Tips to help you fall back asleep

Getting a great night’s sleep benefits your overall health and well-being. Poor sleep can potentially lead to a number of negative health consequences that increase your risk of disease.

Staying in bed for eight hours a night isn’t effective if you aren’t actually asleep for most of this time. When you have uninterrupted sleep, your brain cycles through four different stages of sleep, and they are all very important for adequate rest and recovery.

If you wake up a lot during the night, your brain might never reach the deeper stages of sleep, which is where all of the most important activities take place.

Tips for getting back to sleep

Even if you have no trouble falling asleep initially, you might struggle with waking up during the night. If this is the case, there are a few things that you can do to help yourself.

Here are some top tips for helping you fall back asleep when you wake up during the night:

• Avoid going on your phone, as this can wake up your brain and take you out of a sleep state
• Avoid turning the lights on, light can cause your brain to think that it’s day time and this will disrupt your natural sleep-wake cycle
• Avoid eating food or drinking caffeinated drinks, as this will increase your metabolism and wake you up even further
• Try meditating or deep breathing exercises to help you relax
• If you still haven’t fallen back asleep after 20 minutes, try getting up.  Leave your bedroom and try journaling, mediating, reading or any activity that you find relaxing.  Return to bed once you are sleepy again.