of sleep disruption can be easily remedied through changes to the sleep environment or improved sleep hygiene. However, sometimes waking up at night and being unable to fall back asleep indicates a person has a sleep disorder or underlying health problem.
Clock-watching causes stress and makes it harder to go back to sleep if you wake up during the night. Avoid caffeine after noon, and limit alcohol to 1 drink several hours before bedtime. Both caffeine and alcohol can interfere with sleep. Avoid smoking.
Stress, anxiety or depression
A particularly stressful day can lead to intrusive thoughts in the middle of the night — maybe they come in the form of a nightmare that jolts you up at 3 a.m. In more serious cases, some people even experience sleep paralysis. Anxiety can also make it difficult to sleep through the night.
The rising cortisol levels and dealing with emotional events or feelings may be why many people wake up at 3 AM or 4 AM daily. Other reasons why you may be waking up in the middle of the night are: You are wearing uncomfortable or the wrong clothes to bed. Your bedroom is too warm or cold.
Stress, depression, and anxiety
Stress activates the body's “fight-or-flight” response, leading to increased cortisol levels and a heightened state of alertness, which can interrupt sleep cycles and wake you up around 3 am.
If you have depression , daily stresses—such as financial worries, an argument with your spouse, or a jam-packed evening commute—could also lead to more nighttime wake-ups and more trouble getting back to sleep than someone without depression would experience.
Waking up a few times during the night is common and completely normal. If you struggle to fall back asleep or wake up frequently, other factors might be keeping you from a good night's rest. Environment, diet, medication, mental health or physical health could impact your sleep quality.
One study. View Source of older adults with insomnia found that magnesium supplementation at a dose of 500 milligrams daily for eight weeks helped them fall asleep fast, stay asleep longer, reduced nighttime awakenings, and increased their levels of naturally circulating melatonin.
The results suggested that (1) people taking melatonin may sleep about 24 minutes longer during the daytime, but (2) other aspects of sleep, such as time needed to fall asleep, may not change. The evidence, however, was considered to be of low quality.
Insomnia following surgery can be caused by pain, inflammation, and medication side effects. The noise and bright lights of an in-patient hospital setting can also make sleep challenging for those who require overnight hospital stays.
The third trimester is a time to expect increasing insomnia and night waking. Most women wake up 3 to 5 times a night, usually because of such discomforts as back pain, needing to urinate, leg cramps, heartburn, and fetal movement. Strange dreams are also common in the last few weeks of pregnancy.
Parasomnias are a sub-category of sleep disorder. They involve abnormal and unnatural movements, behaviours, emotions, perceptions and dreams that occur while falling asleep, during sleep, between sleep stages or upon waking. Most people experience a parasomnia during their lifetime.
Increase your daylight exposure, preferably early in the morning. Light helps set your circadian rhythm and encourage better sleep at night. If you exercise, do it in the morning, when you're getting that morning light exposure — this will help your body recognize that it's time to be awake.
If you're waking up in the middle of the night, it's probably due to caffeine, alcohol, light exposure, stress, anxiety, discomfort, eating too close to bedtime, or being out of sync with your circadian rhythm. Improve your sleep hygiene to reduce how often you wake up at night.
Quick Read Nature's worst alarm clock. It's normal to wake up once a night to pee, but multiple times a night could suggest something more. Nocturia is the clinical term for waking up to pee two or more times at night. Your lifestyle, medications and various health conditions might cause or contribute to nocturia.
Waking up in the middle of the night is common. The most common cause is a liver problem, but there may be other reasons why your sleep is disrupted including sleep apnea, nocturnal hypoglycemia, viral infection, urinary issues, digestive issues, potential food allergies or stress.
Light exposure stops the production of melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleep. Staying in Bed Too Long: If you wake up during the night and cannot fall back asleep, experts recommend getting out of bed after 15 to 30 minutes.
Nighttime (nocturnal) panic attacks can occur with no obvious trigger and awaken you from sleep. As with a daytime panic attack, you may experience sweating, rapid heart rate, trembling, shortness of breath, heavy breathing (hyperventilation), flushing or chills, and a sense of impending doom.
Experts believe anxiety is worse at night because there are fewer distractions to turn to. Thus, anxious individuals turn to their thoughts as they do not wish to disturb others (and believe they should remain in bed). Some individuals wake up at 4 or 5 with horrific anxiety attacks.
Sleep problems in ADHD appear to differ depending on the type of ADHD. View Source . Individuals with predominantly inattentive symptoms are more likely to have a later bedtime, while those with predominantly hyperactive-impulsive symptoms are more likely to suffer from insomnia.