You’ve clocked 10,000 steps, drank eight glasses of water and at nighttime, your body begs for about eight hours of sleep. And despite your intentions for a long slumber, something keeps waking you each day at 2 a.m., leaving you wondering, “why?”
According to doctors, there’s one simple thing you might be doing that triggers your wakefulness in the middle of the night.
You wake up in the middle of the night. What’s the first thing you do? If your answer is “check the time,” you’re not alone. It feels natural – instinctive, even – to reach for your phone or glance at the clock.
But this one action could be the reason you struggle to fall back asleep.
According to doctors, the moment you see the time, you start calculating how long you’ve been awake and how many hours until the alarms alerts you to start a busy day.
“Altogether, sleep quality tends to become worse in people who check the clock during the night,” says sleep scientist, Dr. Carleara Weiss. “The science in behavioral sleep medicine indicates that the clock-monitoring habit may increase pre-sleep anxiety and worry during the night.”
This means that mental math sets off a stress response in your brain, making it even harder to relax. Your heart rate might increase, your mind starts racing, and suddenly, you’re wide awake.
“We’ve observed people who became overly attached to this habit and started waking up every night at the same time to check the clock,” Dr. Weiss told Well+Good.
And, if you’re checking the time on a mobile device, including a phone or smart watch, you’re adding to the problem, the doctor warns.
“We know bright light from electronic devices affects the natural production of melatonin, so just doing this makes a huge difference,” Weiss said in an interview with BuzzFeed.
According to Weiss, the blue light from a mobile device tricks your brain into thinking it’s daytime and suppresses melatonin – the hormone responsible for sleep. Even a short exposure can delay your ability to drift back into slumber.
How to combat wake-ups
First, resist the temptation to check the time. If you need an alarm in the morning, turn your clock away from you before going to bed. If you use your phone, keep it on silent and face down. The less you engage with time at night, the easier it is to slip back into sleep naturally.
If your body is resisting the urge to fall asleep again, get out of bed.
It may sound counterintuitive, but Dr. Luis Buenaver said that lying awake in bed for too long can teach your brain bad habits.
“It’s important not to stay in bed, even if you’re reading,” said Buenaver, a sleep doctor with Johns Hopkins. “Doing this will lead your brain and body to associate your bed with wakefulness instead of with sleep. It can be difficult leaving a warm, comfortable bed after waking up in the middle of the night. But think of this step as an investment in better sleep – if not tonight then tomorrow night and in the future.”
Lastly, only return to bed when you feel drowsy. This is a method called stimulus control therapy that’s intended to help your brain reconnect your bed with sleep rather than frustration and wakefulness.
What causes wake-ups
Experts explain that waking up throughout the night is perfectly normal, with most adults experiencing about 15 brief awakenings each night.
These arousals – lasting a few seconds to a few minutes – are “amnestic,” meaning a person doesn’t usually remember them, according to Michael Perlis, director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.
“Exactly why these happen is up for debate,” Perlis said, adding these sleep interruptions usually coincide with transitions from one sleep stage to another. “But you tend to shift your body position when you have these brief awakenings, and that’s a good thing.”
But when it comes to observable wake-ups – called middle maintenance insomnia – one in five Americans have about two or three per night.
Don’t panic
Sleep specialists remind us that the body is resilient. While you may feel groggy or sluggish after a restless night, you’ll likely get better sleep the following day to compensate.
The best thing you can do after a bad night is to stick to your normal routine. Avoid excessive napping or going to bed much earlier than usual – both can throw off your internal clock and make things worse in the long run.
Strengthen sleep hygiene
Now that you know how clock-watching or blue lights are disruptive to your sleep, there are a few other tips offered by the Mayo Clinic to build a strong foundation of sleep hygiene.
- Stick to a consistent sleep schedule: Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends.
- Create a calming bedtime routine: Wind down with relaxing activities like reading, gentle stretching, or deep breathing.
- Optimize your bedroom environment: Keep your room cool, dark, and quiet. Invest in a comfortable mattress and pillows.
- Limit caffeine and alcohol: Don’t have any caffeinated drinks after noon, and limit alcohol to one drink at least four hours before bedtime. Caffeine can linger in your system for hours, and alcohol, while initially sedating, can disrupt sleep later in the night.
- Manage stress during the day: Practicing mindfulness, journaling, or exercising can help prevent stress from interfering with your sleep.
If insomnia is disrupting your daily activities, a doctor can help identify the root cause and provide targeted solutions.
The next time you find yourself waking in the middle of the night, practice good sleep hygiene and resist the urge to clock-watch! Your body knows how to sleep – sometimes, it just needs a little help.
Please let us know how you practice healthy sleep hygiene and then share this story so we can hear from others!
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