Many of us can go to sleep initially well but then get woken up for a variety of reasons: bladders, snoring partners, pets, street noise, lights, etc. It is a frustrating experience to not then be able to go back to sleep. The more we stress about it, the longer we lie there awake. I can’t even tell you how often that has happened to me.

Things to try:

1. Go to bed wearing ear plugs
2. Go to bed wearing an eye patch
3. Invest in heavy drapes for bedroom windows
4. If you get up to go to the bathroom, try not to turn on any lights or flush toilet
5. If pets are waking you, work on retraining them or do not let them have access to the bedroom
6. Snoring partner? ear plugs, pillow over the head works pretty well. Encourage partner to go to doctor in case it is something serious that is causing their snoring like sleep apnea. They can wear breathe easy strips on their noses and experiment with sleeping in different positions.
7. Try not to stress about the fact that you are awake. That only makes it worse. Don’t look at the clock.
8. Meditate on something simple. Say the same thing over and over again until you drift off.
9. If you have to, it is better to get up and read or write in your journal until you get sleepy again. There is nothing worse than just lying there in bed awake for hours.
10. Do breathing exercises
11. Do tension exercises

Related Posts:

• Seven ways to prevent middle of the night insomnia
• Ten things that cause insomnia and ten things to do to get better sleep
• Accepting Ourselves
• Three things to do to prevent middle of the night insomnia
• Creating space for wonder and possibilities (for a better night of sleep and less anxiety)