When you check the time, you begin calculating how much sleep you’ve lost. You worry about how little time remains before your alarm. This mental math triggers anxiety. It makes returning to sleep nearly impossible. Your device creates another problem. “Exposure to blue and green light from your clock, phone, tablet, or computer can make you feel more alert,” notes a sleep researcher. This increased alertness prevents you from drifting back to sleep.
What Happens When You Wake Up at Night
A woman lying awake in bed at night, looking restless with her eyes open. She’s wearing white sleepwear and hugging her pillow while covered with a white comforter. A blue tufted headboard is visible in the background. This image illustrates poor sleep hygiene and insomnia struggles.
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Understanding why you wake up helps you manage disruptions better. Research shows adults wake up 10 to 12 times per night on average. Most awakenings last only briefly. If they continue for less than three minutes, you typically won’t remember them. “On average, adults wake up 10 to 12 times per night,” according to sleep research. “If you’re awake for less than three minutes, you probably won’t remember.” Your brain operates differently when you wake during the second half of the night. Your frontal lobe, which controls reasoning and emotional regulation, doesn’t fully activate. Instead, your limbic system takes over, driving emotional responses like fear and anxiety.
What You Should Do Instead
A woman with long dark hair in a white v-neck shirt sitting in low lighting, reading a book. She’s surrounded by stacked cardboard moving boxes in what appears to be a dimly lit room. Her face is illuminated from the side as she focuses on the pages.
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“If you don’t fall back asleep after what feels like 20 minutes have gone by, get up,” suggests a sleep doctor. “Sit in a comfortable chair in another room. Read a book, with just enough lights on so that you can see the print comfortably.” Do something relaxing. Listen to quiet music, stretch gently, or write in a journal. Avoid all screens. The blue light from devices suppresses melatonin production. This disrupts your sleep cycle further.
Return to bed only when you feel drowsy. This reinforces your brain’s association between your bed and sleep. “It’s important not to stay in bed, even if you’re reading. Doing this will lead your brain and body to associate your bed with wakefulness instead of with sleep.”
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