Wake up less often at night: 7 tips for sleeping through the night

Have you ever fallen asleep in the evening and had to change again in the middle of the night? Perhaps because your pyjamas were sweaty, itchy or just didn’t fit properly?

You should choose your pyjamas according to the season and not just in terms of arm and leg length. In both summer and winter, it is important to choose breathable materials that regulate moisture build-up. Because while you sweat more in warmer months anyway, warm but poorly regulating winter pyjamas can also lead to hot flushes at night and increased perspiration.

The fabric of your pyjamas should also be skin-friendly and fit your body snugly. Flowing natural materials such as TENCEL or high-quality cotton are perfect as they adapt to your body’s movements. Many people find stiffer fabrics like muslin less comfortable at night as they do not move sufficiently. You should also look for the same properties in your bed linen.

You should consider our next tip before you go to bed, but also when you wake up at night, because it has to do with melatonin production. Melatonin is the sleep hormone that makes you feel tired and sleep well. It’s naturally produced as soon as the sun goes down and it gets darker outside. In our modern world, however, this effect naturally only kicks in when it gets dark and quiet in the living space.

So make sure the light is dimmed some time before you go to bed. Switch from blue screen light to candlelight or indirect light sources. Turn down the TV, music etc. or, ideally, turn off all sources of noise completely so that your body can calm down and prepare for sleep.

The same applies if you wake up at night. Don’t immediately look at the bright cell phone display and don’t turn on your bedside lamp straight away, but first try to continue sleeping in the dark and in silence. Disturbing noises like passing cars can also disturb your sleep. It’s therefore best to sleep with the windows closed or with earplugs.

After our previous tip, you may have wondered what to do when you wake up at night. Instead of looking at your cell phone and interfering with melatonin production through light exposure, you can start by paying close attention to the movement of your chest while breathing calmly and slowly.

There is also a breathing exercise that you can do in bed with your eyes closed: The so-called 4-7-8 breathing technique. It helps you relax and get back to sleep more easily.

To do it, first breathe in through your nose and count to 4 in your head. Now hold your breath for about 7 seconds and finally breathe out through your mouth while counting to 8. You should soon notice that you are getting tired and sleepy again. Good night!

The food you eat in the evening can also have an effect on your sleep – not only on falling asleep, but also on sleeping through the night. If you have eaten something very high in fibre and heavy in the evening, your digestion will run at full speed at night.

This can disrupt your sleep, for example by increasing your visits to the toilet. For this reason, you should also avoid drinking large amounts of water shortly before going to sleep. In addition, a sumptuous dinner is heavier on the stomach, which can lead to stomachache or a general feeling of discomfort. Instead, eat light meals such as salads, lean meat or fish and avoid lots of carbohydrate-rich side dishes.

We have already explained that your sleeping clothes and bed linen contribute significantly to your well-being at night. The environment in which you find yourself could also have a decisive impact on the quality of your sleep. For example, you shouldn’t fall asleep in front of the TV in the evening, but switch to your familiar surrounding: the bedroom.

Even basic things like a tidy room without lots of stimuli or the separation of sleeping and working areas can help you sleep through the night. Many people are also disturbed by sometimes unconscious little things like an open wardrobe door or the composition of the room.

So it’s definitely worth trying to rearrange your bedroom furniture and observing the change in your sleep quality. Soothing fragrances or a different mattress firmness can also bring about this positive change.

A very common cause of poor sleep is annoying circles of thoughts, worries and fears, which are often triggered by too much stress and mental load. While these thoughts often find little room in a busy everyday life, they become all the louder in the evening and at night. The reminders of little things or tasks for the next day can also prevent you from sleeping.

To get rid of this mental baggage and create lightness in your head, it helps to write down all your to-dos and negative thoughts on paper in the evening. Problems or tasks often appear much smaller on paper than they were in your head. It’s now easier to fall asleep and to sleep through the night again.

Although this is our last tip, it’s by no means any less important: Take the pressure off and don’t force yourself to go back to sleep. Don’t calculate the time you have left until you get up, but try to embrace waking up.

By adopting a relaxed and natural approach, you let your body know that it too is allowed to recover. This makes it easier to fall asleep. Otherwise, you would increase the release of stress hormones and make it more difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep.

And let’s be honest: If you only rarely have problems sleeping through the night and have been able to sleep for a few hours beforehand, you won’t necessarily feel the one-off lack of sleeping the next day. However, if you struggle with this type of sleep problem more frequently and the tips we mentioned do not show any improvement, you may need to consult a sleep expert.

Discover more topics from our blog that might interest you: