Nightly Wakeups: Is it normal to wake up during sleep at night?

Most of us look for a perfect night of sleep at the end of a day. But what is your idea of perfect sleep? For most people it's eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, which is rare in adulthood. Children and teenagers get deep sleep for more than eight hours, but it's not normal for adults to sleep for that long and in a state of total unawareness of their environment. In fact, once we cross teenage, sleep is interspersed with frequent awakenings at night – normally three to four times or more. So, it's normal to wake up at night. Then why do people worry about waking up in the middle of the night? It's probable because they worry about health issues caused by lack of "designated" hours of sleep. Inability to sleep for some time (more than 15 minutes) after waking up may be another reason that often causes frustration.

Reasons for frequent awakenings at night

Awakenings from sleep, in the middle of the night, are due to various reasons. The primary reason for night awakenings is the sleep cycle, which is a part of normal sleep pattern. As we go through different stages of sleep, including deep sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, our body cycles through shallower to deeper sleep.

Each sleep cycle lasts for 60 minutes to 120 minutes. At the end of each sleep cycle, it’s normal to regain consciousness or become aware of the environment, before going off into another sleep cycle. External disturbances like artificial light, movement or sound may disturb sleep at the end of a sleep cycle and if we wake up it feels like we are wide awake. It’s one of the primary reasons many people feel that they wakeup around the same time at night. Such nighttime awakenings, at almost the same time, is actually a good sign as it implies that the body’s internal clock and sleep mechanism is well synchronized.

Many people get nightly wakeups due to physical reasons like body aches, shortness of breath, discomfort caused by room temperature or sleep position, and the urge to use the bathroom. These factors become more common with advancing age, as the body is unable to rest completely for long periods of time, and sleep is interspersed with short breaks of bathroom trips or rolling over for more comfortable position in bed. Research conducted by a National Institute of Health found that the average nightly wakeups is around six per night. Older people are more likely to experience frequent awakenings at night compared to younger adults. Further, the study found no difference in gender when it came to waking up in the middle of the night.

Sleeping non-stop for 8 hours

Some people believe that we should get at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, when there is lack of unawareness of the environment. However, in normal sleep cycle 30 percent of the time we are aware of the happenings in the surround. People suffering from chronic health condition or mental illness, the awareness of the surrounding is sometimes as high as 70 percent during sleep. In such cases, people have difficulty deciding how much sleep they actually got. It’s important to realize that trying to achieve complete state of unawareness during sleep is something unfeasible and doesn’t happen normally in adults. It is an ideal state of sleep prevalent during childhood, in younger people and in good health.

What to do about night awakenings?

Waking up at night is a normal part of the sleep cycle. However, it becomes a problem if a person has trouble falling asleep again as it causes frustration. An easy way of returning to sleep is to avoid getting frustrated when you wake up. If this doesn’t work, then control of stimuli in the environment can help. The fundamental rule of stimuli control is that if you lie awake in bed for 15 minutes or more, it is best to get out of bed and engage in an activity until you feel sleepy again. Remember not to pick up overly stimulating activity as it’s more likely to keep you wide awake. Inability to sleep after night awakenings can be easily taken care of by planning beforehand. Keep a book or a puzzle handy in your nightstand so that you can do something when you are unable to sleep again in the middle of the night. That way you can indulge in a low stimulating activity rather than checking work-related emails or other high stimulating activity and end up not sleeping for a long time.

Nightly wakeups can also be mitigated by taking certain simple steps. Firstly, maintain a comfortable bedroom temperature of not more than 65 degrees – if it’s too warm you may end up feeling restless and get nightmares during sleep. Secondly, avoid drinking too much water before sleeping as it’s likely to cause frequent trips to the washroom, through the night. Thirdly, don’t make a big deal about nighttime awakenings. For most people, inability to sleep after waking up middle of the night is caused by stressing about not getting quality sleep – often keeping them awake for longer time. Finally, you can take help of sleep supplements that help you get deeper sleep, rejuvenating your body and mind with fewer wakeups.

However, if nighttime awakenings are frequent and you consistently have trouble falling asleep, it would be a good idea to talk to your health professional.

The bottom line

Sleep is essential to repair and rejuvenate the body physically and mentally, but we do not need uninterrupted sleep - eight hours or lesser – for that. Waking up several times at night is normal and there is no reason to get worried. And if you have trouble falling asleep follow the simple steps discussed in this article.