Do you wake up every night in the early hours? Here’s what your body is asking of you.

Today, everyone knows that quality sleep is key to health. Therefore, when for an inexplicable reason you start waking up all the time in the middle of the night, it is logical that you will be worried about how this interruption of sleep will affect us. Unfortunately, worrying about lack of sleep can hardly improve the situation. In fact, we tend to over-monitor exactly how much Night’s sleep we have managed to collect, and this concern prevents us from relaxing in a way that will help us fall asleep firmly. In short, there is a vicious circle. Trying not to become worried about sleep deprivation is almost as important-and as difficult – as the problems that sleep deprivation itself causes. Živim.hr.

Perhaps it would be good to think a little and evaluate your sleep habits, including if (and when) you wake up during the night. For starters, here’s a little comfort: it’s not at all unusual to wake up in the middle of the night. Actually, dr. Jose Colon, author of “the Sleep Diet”, says waking up four to six times each night is common.

“No one sleeps without a break all night. It has been implanted in US since the stone age, when a man would wake up, check the environment for any danger, and then go back to sleep,” he explains. Still, although waking up at night is quite common, you should fall asleep again within five minutes. People often don’t even remember being aroused. If you can’t sleep so easily again, it may be a deeper problem. Therefore, you should pay attention to the time of awakening – namely, if that time is always the same, it can reveal a lot about you and your body.

Wake up between 21 and 23 hours

Given that for most people, this period is also the time to go to sleep, waking up in this case is likely to occur shortly after the person has fallen asleep. If you are among those who wake up at that time, it could be a sign that you are stressed, worried, or anxious. Michael Perlis, director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the University of Pennsylvania, says that if you’re having trouble falling asleep at the beginning of the night, it’s caused by anxiety or stressful events in your life.

“External factors, such as screens, too much light in the room, or noise, can also trigger sleep problems in the first part of the night,” Perlis added.

The solution: try meditation, relaxing yoga exercises or adopt an evening ritual that will help you calm down and relax before bedtime. Turn off all the screens one hour before bedtime, and instead of looking at the screens, try to read a book.

Waking up between 11 p.m. and 1 p.m.

According to the Chinese body clock, the energy meridian in charge of the gallbladder is activated at this time. The gallbladder works hard to break down all the fat you’ve consumed during the day, so waking up at that time could be a sign that it’s time to analyze what you’re eating before going to bed or having dinner earlier.

“Make sure to eat the last big meal of the day at least two to three hours before going to bed. If you’re up late and it’s been four or five hours since your last big meal, you can afford a little bit of easy-to-digest food.” Ramlakhan, who suggests eating fruit before bedtime. Waking up at that time is also associated with emotional disappointment, resentment, and resentment. Some experts suggest that you work on accepting yourself, forgiving mistakes, whether yours or others’, as well as focusing on your feelings and forgiveness before trying to fall asleep again.

Solution: try to have dinner in the earlier evenings and avoid late-night snacks whenever possible.

Waking up between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m.

During these hours your liver regenerates, which means that if you wake up at that time, your liver may have too much to do. To solve this problem, it may be of great importance to work a little on your diet and to reduce your alcohol intake in the late night hours. Dr. Damien Stevens, a pulmonologist and sleep expert at the University Hospital of Kansas, supports the theory that drinking milk in the late evening is bad for sleep cycles.

“Depending on your metabolism, alcohol will disappear from your system after a few hours and that’s when you wake up,” he says. Timothy Roehrs, director of research on Sleep Disorders at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, added that many feel sleepy after a glass of wine or whiskey, but that the effect never lasts long.

“Alcohol-induced sleep is associated with intense short-wave brain activity, which is thought to be the deepest and most invigorating type of sleep. After the body breaks down and metabolizes alcohol, the deep sleep phase is over and instead the sleep becomes intermittent as brain waves are re-stimulated,” explains Roehrs.

Answer: Say No to drinking alcohol at night.

Waking up between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.

