Managing Stress: Do You Wake Up In The Night (And Not Fall Back Asleep)?
This is a fairly regular occurrence for me: It’s 4am and I’m woken up by something. Maybe it’s a weird dream, maybe I need a glass of water, or I have to pee. And then I’m toast. No matter what I try, I just can’t fall back asleep for about two hours, until I hear the birds chirping and see the early light. Does that ever happen to you?
In Ayurveda, waking up at this time would quickly be diagnosed as a Vata imbalance—because Vata rules that time slot between 2am-6am. And even if your dominant dosha is not Vata, you could be suffering from one too. For a dosha refresher, go here.
A quick recap on the Vata thing: All doshas represent elements, and Vata is air. It’s quick moving and it’s easily aggravated by just about anything: season change, travel, too much wine at dinner, stress, and most other things that are part of modern life. This is why it’s so common that we experience its negative effects. Other telltale signs: Dry skin, anxiety, indigestion, and a sensitivity to cold.
Luckily, for those of us who are frequent Vata sufferers, the onset of warmer weather usually helps balance this out. Of course, for you Pittas out there, that can bring on a whole different kind of imbalance: excess heat in the body, a hard time falling asleep, impatience and irritability.
Anyways, back to the sleep thing. When it happens now, I don’t try to fight it. I know like clockwork that around 6am, suddenly the warm veil of sleep will come back over me. Until then I’ll do everything: meditate, read, come up with ideas for blog posts. I’ve been particularly susceptible lately, because I’ve been both traveling a lot and socializing a lot. Booze and travel will get me every time.
What do you do when you wake up like this in the night? And of course, if you know your dosha… Let’s hear it. I’m a Vata-Kapha, whereas Siobhan is a Pitta-Vata (but with a very strong Vata). So you can imagine this wake-up thing’s a problem for us!
If this isn’t a problem for you, by golly, tell us your tricks for staying balanced.
I am a Lora Zepam so I rarely have trouble sleeping or managing stress. The karmic forces espoused by the feng shue of the infinite yoga provide me with peace, tranquility, and a feeling of Oneness that I try to extend to all of womankind every single day when I wear my Lulus and buy overpriced organic products.
@JJ Ouch.
Nice, JJ.
I tend to be primarily Vata, which definitely sucks in the winter. I don’t really have trouble with waking up, but I also try not to drink too much water before bed. I do have trouble sleeping if I go to bed after midnight. So maybe try going to bed earlier, and you’ll be in deeper sleep by the time 2AM rolls around!
When I sleep I sleep like a dead body for 8 hrs.
I’m pitta-vata, which was a surprise (I thought I’d be all kapha). I really like the idea of surrendering to the non-sleep and using the time to be productive. much better than stressing out about it.
okay, @JJ, new dosha category: bitcha?? ; )
I’m not big into the dosha stuff, but I find it interesting. I’m a Pitta with a heaping spoonful of bitcha.
…and I don’t usually wake up unless there’s a child or animal bugging me. Once they leave me alone I usually go back to sleep fine.
JJ, what gives?
I’m Vata – Kapha, dominant Vata. This post comes at the perfect time! I just experienced a restless night last night! I had this really terrible anxious feeling before going to bed last night, fell asleep, but only a really light, super aware of every noise kind of sleep. Then I full on woke up at 4am, went to the bathroom and couldn’t get back to bed. I played words with friends till I felt tired again, hahaha!
Man oh man, do I have trouble sleeping. Some evenings I’ll fall asleep and be plagued with seriously weird, vivid dreams that I will almost always remember when I wake up. I’ll toss and turn a lot, and seem to dream in a strange semi-conscious state that doesn’t allow me to wake up feeling rested. I guess because my mind’s been too busy constructing whack-a-doo dreams.
Anxiety is also really big in my world right now and I know that’s no help in the sleep department either.
Oi! Here’s hoping tonight brings some dreamless, anxiety free deep sleep!
I envy those of you who sleep like a log!
Ha! We all have a good dose of bitcha, yeah?
Maybe we’re just all ready for mercury to stop being retro. Jk jk.
JJ. I was drinking a glass of water while reading your post and laughed it right out of my nose. Gotta love a good sense of humor.
I have chronic insomnia. I’ve never been a good sleeper, even as a child. I have difficulty sitting though a movie, let alone a sporting event and forget about 4-5 hours of watching the Masters with my husband.
