It's frustrating when you can't sleep through the night and keep waking up, but more often than not a series of simple lifestyle changes can boost your chances of sleeping through the night.
But what 'sleeping through the night' is actually misleading because in reality all of us wake up at different times during the night, but in healthy sleep these wake periods are so brief we don't register them. Therefore we think we've slept through.
So the kind of frequent night wakings we're talking about here are the ones where you know you're awake and can't drift back to sleep quickly. We're looking at the five most common reasons why you can't sleep through and ways to address those issues. And if you think your bed might be one of the causes then take a look at our best mattress guide to learn how a good mattress can really improve your sleep.
Trouble sleeping: 5 reasons you keep waking up at night
1. You aren't eating enough sleep-friendly foods
Good sleep starts with breakfast... and lunch and dinner. A healthy diet for sleep includes foods rich in vitamin D, magnesium, zinc and B vitamins, as well as natural sources of melatonin. Although eating magnesium-rich pumpkin seeds won't send you snoozing, if your diet lacks these essential nutrients, you might struggle to sleep through the night.
When you eat can also impact your sleep, with late dinners more likely to result in indigestion. As your body stays awake trying to digest your pre-bed snack, you struggle to fall asleep — and then you wake up with a stomach ache.
We recommend limiting phone usage in the hour or so before sleep, but for many of us, the minute after your head hits the pillow is a more accurate estimate.
The stimulation of social media (bright lights, plenty of noise, the worst opinions you've ever read...) is bad news for your sleep, especially if your quick scroll through Instagram lasts for most of the evening. Social media can set your brain buzzing and those noisy thoughts can stop you from sleeping through.
3. You're not getting exercise during the day
Your brain and body might feel bone tired, but if you've not been active during the day (within your means), even this fatigue might not result in a good night's sleep.
Exercise is key to sleep, helping regulate energy levels as well as contributing to the production of sleepy hormone melatonin. Waking up tossing and turning can be a sign that you're lacking the physical stimulation needed to sleep through the night.
4. You're worrying about tomorrow
Bedtime should act as a respite from the stresses of work and life, but anxieties have a habit of following us into our sleep (especially if you were checking your work email right up until lights out.) Heightened anxiety levels can lead to disrupted rest and once you're awake, those stressful thoughts make it hard to drift off again.
And it's a vicious cycle: a 2022 study found it's harder to stop intrusive thoughts when you're lacking sleep.
5. You reach for your phone whenever you wake up
Waking up in the night is frustrating and when you're sleepy and annoyed it's easy to slip into bad habits. How many of us have gone to check the time, noticed a notification and then lost 30 minutes of sleep to another scroll through social media?
As well as wasting time that should be spent trying to snooze, these late night scrolls expose you to a sudden blast of bright light as well as (metaphorically) noisy content. Two things you want to avoid when you can't sleep through.
How to sleep through the night – 5 changes to make now
1. Add sleep foods to your diet
Changing your diet won't act as a sleeping pill, but it can help you achieve better quality rest. For a start, cut down on sugar, caffeine and alcohol, especially close to bedtime. The 10-3-2-1-0 sleep method recommends no caffeine 10 hours before bed, and no food three hours before bed.
Try and replace these sleep-disruptive snacks with foods that are better for your shut-eye. Pumpkin seeds are rich in magnesium, cereals and oats contain both magnesium and zinc, while proteins are good for B vitamins, all of which can help you sleep. Vitamin D deficiency has also been linked to poor sleep, so consider adding fatty fish and egg yolks to your diet — or spending more time in the sun.
2. Set screen limits
Setting nighttime screen limits — which lock you out of apps after a set time or amount of use — act as a barrier between you and your social media addiction. Admittedly, it is a fairly easy barrier to get around, but that one extra step in accessing content can force you to reassess a bad habit, as well as alert you to how much time you spend on your phone.
With your phone down, pick up a relaxing hobby to induce calm before bed. Breathing exercises are a good choice if you find your mind spinning after too long on TikTok, while a warm bath soothes the body and gets you to the right temperature for sleep.
3. Try gentle stretching before bed
Adding exercise to your day can be an intimidating idea, so take things slowly if you're struggling to get started. Light stretching before bed is calming and gets you moving, while a recent study linked 20 minutes of walking a day to a reduction in sleep apnea symptoms.
As another upside, a few minutes of stretching or yoga in the evening has the dual benefits of time away from your phone and presenting an opportunity to quiet your mind and let go of worries.
4. Write a to-do list
If racing thoughts before bed wake you up at night, one way to cope is to lean into the problem: address your worries by writing them down. This sleep habit of organized people transfers thoughts from your brain and on to paper, so you're ready to deal with them the next day.
Planning for the next day can also help you avoid waking up at 3am with that cold-sweat feeling of "what have I forgotten to do?" To prep for tomorrow before bed write a to-do list, sort out your clothes for the next day and clear up any clutter around your bed.
5. Stick to the 15 minute rule during night wakings
Waking up at night is normal — in fact, no one really sleeps through. But what you do when you wake up can impact your overall sleep quality. For a minor wake up, try and stay comfortable, keeping yourself in sleepy mode by using a breathing exercise, such as the 4-7-8 method, or distracting your mind with cognitive shuffling.
For longer wake ups, follow the 15-minute sleep rule: if you've been awake for more than 15 minutes, get out of bed. Staying curled up on the mattress causes your brain to link being in bed with being awake, and getting up disrupts that. When you're out of bed, pick up another calming hobby until you feel sleepy again and make sure your phone stays on do not disturb during the night.
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English (US) ·