What do you do if you wake up in the middle of the night – and can’t get back to sleep?
For many, it's more important than the question: "How do I fall asleep easier?"
There are a few things to understand in tackling the first question, explains sleep expert Dr. Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist.
What is sleep?
Sleep is a period of rest during which your body gets a break from daytime stress and activity. Although the body is relaxed during sleep, the mind is hard at work. In fact, what happens during sleep affects almost every bodily system.
Here's the thing about waking up in the middle of the night: Many people wake up around 2 or 3 am.
It's common for many individuals to experience brief awakenings during the night — even if they may not remember them in the morning.
Estimates suggest that approximately 30-40 per cent of adults experience some form of insomnia symptoms within a given year, which often includes waking up during the night.
Based on biology
"This is based on our biology,” said Dr Breus, a Fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Diplomate of the American Board of Sleep Medicine. “Our core body temperature rises until about 10:30pm, then starts to drop. That drop signals your brain to release melatonin. As our core body temperature keeps dropping, at some point it has to go back up”.
When it starts to go back up, you move into a lighter stage of sleep, which is often around 2 or 3 am. “So understand: this is biology, everyone wakes up then, but not everyone has difficulty falling back asleep,” said Dr Breus.
Here’s what you shouldn’t do:
- Look at the clock. This makes you do the mental math and worry about how much sleep you have left.
- Get up and walk around.
- Drink anything – unless you have a glass of water by your bedside.
- Remember, even if you can't sleep, lying there is still some level of rejuvenation.
Why is sleep important? We spend around one-third of our live asleep. Good sleep leaves you feeling your best and comes with a range of benefits — from a better mood to enhanced learning and memory.
Sleep is just as important to your health as food and water. What happens during sleep affects how you think, feel, and function during the day.
Understanding how sleep works can empower you to improve your sleep health and get the full benefits of a good night’s rest.
He offers these top tips for deeply restorative sleep:
• Consistency is Key: Maintain a regular sleep schedule to regulate your body’s internal clock.
• Wind down: Create a relaxing bedtime routine to signal your body it's time to sleep. Try reading, stretching, or meditation.
• Limit evening caffeine: Avoid caffeine after midday to ensure undisturbed sleep.
• Smart napping: Short naps before 3 pm can be beneficial, but avoid long naps or late-afternoon sleeping.
• Harness the power of light: Expose yourself to natural light in the morning and minimise screen time before bed to regulate melatonin production.
• Cool down: Maintain a cool bedroom temperature (around 65-68°F) for optimal sleep.
• Warm Up: Taking a hot shower or bath before bed can help induce sleep by lowering your core body temperature.
• Mental Relaxation: Instead of counting sheep, practice mental imagery, like taking a virtual walk.
• Avoid Sleep Frustration: If you can't sleep after 25 minutes, get out of bed and engage in a relaxing activity.
• Prioritise Sleep Hygiene: Maintain a consistent sleep schedule even after poor sleep nights.
Sleep is like love, the less you look for it, more it shows up. You can’t force yourself to sleep.
Since sleep and wakefulness are influenced by different neurotransmitters in the brain, food and medicines that change the balance of these signals affect whether we feel alert or drowsy and how well we sleep.
Caffeine, which stimulate some parts of the brain, and can cause insomnia or the inability to sleep. Many antidepressants suppress REM sleep.
Does smoking affect sleep?
Believe it or not, heavy smokers often sleep very lightly and have reduced amounts of REM sleep – they also tend to wake up after three or four hours of sleep due to nicotine withdrawal.
What about air-conditioning, or lack of it?
Your environment turns out to be a big deal. We lose some of the ability to regulate our body temperature during REM sleep. So abnormally hot or cold temperatures in our environment can disrupt this stage of sleep as well, said Dr. Breus.
How many hours of sleep is optimal?
The amount of sleep each person needs depends on many factor. One key factor includes age:
What is sleep debt?
The amount of sleep a person needs also increases if he or she has been deprived of sleep in previous days, says Dr Breus.
Getting too little sleep creates what we call “a sleep debt” – this is much like being overdrawn at the bank. Eventually your body will demand that the debt get repaid.
Studies show sleep and sleep-related problems play a role in a large number of health disorders and affect almost every field of medicine, for example problems like stroke, asthma, high blood pressure, epilepsy, pain and emotional conditions like depression and anxiety are all exacerbated by lack of sleep.
Sleep deprivation and your brain
Sleep deprivation mimics the effects of having no sleep on your brain, making it harder to complete even basic tasks.
Here’s what happens:
Reduced brain activity: Regions across your cortex, the brain's outermost layer, become less active.
Cognitive difficulties: Lower activity in the prefrontal cortex makes it harder to process information and react to your surroundings.
Sensory and motor challenges: Reduced signaling in the visual cortex and intraparietal sulcus disrupts your ability to integrate visual information and coordinate it with movements.
Memory impairment: Diminished activation in the parietal cortex hinders your ability to keep track of temporary information and retrieve old memories. Learning new information also becomes more difficult.
Mood and performance: When these brain areas slow down, it's harder to focus, complete tasks requiring attention, and stay in a good mood.
Long-term sleep deprivation can have serious consequences, including reduced memory formation: The brain's ability to form long-term memories can be reduced. Another, more insidious effect is "waste buildup": The brain's ability to dispose of waste products can be hindered.
How sleep optimises your brain
Even if you don't feel tired, it can take days for your body and brain to fully recover from sleep deprivation.
Aim for a full 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night to optimise your brain function, memory, and overall well-being. So ditch the late-night scrolling and prioritise a good night's rest.
There are numerous studies on the effects of sleep deprivation. Here's some:
Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public Health Problem, published by the National Academies Press (2006). This study cites the association between sleep loss and heart health, obesity, mood/anxiety, overall disease mortality, diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance, obesity in adults and childre, anxiety symptoms and depression.
Sleep Loss and Inflammation, Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (2010), Janet M Mullington. The researchers found that sleep deprivation can lead to increased levels of inflammatory markers, which are associated with various health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis.
Insufficient Sleep in Adolescents and Young Adults: An Update on Causes and Consequences (2014), by Judith Owens, et. al. This study, published in the journal Pediatrics, examined the effects of sleep deprivation on academic performance in adolescents – it found that teenagers who were sleep deprived performed worse on cognitive tests and had difficulty concentrating.
Acute Sleep Deprivation and Risk of Motor Vehicle Crash Involvement (Technical Report), by Tefft, B.C. et. al. (2016), published by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. The researchers found that drivers who were sleep deprived were significantly more likely to be involved in accidents compared to well-rested drivers.