I have finally surrendered to the fact that I will be the type of person who wakes up several times a night and often will wake for good at 3:00 in the morning. I use the time to read, to write or to meditate. Might as well put it to good use. I have gotten used to being a zombie on the days where sleep escapes me, because what else can I do. I would never ever succumb to Ambien or any of the other “sleep aids”. Alcohol is the worst enemy of the chronic insomniac, but you gotta live life. I would hate to die on a diet, weaning myself from caffiene or tea-totalling.
I often use the Essence of Vali sleep and Hope Gillerman stress and sleep remedies…I feel like they help me get to sleep faster and make it more peaceful (though I don’t usually have “trouble” in the first place). Has anyone tried those for waking up in the middle of the night?
Too funny jj!
These posts always leave me wondering what the heck does this have to do with skin care products??
@Lms Wouldn’t you guys get a bit bored if we only reviewed stuff all the time? :) Slash, sleep = better skin.
I agree Alexandra, there is more to great skin than great products-diet, supplements, exercise, sleep, and healthy relationships and lifestyle. Minimizing stress is important too. Love these posts!
I find watching something that I enjoy but have seen several times helps greatly. It distracts me enough to keep all the nagging thoughts out, but not enough to keep me awake. Also, a heating pad at my feet will make me instantly conk out.
All interesting. I am a sleeper — meaning if I don’t have 8 hours of sleep for more than 1 or 2 days, it sucks. And, honestly, a lot of my friends and co-workers make fun of me because apparently I’m a freak for this and (apparently) I’m supposed to sleep 5 hours and be totally refreshed. I think there is a kind of screwed up expectation in the U.S.
I do think sleep is extremely important to better skin and almost better everything.
Skin is an organ. Sleep definitely has a lot to do with how our skin looks each day, along with lifestyle, nutrition and everything danielle elaborated on above. I like the holistic approach this site takes, but that’s just me.
Love these posts! Thanks girls, keep up the great work!
I’m tri-doshic! I guess that’s good/ok/bad.
I am tri-doshic as well, though I am not very fond of sleeping… Thank you for another lovely post! The photo you used is very pretty, may I ask where you got it/who the model is?
Bee, I’m a WOMAN, not a girl. I find that term offensive.
Hmm…I usually sleep like the dead, always loved sleeping as a kid too, and I DO think it has a lot to do with an innate sleep temperament.
Now that I’m in my 9th month my sleep is not quite so stellar On the nights where I do manage to sleep properly (despite the, oh, FIVE bathroom visits a night) I wake up and I am an entirely different, happy person, than the grumpy, entitled mess that I am when I don’t. I fear I’ll be one cranky mommy…
As for good sleep tips – one thing that REALLY helps when stress, more stress, weird weather changes, a kid, AND pregnancy conspire to wake me up is one of those migraine masks – you can get them at most pharmacies. They’re like a regular sleep mask but filled with…rice or grain or something, and not only do they completely block out light, they also give me this comfortable, very soothing sense of weight on my eye area, literally forcing me to close my eyes and go to sleep. For some reason that just triggers my deep sleep – maybe a bit like how some newborns are comforted by being swaddled?
Being honestly tired from exercising helps too – for me yoga doesn’t work in that way. It’s calming but doesn’t give me that “hiked-10-miles-in-crisp-mountain-air” lovely tiredness, I need cardio and weights for that. Or Yosemite. I never slept better than in my tent in Yosemite. Outdoor sleeping is the BEST, next best is a cool room with a window open.
Otherwise I just try to not get too annoyed at being sleepless, and then I usually nap gloriously RIGHT before I have to get up anyways! But the migraine mask is my best tip for a physical trigger!
I recently read an article on what is called biphasic sleep patterns. In pre-industrial writing they always refer to sleep as the first or second sleep. There was a 1-2 hour waking period between where they would do other things in bed or around the house. It is hypothesized that this natural sleep pattern died off with the advent of electric light, computers, tvs etc which changed our sleep patterns and the desire to be more productive and sleep less. It’s definitely an interesting concept.
When I can’t sleep I clean my house. Then I wake up in the morning and at first I’m not sure if it was a dream, so it’s like little faeries came in the night. Somehow it gets me out of my head. Try it! Worst case you’ll have a clean house.
you will never understand sleep until you understand the concept of 90 minute sleep cycles. I try to break it down in my article http://www.gaiahealthblog.com/2011/12/21/sleep1/