How to stop waking up at night for better health

If you’re worried about your wake up habit, make sure you talk to your GP as Dr Lederle advises. If you don’t think it’s insomnia but want to reduce your chances of opening your eyes in the dark, try her four tips.

Reduce stress

“I know that’s easier said than done, but in most instances, the times we properly wake up are when we come out of sleep as part of our normal cycles and the brain hijacks that awakening with things you haven’t been able to work through that day,” says Dr Lederle.

Finding ways to avoid the brain hijacking your sleep is the first port of call. That might be a quick brain dump in a journal so you can get your worries out on paper, or avoid your phone for a few hours before bed so that work isn’t at the forefront of your mind and a cause of panic when you wake up.

Avoid looking at your phone

Speaking of screens… “Certainly don’t go on your phone when you wake up in the night,” says Dr Lederle. “It’s something that people do very often to just distract themselves from these unwanted thoughts or to check the time as they toss and turn. But that only backfires because you then look at light, which wakes you up or more stressful information comes in.”

Instead, try breathing practices while you lie there. And remember, it’s probably not as long as you think it is.

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