During the night you wake up and your mind is full of activity...panic! Full article

Does it take you long to get back to sleep?

Aargh!!

Is panic necessary?

It is if you are watching the clock and making a note of how much sleep you’ve had - or haven’t had - and how much sleep you can possibly get with the hours left until morning.

So what should you do?

Find out why you don’t need to panic and what you can do to get back to sleep

...read on

Your night’s sleep is like a Barometer - reflecting what else is going on in your life.

Those who are having sleep problems - you are not alone!!

All the sleep tips are to facilitate staying asleep and getting quality sleep.

So make sure you follow all the tips from all the articles.

Studies show that those predisposed to sleep issues are those with perfectionism, intensity and a need for control. Stress and worry cause insomnia.

First let's understand what’s going on. Let’s understand the sleep cycle.

What is this crazy picture - whatever are we up to at night?

The last article discusses why we need sleep, this article dissects the pattern.

There are 5 stages of sleep during the night.

There is REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and nREM (non-REM sleep)

It's important to understand that the brain stays active during sleep.

These stages are on a repeated cycle throughout the night.

Each cycle usually lasts 90-120 minutes.

nonREM (about 75-80% of the cycle) has four stages :

Stage 1 & 2 are light sleep

Stage 3 & 4 are deep sleep

REM is usually about 90 minutes in.

The important thing to remember is:

THE BRAIN STAYS ACTIVE DURING SLEEP .

What to do when you wake up:

Don’t panic!

We wake up several times a night

Look at the chart

However - mostly we go straight back to sleep so we are barely conscious of waking up and often don't even remember it.

You can become too alert during these wake moments.

Additionally, if you don’t fall back to sleep within 5-10minutes

Firstly - do NOT look at the clock. Don’t work out how much sleep you've had or how much more you can get and how bad you will feel in the morning and all the other things that your mind jumps to.

These thoughts will stress you. Stress is not our friend at this moment! We need to relax.

Don’t confuse your body by having light - keep lights off and don't look at your phone.

Try breathing. When we are asleep our breathing is slow and deep and regularly So we can reverse engineer these. This may take practice. This may take time. Practice during waking hours.

If you are still struggling - you can get up.

Maybe visit the bathroom.

Don’t stay up for long.

Remember - your brain is supposed to stay active at night.

Do not engage with it (treat it like a naughty child - ignore the behaviour you don't want)

1. Get up briefly

2. Focus on something boring or

3. Music (as a distraction)

4. Sleep apps can help (this will be covered in a future tip)

Core sleep is what is vital .

5 and a half hours is a minimum

It's not enough but it's the base amount to stay healthy (rather like base food amount to stay healthy)

So don't look at the clock and don't panic!