I toss and turn and struggle to sleep through the night. Sometimes I wake at 4am and can’t fall asleep again until 6:30am, shortly before I need to actually get up. If you are like me, and struggle with sleep, you should take some time to learn about how to sleep through the night.
By experimenting with the following tips, you can improve your health, improve your thinking and feeling during the day and sleep better at night. If you stare at the ceiling in the middle of the night, look at the clock and count the hours until your alarm goes off, you are not alone. Try to get up, get out of bed and get up at the same time every day and fall asleep at least an hour earlier than normal – that is a well documented approach that has helped me.
According to a study by the National Sleep Foundation (NSF), between seven and twenty seven percent of American adults reported having trouble falling asleep and sleeping most of the night. So that means me and you are not alone.
Getting up and going to bed at the same time creates a consistency in the body’s sleep-waking cycle that contributes to a better night’s sleep. While waking up at night is normal, waking up too often over long periods of time can disturb your rest and make you groggy. Sometimes nocturnal awakenings are a sign of an underlying disease that requires medical attention.
If you have trouble sleeping through the night, it is possible that your day is simply not set up to help you sleep. Instead of lying down and waking up at certain times, you should consider getting up and engaging in a relaxing activity such as reading. I do this and the results speak volumes. This will stop you from being stressed about not being able to sleep, which could ultimately be what keeps you awake longer. When you wake up in the middle of the night, try to focus on visualizing where you left off in your dreams. Avoid checking your email, turning on the lights and relaxing completely; just try to keep your eyes closed and fall asleep again. As corny as it may sound, I really relax by conceptualizing happy times and happy places.
Bedtime routines serve two purposes: they help form behavioral associations and give the brain signals to feel sleepy. This means that the routine is relaxing and calming, and not exciting, and that you fall asleep faster. To create this feeling of drowsiness, it helps to have a quiet bedtime and wake up at the same time every day.
