

“People who have insomnia, they’re missing one of those sleep hygiene pieces. “Perfect sleep is like having a puzzle, and you need all the right pieces,” Dasgupta said. In a stimulus control technique, you can distract your brain with a mundane task to help bring back drowsiness faster than staying frustrated in bed.ĭoctors in England now have a prescription alternative for insomnia patients “When you do that, when you let the pressure go that sleep isn’t so effortful, sleep is more likely to come back.” “Abandon the idea of getting back to sleep,” Troxel said. Paradoxically, experts say to get out of bed. These can all stimulate emotional states that are more activating rather than relaxing.” The content of what we are consuming on our phones can be very activating, whether it’s scrolling through social media or reading the news. “You’re getting the light exposure from your phone, which can directly stimulate your circadian signal for alertness. “Our phone is our strongest signal to our waking lives,” Troxel said. Consider getting an alarm that isn’t attached to your phone.

If your alarm is on the phone, checking the clock can pose an even more significant trigger. It’s making you more alert and aroused … versus sending the signal to the brain that it’s OK to drift.”Ĭhecking your clock when you wake up early can trigger stress and make it hard to go back to sleep, experts say. “All of this mental processing and agitation is antithetical to the sleep state. You think of all the demands … how awful it is going to be when you’re sleep-deprived,” Troxel said. It’s 3 o’clock in the morning like clockwork, and immediately might grit your teeth. This process is counterproductive for maintaining drowsiness, as the brain becomes hyper-engaged. When anxiety and worry take precedence, cortisol levels increase, and the body becomes alert. “Clock watching becomes habitual, and that habitual response of frustration and anxiety also causes a stress response in the body.” “The anxiety and the frustration build,” said sleep specialist Wendy Troxel, a senior behavioral scientist at Rand Corp. can cause increased worry about the hours of sleep you hoped to attain. If you wake up suddenly - in what feels like the early morning hours - resist checking the clock. “Don’t start telling yourself … ‘I’m going to make myself stay in bed until I fall asleep,’ ” he said. Rajkumar Dasgupta, associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles. “You start ruminating about it, and then you start doing things that make insomnia worse,” said Dr. Sleep apnea and snoring: 8 warning signs to look for The young woman is disturbed sleep from snoring husband sleeping nearby on bed in night time, then she used a pillow off the ears with a nuisance Adobe Stock The stress can feel isolating and all-consuming, taking more precedence than the initial sleep problem. The constant waking up before that daily sound is coupled with an immense frustration about not falling back asleep. An acute sleep disorder could be at play for someone not experiencing chronic insomnia but waking up early. While insomnia treatments include cognitive behavioral therapy and medication, other daily tips can have an impact on early morning awakenings. The study finds that some people may experience early awakenings without other insomnia symptoms such as “difficulty initiating sleep,” “nocturnal awakenings” and “non-restorative sleep,” meaning sleep that isn’t substantial even with the recommended hours.

Those experiencing insomnia can have a combination of “nocturnal awakenings” and what’s categorized as “early morning awakenings,” according to a 2009 study from the Stanford Sleep Epidemiology Research Center and other universities. According to the National Institutes of Health, studies across the globe show anywhere from 10% to 30% of the population struggles with insomnia, defined as the consistent difficulty falling asleep and the inability to return to sleep after going to bed. More than a third of Americans get fewer hours of sleep a night than the minimum recommendation of seven hours, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Is your job ruining your sleep? If so, this may be why

Shot of a young businessman experiencing stress during late night at work LumiNola/E+/Getty Images
