Why do I always wake up in the middle of the night? – GOOD SHAPE

Everything indicated that you would a great night’s sleep, until you wake up, look at the clock and face that painful information: it’s 3 am. And this is not an isolated occurrence – turn and shake, you wake up in the middle of the night. But why does this happen?

WHAT CHARACTERIZES A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP?

Before answering this question, it is worth understanding what, in fact, characterizes a good night’s sleep. Second Joshua Alencardirector of Coteminas and president of the Persono project, this is a very complex definition, since a good night’s sleep depends on both biological, environmental and personal characteristics – think about your chronotype, age, routine, etc.

“There are some important parameters that indicate a good night’s sleep: taking between 10 and 30 minutes to fall asleep; not waking up more than once a night; go back to sleep within 20 minutes if you wake up in the middle of the night and spend 85% of your time in bed sleeping,” he explains. “It is important to emphasize that a single night of sleep is not enough, there needs to be regularity, as sleep is not something that can be compensated.”

Just as what defines good rest depends on a number of factors, the same goes for what detracts from that rest. For example, according to the Ministry of Health, around 42% of Brazilians have some sleep disorderand in the Acorda Brasil survey, promoted by Persono, some of the main “disruptors” of good sleep were defined as stress, worries about finances and work.

WHY DO WE WAKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF DAWN?

Interestingly, waking up in the middle of the night is considered relatively normal, as long as it doesn’t happen too often during the night or several nights in a row, with no apparent cause.

“The reasons for interrupted sleep are divided into six categories: physical causes, psychological causes, sleep disorders, bad habits, inadequate location and confusing sleeping schedules”, says Josué. “Recent sleep medicine studies show that there is a correlation between the quality and continuity of sleep. When nighttime sleep is interrupted or fragmented, it contributes to other problems like daytime sleepiness and insomnia, and even when interruptions don’t reduce time in bed, they are still harmful, as they break the cadence of sleep stages.”

More practically, some of the reasons that make you wake up in the middle of a sleep cycle are:

Stress;
Insomnia;
Age (since sleep quality decreases over time);
Use of medications;
Other conditions, such as depression or sleep apnea.

HOW TO SLEEP ALL NIGHT?

There’s the million dollar question. The first step is precisely to understand why your awakenings happen. If the causes are physical, they need attention to prevent these disruptions from happening, and the same goes for psychological ones – depression, for example, is known to alter the sleep cycle.

Whatever the case, the ideal is always to seek a doctor specializing in sleep, who can treat the problem directly or in partnership with other professionals, such as psychologists.

“When the cause comes from bad habits, environment or schedules, this can often be improved with the person’s own attitudes, such as making the sleep hygiene, dim the lighting in the room and discipline their schedules”, continues Josué. “In these cases, it is important to keep a sleep diary or better observe habits and the environment to understand exactly these causes and work on them. Drinking a lot of water before bed, for example, can create the need to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and regulating the amount of water ingested could help.”