About 20% of people wake up in the middle of the night and then try to fall asleep again. This kind of insomnia can cause stress, not to mention fatigue in the morning and a bad mood. How to fall asleep faster and what steps can be taken to prevent waking up in the middle of the night?

First tip – forget about time! There is a temptation to look at the clock when you wake up in the middle of the night, while you are fidgeting and turning around in bed. However, it is a good idea to refrain from doing it, because every time you look at the clock you’ll start to worry - “I’ve been up for half an hour”, “I’ve been up for an hour”, which will only increase stress and make it harder for your body to relax and fall back to sleep. Therefore, avoid the urge to check your watch.

Stay away from the blue light of screens. The blue light from any screen – irrespective of whether it is a TV, tablet, mobile phone or laptop – signals your brain that it is time to wake up. Do not keep such devices in your bedroom, so you won’t be tempted to turn them on when you wake up in the middle of the night. This shouldn’t only be considered when you wake up at night. To improve the quality of sleep, turn off all screens an hour before bedtime, as blue light mimics daylight, interfering with the body's natural production of melatonin – the hormone that helps you fall asleep.

If you stay awake for 20 minutes or more at night, you may want to get out of bed. In this case, move to another room without turning on bright lights. Do not turn on the TV. Do something calm and soothing instead. You could do some breathing exercises or read a book. If you feel like falling asleep again, return to bed.

On sleepless nights you may be tempted to make the most of your sudden extra time being awake, but don’t do it. The middle of the night is not the time to do housework, do more for your work, for instance, prepare a presentation, or be creative in the kitchen. If you start doing this, you will be rewarding your brain for waking up, which, in turn, makes it more likely that you will wake up again the next night.

Sometimes you wake up in the night with a thought that keeps you awake and “goes round and round” in your head. If this is the reason you wake up at night, you should try to “switch” your brain to something else so you can fall asleep again. One simple way to do it: count backwards from 100 to 0. Good old counting sheep will also do. It will distract your attention and help you fall asleep again.

Stress also contributes to waking up at night; therefore, find a way to reduce stress before going to bed. You might want to listen to some calming music or a podcast. You can also do some yoga or just sit quietly and do breathing exercises. If you fall asleep with a calm mind, you will most likely not wake up at night.

Another reason why you might wake up at night is because your bedroom is too warm. Everyone has their own ideal temperature, but it has been found that the optimal room temperature for sleeping is +16 °C to +19 °C. Body temperature should also be kept in mind, since lower body temperature at night helps you fall asleep faster and stay asleep for longer. So one of the easiest experiments is to try blankets of different thicknesses. However, it is not just the temperature that matters – humidity and CO2 levels are also important; therefore, it is a good idea to ventilate rooms before going to bed.

If you have got up at night and stayed awake for a while, you are likely to feel tired the next morning. It is important to try not to sleep during the day to make up for the sleep you miss. If you have trouble sleeping, it is very important to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day. It accustoms your body to recognising the time of sleep and alertness. Once your body has developed its own “internal clock”, you will wake up less often, if at all, during the night.

To promote sleep, improve sleep quality and regulate circadian rhythms, we have developed SOMNUX - a 100% natural and effective food supplement made in Latvia without added melatonin. It includes:

• Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.), which calms you down and helps you fall asleep;
• California poppy (Eschscholzia californica L.) - ensures stability of sleep;
• Vitamin D - ensures calcium absorption;
• calcium - helps the brain to make use of tryptophan;
• L-tryptophan - helps to produce melatonin naturally.

Learn more about the product here: SOMNUX