Experts reveal how many times it's normal to wake up during the night based on your age
Dan Seddon
Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Images
Once we all leave our cushy childhoods behind, interrupted sleep is almost a biological certainty.
According to various experts in the field, there are triggers to consider when we're investigating this frustrating nighttime issue - a cool 'blackout mask' just won't be enough to get you through to the morning.
Unsurprisingly, major stress leads to regular wake-ups, as does undiagnosed sleep apnea.
Per The Healthy, Dr Morgan Soffler, of the New York Medical College and Westchester Medical Center, said that obstructive sleep apnea occurs when throat muscles get too relaxed overnight, blocking our oxygen intake. As a measure of self-protection, the human brain wakes itself up to restore normal breathing.
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But what is the 'normal' number of times to be waking up every night?
For young adults, Dr Ruchir Patel believes once or twice per night is acceptable, while middle-aged people hop up to twice or three times. The older generation, however, is apparently opening their eyes between as many as three and five times.
"But it is also important to note that a person should be able to return to sleep within 30 minutes or less," said Dr Patel, founder of the Insomnia and Sleep Institute of Arizona.
Other contributing factors can include Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS), eczema, alcoholic nightcaps, hormonal changes, too-high temperatures in the bedroom, too-firm mattresses, and side effects from medicine.
Dr Patel went on to suggest consulting a board-certified sleep specialist if you always feel knackered despite trying to get between seven and eight hours of kip. If you're lying awake for longer than 30 minutes in the night, that's also a green light to receive help.
"First and foremost, we would need to better determine the actual cause of the sleep disturbance and likely do a sleep study to determine the exact [cause]," he shared.
This comes after neuroscientist Andrew Huberman unveiled a neat sleep trick while speaking to talk show host Bill Maher. Apparently, it'll get you nodding off within just five minutes.
"Now we are finally coming to terms with the fact that the mind and body are connected, duh. It's been known about for thousands of years," he explained. "I've published clinical trials on some of these things, like the respiration physiology, its role in stress and destress.
"In fact, if you wake up in the middle of the night and you are having trouble going back to sleep, try just doing some long extended exhales. And get this, this sounds really weird but it has a basis in physiology."
Not everyone will be able to pull off his game-changing process, though, but Huberman encouraged viewers to knuckle down and give it a go.
He added: "Keep your eyes closed and just move your eyes from side to side behind your eyelids, back and fourth. Do some long exhales. I can't promise but I am willing to wager one pinky that within five minutes or so, you'll be back to sleep."