Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to track when you wake up in
Speaker 1: the middle of the night. By understanding what causes the
Speaker 1: wake ups, you might be able to minimize them and
Speaker 1: enjoy those visions of sugar plums dancing in your head.
Speaker 1: I have five children, so I have experienced a lot
Speaker 1: of interrupted sleep over the last thirteen years. But even
Speaker 1: without little kids, sleeping eight hours straight is hard for
Speaker 1: many adults to manage. And that's okay. There's some evidence
Speaker 1: that humans historically would have slept in multiple shifts, going
Speaker 1: to bed with the sun, waking up in the middle
Speaker 1: of the night for a while, and then experiencing a
Speaker 1: wave of sleepiness in the hours before on. Waking up
Speaker 1: once is not a problem. It's waking up multiple times
Speaker 1: and then being unable to quickly fall back asleep that
Speaker 1: can lead to fatigue. As with all things time related,
Speaker 1: the best way to spend your time better is to
Speaker 1: figure out where the time is going now, and that
Speaker 1: includes overnight time. Even if you don't have any interest
Speaker 1: in tracking your work time, or your leisure time or
Speaker 1: your family time, if you'd like to sleep better, it
Speaker 1: might be worth tracking your time with an eye toward
Speaker 1: focusing on sleep. Track a full week all on sixty
Speaker 1: eight hours, because you want to see things like daytime sleep,
Speaker 1: snooze sleep, crashing on the sofa at night's sleep, and yes,
Speaker 1: middle of the night wake ups. This last one requires
Speaker 1: a bit of logistical planning to track, as you can
Speaker 1: imagine most of us aren't in a mental state to
Speaker 1: track overnight active as all that. Well, you can definitely
Speaker 1: use sleep apps, and for many people that is a
Speaker 1: great solution. I have my phone in airplane mode in
Speaker 1: my room, and if I wake up in the night
Speaker 1: to deal with the baby, I take a quick glance
Speaker 1: at my phone to see the time. Because it's an
Speaker 1: airplane mode, I won't get sucked in by a notification
Speaker 1: or text. If you'd prefer not to use that solution
Speaker 1: or a sleep app, you can put a small clock
Speaker 1: by your bed. I have one across the room, but
Speaker 1: I can't see that without my contacts end, so that
Speaker 1: doesn't work for me. I have trained myself to remember
Speaker 1: the time, but if you don't think you will remember,
Speaker 1: you could just write it down, keep a notepad and
Speaker 1: a pen by your bed. Then in the morning you
Speaker 1: can transfer the time from your notes to your log
Speaker 1: as for the duration of the wake ups. This is
Speaker 1: tricky too, at least if you're choosing not to use
Speaker 1: an app. You clearly aren't looking at the time at
Speaker 1: the exact moment that you fall asleep, but you can approximate.
Speaker 1: After I'm done feeding or settling the baby, I checked
Speaker 1: the time again, and I generally round to the next
Speaker 1: fifteen minute mark to count when my sleep begins. If
Speaker 1: I find myself lying awake for a while, I will
Speaker 1: estimate or look at the clock again if sleep is
Speaker 1: particularly elusive. In any case, you only need to do
Speaker 1: this for a week or so. The point is to
Speaker 1: see which nights are better than others, or if there
Speaker 1: are any patterns. If you always wake up at, say
Speaker 1: for am, it's highly likely that something external and routine
Speaker 1: is triggering it, like a noisy machine that goes off then,
Speaker 1: or an early rising neighbor whose dog sends him off
Speaker 1: to work. You might also note if something internal is
Speaker 1: triggering the wake ups, like you need to go to
Speaker 1: the bathroom, or you're hot or cold. Many of these
Speaker 1: issues can be alleviated with experimentation, like not drinking much
Speaker 1: liquid right before bed or turning the thermostat down a
Speaker 1: degree or two. The culprit might also be someone or something,
Speaker 1: your own pets, or a partner. That last one does
Speaker 1: not need to be a huge deal. You can love
Speaker 1: someone intensely and still decide that sleeping together isn't the
Speaker 1: best approach. Really, separate beds are not a signal of
Speaker 1: a problem. Just spend plenty of time snuggling together before
Speaker 1: going off to sleep separately, or build in some morning
Speaker 1: cuddle time. You might also note if it's easier to
Speaker 1: fall back asleep at certain times than others. Many people
Speaker 1: have a hard time falling asleep if it's light out.
Speaker 1: Blackoutchades can help, But maybe the problem is that when
Speaker 1: you see light of any sort, it triggers a waking impulse,
Speaker 1: so you might need to make sure that you don't
Speaker 1: turn on the light in the bathroom if that's the case.
Speaker 1: I have definitely learned not to try to read on
Speaker 1: my phone when I'm feeding the baby in the middle
Speaker 1: of the night. Inevitably, it will take me a lot
Speaker 1: longer to fall back asleep if I do, even if
Speaker 1: it makes staying awake easier and more pleasant in the moment.
Speaker 1: Many of us learn to function on compromised sleep, but
Speaker 1: seldom at peak productivity. Figuring out ways to sleep better
Speaker 1: can be a real gift to yourself. So if you
Speaker 1: are not sleeping your best, track your time for a
Speaker 1: week or two to see what you can learn. Try
Speaker 1: some experimentation and troubleshooting. You just might wind up waking
Speaker 1: up more rested and ready to take on the world.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at b for Breakfast
Speaker 1: pod that's b E the number four, then Breakfast p
Speaker 1: o D. You can also shoot me an email at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot com that
Speaker 1: before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks
Speaker 1: so much, I look forward to staying in touch. Before
Speaker 1: Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For more
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