Waking up in the middle of the night sucks, and it sucks even more when you find yourself tossing and turning unable to fall back asleep. Sometimes there isn’t even an underlying reason for your sleeplessness such as stress or too much caffeine during the day, and frankly we’re not sure what’s worse. Either way, continue reading for tips and tricks to help beat the middle of the night blues. 

Focus on Relaxing Your Body

This is particularly helpful if you find yourself waking up due to feelings of stress or anxiety, but focusing on bringing your body back to a state of rest is nonetheless the first step in being able to ease your way into sleep once more. 

Thankfully, there are ways to relax the body without leaving the comfort of your bed. Namely, breathing exercises. There are countless different methods suggested to regulate breathing, but the methods suggested for anxiety may be most helpful in this situation (even if you don’t struggle with anxiety yourself). 

• Box Breathing: Box breathing is a breathing technique in which you breath in, hold your breath, breath out, and hold your breath once more all in increments of four seconds. It may help to visualize the four sides of a box while you go through each step of the breathing process. 

• Yogic Breathing: There are multiple different breathing methods used during yoga, but one that could be particularly helpful is alternate nostril breathing. The method is exactly how it sounds. Using your index finger, cover one nostril and breath in the other. Then, close the other nostril with your thumb and hold your breath for a beat. Finally, uncover the nostril that was first closed and repeat the process. One full cycle of doing this should last about 40 seconds. 

Don’t Look at the Clock

No matter how much your brain nags at you to check the time and calculate just how much time you have left to snooze, try your best to resist the temptation. When you’re tossing and turning without any success of falling back asleep, checking the time only serves to stress you out even more about the sleep you have already lost and the sleep you fear you will continue to lose. This stress then only makes falling back asleep even more difficult leaving you stuck in a vicious cycle. 

Prioritize Your Comfort 

Trying to fall back asleep is difficult enough, let alone trying to do so when your sheets aren’t laying quite right or if you have a kink in your neck. Even if it’s something you think you can ignore, be sure to take care of it because the chances are high that they will ultimately end up hindering your ability to sleep. Empty your bladder, fluff your pillows, and turn down the AC before getting back in bed to ensure the best rest of your night’s sleep possible.

Try Meditation

Even if you have never meditated a day in your life, there’s no time like the present. Keep in mind there is no one right way to meditate, so don’t beat yourself up for “not doing it right” if you’re trying it for the first time. Seasoned veterans likely have their own processes, but when first starting out it could be useful to try a guided meditation. 

There are many different versions of a guided meditation available online with many on YouTube as well as mindfulness apps such as Insight Timer, Headspace, and Calm. The effects of meditation on the body may include the reduction of symptoms of depression, pain, high blood pressure, and fatigue. Even if meditation alone is not enough to lull you back to sleep, it can certainly help prepare you for sleep by putting you in a more relaxed state that is more conducive to falling back asleep. 

Stay Away From Screens

Yes, we understand the irony in the fact that you’re here on a screen because you can’t sleep and are looking to remedy that. However, the blue light emitted from electronic devices is well known to stop melatonin production and can negatively impact your sleep-wake cycle even further than it already has been. If you find yourself needing a distraction, then activities that don’t include screens such as reading a physical book or jotting down thoughts and notes in a journal may be helpful. Now turn off your device after reading this!

Key Takeaways

Whether it be due to stress or for no clear reason at all, we are all bound to find ourselves awake in the middle of the night at some point. Rather than continually checking the clock and stressing yourself out over lost time, take the necessary steps to calm both your mind and body in order to make your environment more conducive to sleep. If all else fails, do yourself a favor and get out of bed. Too much time spent in bed not sleeping will make your brain associate your bed with sleeplessness making it more difficult to fall asleep in the future. Once away, carry on with activities that do not cause too much stimulation such as reading a physical book, listening to relaxing music, or even taking a warm bath or shower. Take the time to look after yourself and your sleep, and here’s to a better tomorrow.