In one of our most recent blogs, we talked about not being able to fall asleep at night. But what happens when you’re able to fall asleep easily but not stay asleep throughout the night? Oftentimes this can happen for seemingly no visible reason or explanation, leaving you annoyed, confused, and anxious. This blog will detail some potential causes of why you wake up in the middle of the night and some tips on how you can alleviate them. Have additional questions not answered in this post? Give our team a call today at 425-437-3311.
Environmental Factors
First, let’s take a look at some of the environmental factors; the environment in this case being your bedroom:
- Consider external sources of light, such as bright street lamps or headlights from passing cars if you live in a residential area. Investing in blackout curtains to make the room darker and limit any unexpected intrusion of light during the night can help you stay asleep.
- The temperature of the room is also important, especially if you wake up in the middle of the night sweating. This could be a sign that your body is overheating and interrupting your sleep cycles. If you use programmable temperature control while you sleep, such as power-saving temperature cycles, try adjusting to see if making the room a degree or two warmer or cooler makes a difference in your sleep.
- Lastly, consider the noise in the room. Again, some of this can be uncontrollable, such as passing cars or helicopters or planes flying overhead. In these instances a sound machine may prove useful. While it may not seem smart to add additional sources of noise, the white noise these machines put out help to reduce and cancel out loud noises, allowing you to sleep uninterrupted throughout the night.
Physical Factors
Next, let’s take a look at the physical side of things.
- While many of us enjoy an alcoholic beverage in the evening to unwind after our workdays, it’s important to limit or eliminate drinks at least 2 to 3 hours before your bedtime. The reason for this is that alcoholic drinks can put additional strain on your bladder, leading to you waking up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.
- Another culprit is eating right before bed. If your stomach does not have time to fully digest the meal or midnight snack, it can lead to indigestion, acid reflux and heartburn, none of which are conducive to a good night sleep.
- Lastly, while exercise Is proven to help improve the quality of your sleep, it is best done in the morning or afternoons so that all the adrenaline and endorphins have time to regulate and come back down to normal levels that provide a suitable atmosphere for sleep and relaxation.
Psychological Factors
Finally there are some psychological factors to consider.
- Many adults suffer from restless legs syndrome (RLS) where you have an uncontrollable urge to move your legs, causing you to feel the need to get up and walk around or shake out your legs. While this typically happens as you’re initially laying down to sleep, it can also happen while you’re asleep and your subconscious brain picks up on it, waking you up in the middle of the night.
- Anxiety and stress play critical roles in staying asleep through the night as well, as any changes to our normal routines can disrupt your brain’s natural patterns and chemical balancing, leading to deregulation and waking up in the middle of the night.
- Others suffer from chronic nightmares, some of which are strong enough to wake them in the middle of the night.
- Still others suffer from sleep apnea, which disrupts the breathing and respiratory systems while asleep, causing you to snore, have trouble breathing, or stop breathing altogether.
The good news is that if you suffer from any of the above, help is available through sleep testing and treatments.
Getting Back to Healthy Sleep
While the environmental and physical factors we’ve discussed can often be matters that you can resolve on your own, when it comes to sleep disorders and psychological problems interfering with our sleep, we need a helping hand.
At Elite Sleep we provide that helping hand by offering full service sleep center services such as sleep testing and consultations, diagnosement of sleep disorders, and a wide array of treatment options. We work with you to find not only what is causing your sleep issues, but also identify any underlying medical conditions that could be contributing to them. Once we have a full understanding of your situation, we can then present you with treatment options that are best suited to your individual needs. Your care and comfort is our top priority; we don’t rest until you do. To get started on the path back to healthy sleep and sleeping through the night, give us a call at 425-437-3311 or visit us online to find out more about our services and schedule a sleep consultation.
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