8 Tips for Falling Back to Sleep in the Middle of the Night

The thermometer has been soaring in recent days, with a heatwave affecting many regions in France. Hard to bear during the day, the heat is also annoying at night and can easily disrupt our sleep. How can you get back to sleep easily if you wake up at two or three in the morning? Here are eight tips.

Don’t turn on the light

When you wake up in the middle of the night, you may have the reflex to get up, to go to the toilet for example, and turn on the light. This is a mistake, because our body will be very sensitive to it at that moment. This light exposure can disrupt the amount of melatonin produced by our body and trigger awakening. The trick to adopt, to avoid bumping into the dark, is to buy a night light, which will diffuse enough light to guide you, without waking you up completely.

Avoid blue light

Along the same lines, you should also avoid blue light, produced by the screens of our smartphones. Because we have all done it at least once: grabbing our phone to scroll through social networks, in the middle of insomnia. This action will interfere with the production of melatonin and facilitate awakening, again. And all the information read will wake up your brain. It is difficult to get back to sleep after that.

Do breathing exercises

Instead of reaching for your phone, try doing some breathing exercises. This could be the 4-7-8 method, which involves inhaling for 4 seconds, holding your breath for 7 seconds, and exhaling for 8 seconds. Repeat this four times in a row, before observing whether you gradually fall asleep again.

Don’t look at the time

Not picking up your phone means you won’t know what time it is. If you have a light-up clock radio in your room, resist the temptation to check it, too. You can also move it out of your field of vision. Watching the clock tick by and the hours until the alarm clock tick by creates anxiety, making it difficult to fall back asleep.

Do a boring activity

Without turning on the light but taking advantage of the dim light of your night light, you can get out of bed and do a boring activity to get back to sleep. This could be coloring for example, a simple activity that will disconnect your brain, removing the anxiety related to the fact that you are not sleeping, despite the late hour.

Try progressive muscle relaxation

To perform this exercise, you need to inhale and contract a group of muscles. You need to follow a specific order, starting with the face, then the upper body and gradually going down. After this contraction, you need to relax the muscles as you exhale, this time and repeat the operation with the following muscles. Repeat as many times as necessary to get back to sleep.

Visualize your worries and erase them

Do you have a stressful event coming up? You can mentally suppress it. To do this, while lying in bed, conjure up an image of the event that is causing you anxiety. Maybe you see yourself sitting in your boss’s office or going to an obligation that doesn’t interest you. Notice the details that come into the frame, how your body feels, so you can focus on what you can control.

Once you have seen all the details and nuances, pretend to take an eraser and imagine erasing the entire image until you see a blank wall. Continue as often as necessary until you feel relaxed and sleepy.

Also follow these tips to promote sleep

Having regular insomnia can have consequences on your health, both physical and mental. It is therefore essential to have a healthy lifestyle to sleep well and this involves the following advice:

• Stop drinking coffee or caffeinated beverages at least six hours before bedtime;
• Avoid large meals in the evening and excessive alcohol;
• Turn off your smartphone at least one hour before going to sleep;
• Sleep in a cool, dark room, without noise or light pollution.

And if, despite everything, you notice that your sleep disorders have a negative impact on your life, it is necessary to consult your doctor quickly.

Slideshow: Insomnia: 10 tips to get back to sleep