Sleep expert shares worst thing you can do if you find yourself waking up in the night

A sleep expert has shared what you should do if you find yourself waking up in the middle of the night - and urged people to avoid doing things that will throw off your sleep schedule

There is nothing more frustrating than waking up in the middle of the night - and there is one thing you should never do before going to bed, warns a sleep expert.

It's so important to get a restful night's sleep as not only does it set you up well for the day, but it's also vital for your health. But if you do find yourself waking up, there are a few things you can try, and a few things to avoid as suggested by Dr Fiona Barwick, PhD, director of the Sleep & Circadian Health Program at Stanford University.

There are many reasons you may find yourself waking up in the night, it could be due to anxiety, drinking alcohol before bed, a noise, or sharing a bed with your partner. However if you do wake up, Dr Fiona urged people not to pick up their phones despite the temptation.

The expert told Self that when we focus actively on trying to get back to sleep, this can "guarantee" you will stay awake longer. By thinking about not sleeping can make you feel anxious, so she suggested it's better to "accept your situation" and find an alternative focus.

She said one of the best things you can do is getting up to do something "distracting by enjoyable". She said something that will keep you calm and relaxed, such as reading, knitting or journalling. "Skip screen-based activities, like completing a work project or turning on the TV to finish that thriller—you want to distract yourself, not stress yourself out or blast your eyes with sleep-sabotaging blue light."

Dr Fiona said the goal is to "stay calm" and allow your "sleep drive" to kick in again so you can drift off. "At any rate, focusing on an enjoyable, calming activity is also just a more pleasant way to spend your twilight time rather than agonizing over the clock. And on that note: Don't check your phone—not only might looking at the time make you anxious, but the closer the aforementioned blue light is to your face, the more likely it is to activate your nervous system and keep you awake."

Although you may panic that your day will automatically be worse if you sleep badly, Dr Fiona assured that the reality is you will "likely" go back to sleep and said people don't realise you can "typically function" after a night of bad sleep. Despite feeling a little groggier, she advised to go about your day as normal.

"The sleep system is self-correcting. If you get poor sleep one night, you’re more likely to get better sleep the next, as long as you don’t do anything to interfere with that process," and urged people not to nap, or go to bed "wildly early" which she said can "throw you off" your sleep schedule.

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