According to the Chinese body clock, this is the time when the Meridian connected to the lungs is the strongest, invigorating the lungs and filling them with the energy needed for the next day. Waking up and coughing at that time can be a sign that you need to switch to a healthier diet or breathe cleaner air.

Try to do some physical activity in the fresh air every day. Please note that dr. Ramlakhan advises avoiding any intense activity three hours before bedtime because it triggers the secretion of stress hormones in the body.

Waking up between 5 and 7 a.m.

It is, again according to the Chinese body clock, a time to renew and cleanse the colon. Given that this organ is responsible for cleaning toxic waste from the digestive system, waking up at that time may indicate its poor functioning. To make the cleaning process easier, it is recommended that you drink enough water during the day. Dr. Ramlakhan says that we should all increase our water intake to two liters per day if we want to sleep better at night. You may also wake up at this time because you feel emotionally blocked or in some way constrained in your life. It can also be a sign that you need to let go of some sense of remorse or emotion that burdens you.

Solution: drink more water during the day and take some time to deal with your emotions.

5 factors that can cause your sleep apnea:

You have to go to the bathroom

Waking up at night to go to the bathroom is quite common, but that doesn’t mean you have to put up with it. To solve this problem, many doctors advise to avoid caffeine and alcohol in the afternoon and evening, because they can act as a trigger for excessive bladder activity, and therefore the frequent need to urinate day and night. Some suggest that you stop taking fluids after 18 hours, as well as try to strengthen the pelvic muscles with Kegel exercises. If you still wake up at night to go to the bathroom, keeping a discharge diary for 48 hours and talking to your doctor may be helpful. He may be able to determine what the problem is with a simple examination and blood analysis and, if it fails, he can always refer you to the urologist for an examination.

You’re overheated

According to the American National Sleep Association (NSF), many people have trouble sleeping because they are overheated.

“Studies have shown that there is an ideal temperature for sleeping and when that temperature is too high, it takes longer to fall asleep. And when they finally sink into the dream, it breaks or is completely interrupted and has fewer dreams,” the experts from the association explain. The ideal temperature in the room and sleep is between 15.5 and 18 degrees, so make sure that in the bedroom the air temperature does not exceed these values. Dr. Marc Leavy, a physician at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, advises taking a bath or shower before bedtime because it helps regulate body temperature.

“A warm bath raises body temperature slightly, while leaving the bath leads to a slight drop in body temperature, which is a signal that the brain links to sleep,” he explains.

Drink too much alcohol before going to bed

As mentioned above, late-night meals or alcohol consumption disrupts sleep cycles, so it is best to avoid late meals and stop drinking alcohol for a few hours before going to bed. This will allow your body enough time to metabolize alcohol before you fall asleep.

You are stressed or anxious

Stress and anxiety are often associated with insomnia. Therefore, it is a good idea to relax and indulge in some of the stress-reducing activities such as meditation, yoga or progressive relaxation. Focusing on breathing can also help calm you down, and the 4-7-8 breathing trick supposedly helps people fall asleep within 60 seconds by acting as a natural tranquilizer on the nervous system.

How is it performed?

Place the tip of the tongue on the flesh behind the front teeth.
Exhale as much as you can through your mouth, making a loud sound.
Close your mouth and breathe quietly through your nose as you count to 4 in your mind.
Hold your breath while you count to 7.
Exhale all the air through your mouth, making a loud sound, while at the same time counting to 8 in your mind.
Dr. Andrew Weil, who devised the method, warns that you should always inhale quietly on the nose and exhale loudly on the mouth and that, more importantly, exhalation should last twice as long as inhaling.

You spend too much time in front of the screen.

Whether it’s a smartphone or a TV screen, electronic devices are sources of light that people keep close to their faces. Exposing the eyes to such light during the evening prevents the body from releasing melatonin, the sleep hormone, and thus deprives you of a quality night’s sleep. “Using electronic devices late in the evening means that you absorb blue light that can impair the quality of your sleep because it blocks melatonin production and prolongs the sleep phase,” explains Dr. Ramlakhan. She advises dim the lights in the bedroom and turn off all screens, including the TV screen, an hour before bedtime.