October 22, 2016|Sleep|Caroline Sarda2

How to Sleep Through the Night when I’m Easily Woken Up

We covered in Part 1 solutions to help you if you can’t fall asleep. In Part 2, we covered tips to help those of you who can’t stay asleep. In our final segment, we will cover how to get deep sleep if you get woken up by anything and everything.

Sleep Scenario 3 – Anything and everything wakes me up – you have no problems falling asleep but the smallest thing will wake you up whether it’s the light for the alarm clock or the sound of the wind.

Here are some suggestions to help you per Michael Breus, PhD along with some of mine:

1. Use a sound machine – the constant sound of white noise or rain or waves help you tune out the disturbances that could wake you up. I use an IOS app called Sleep Machine. It’s free and works perfectly.
2. Stop sharing your bed with your furry friends. I know they’re adorable and so much fun to cuttle up with but research shows that more than 50% of people who sleep next to their cat or dog report sleep disturbances. Many pets become restless at night or wake you up with their snoring and sniffing. So increase your chances of a good nights sleep and have your pets sleep in their own bed.
3. Are you using the right pillow? Make sure your head and neck are aligned so your spine and neck are in a straight line.
4. Talk to your doctor about your meds. Beta-blockers prescribed for high blood pressure and antidepressants like Prozac and Zoloft may cause insomnia.
5. Take the time to wind down. Just like waking up, you should take about an hour to transition your mind and body from  active to relaxed. Spend the last 20 minutes before turning off the light by breathing deeply or reading with a book light.  How you set the tone for your night will determine whether you get deep sleep.
6. Stay cool – set your bedroom temperature between 65-75 degrees. The cooler air triggers the production of melatonin, a chemical that induces deep sleep. If you’re menopausal, you may want to drop the temperature even lower to help with hot flashes and nighttime sweats.
7. Sleep in a dark room – light from any devices delays the release of melatonin making it harder to fall asleep and sleep soundly. Deep sleep is dependent on a dark room, the darker the better.
8. Stay in bed. Some people say that counting back from 100 helps them fall asleep. Deep breathing and meditating helps too.
9. Turn off your phone and other electronics. There’s nothing worse than getting woken up by a wrong number.

Tips –

1. if you don’t get a full nights sleep, it’s best to go to bed a little earlier than usual a few nights in a row than try to sleep in the following morning. — why you feel worse waking late trying to catch up on lost sleep.
2. If you need a nap, start before 3 pm and make sure it’s 30 minutes or less.
3. When should you go to sleep? Most need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night. To figure out how much sleep you need, take 7.5 hours off your normal wake up time. So if you need to wake up at 7, go to bed at 11:30. If you wake up a few minutes before your alarm, then you know that your perfect bedtime is 7.5 hours. If you’re still sound asleep when the alarm  rings, go to bed 20 minutes earlier each night until you find that perfect time.

Note: If you’ve tried all these things and still not getting deep sleep, I have found that the Organic Indigo Perfume helps me sleep better when I just spray it a couple of times in the palm of my hands, rub dry, and inhale a few times before going to sleep. I have also used it in the middle of the night and fallen back asleep. You will always find the indigo on my desk for clarity and on my night stand for sleep. It adapts to what you need and has a delightful scent that my husband loves too.

See also:

• Sleep Issues Part 1 – I Can’t Fall Asleep
• Sleep Issues Part 2 – I Can’t Stay Asleep