Many people wake up in the middle of the night on occasion, only to toss and turn for a bit before falling back asleep, but sometimes you just can’t seem to do anything other than stare at the ceiling in silence, wondering when you became the type of person that can’t sleep at night. But behold, there are some tips and tricks that can help teach you how to sleep through the night! It’s not rocket science — it’s sleep science! And once you understand the basics, you can take the proactive steps toward a better, full night of sleep.
If you’re the kind of person asking:
- Why can’t I sleep through the night?
- When should I sleep?
- Is there anything I can do please help me I’m so tired??
Take a look at these tips for how to sleep through the night!
Cool Down
One of the best ways you can figure out how to sleep through the night is to control your body’s temperature. When the sun sets and your body naturally begins to cool down, you start producing melatonin, which prepares your body for bed. Want to know how to make yourself sleepy? Take a warm shower in the evening — as your body cools down, the same melatonin release effect happens and you’ll start to wind down as your body cools from the heat of the shower. Bonus: showering in the evening means your bed will have less dander and dirt, which helps you combat allergies (snorers take note)!
Darken Your Space
If you’re wondering “when should I sleep?” the obvious answer is… when it gets dark! Your body’s circadian rhythm is in large part influenced by the movements of the sun. The reason you wonder why can’t I sleep through the night when you’re tossing and turning at 3:00 in the morning might be due to an imbalance of melatonin production caused by a bad sleep schedule. Train your brain to know that when it’s dark, you should start winding down — it’s difficult at first to force it upon yourself but when you adjust it’ll be worth it. Melatonin doesn’t put you to sleep on its own, but rather it works with your circadian rhythm to regulate your sleeping and waking times
Quiet Time
Erratic sounds have a tendency to keep us from sleeping through the night. If you’re on a busy or major street that trucks rattle down in the early hours of the morning or you have a partner that loudly snores… those might be reasons you can’t sleep through the night. It’s not your fault, we’re wired to be interrupted by sounds that, well, interrupt us! If you can, find a way to dampen the sound in your room, or maybe even invest in a white noise machine to help even out those erratic tones.
Anxiety Strikes
Having trouble sleeping is one of the most common symptoms of anxiety. If you’re experiencing stressors in your day-to-day life, you bring that subconscious negative energy to bed with you. While some people experience nocturnal panic attacks, where an intense panic can arouse you from sleep, most of us are simply bogged down by life’s expectations — challenges at work, money trouble, relationships — and the ways to alleviate that vary quite a bit. Try writing down a list of what you need to do tomorrow before you go to bed. It’s been shown that by transferring your internal stressors to an external space it can help alleviate the pressure of having to not forget everything you’ve got to do tomorrow.
Meditation and Mindfulness
In a similar vein, stress can be an all-encompassing feeling that has you crying out, “why can’t I sleep through the night!” and quieting your brain down can prove difficult at times. It may seem obvious, but sitting still, unengaged from your phone or music or conversation, and taking a few conscious deep breaths can help your re-tool how to sleep through the night. There are lots of methods but try this for starters: take one deep breath in for four seconds, hold your breath for six seconds, breathe out for four seconds… Do this five times before bed!
Get Comfortable
Why can’t I sleep through the night? Well, maybe your bedding is just uncomfortable! People say that you should invest in good shoes and a good mattress, the two things that keep you from contacting the ground. Hint: They’re not wrong. Treat yourself to a decent sleep space. If there’s one thing that helps with how to sleep through the night, it’s sinking into a great mattress with adequate support from a quality pillow. Ditch the rag-tag sheets and lumpy cotton pillow (or no pillow?) and create a bed space you’ll actually want to climb into each night!
Exercise
Working out has endless positive benefits, from reducing stress to boosting alertness, but did you know that it can also improve your sleep quality and help you sleep through the night? Moderate aerobic exercise increases the amount of slow wave sleep you get (aka deep sleep), the part of the night where your subconscious decompresses and rejuvenates most. Working out also boosts your core body temperature, and as we know, the after effect is that your body temperature lowers. Just make sure you don’t work out right before bed as your body needs time to cool down. In general, it is recommended to workout anytime between the morning until early evening.
In Conclusion
Don’t give up on a full night of sleep! You’ve now already taken the first step towards understanding how to sleep through the night — if you don’t treat sleep as something you can strive to improve at, you’ll never learn how to make yourself sleepy enough to get those coveted 7-9 hours! Take note of (or even gamify) how much sleep you’re getting each night and watch your improvement! Getting a full night of sleep without interruption can be the difference between trudging through tomorrow or achieving your daily goals. Which one will you choose?
