According to a survey by the National Institute for Sleep and Vigilance (INSV), more than 7 out of 10 French people declare to wake up at night at least once, or even more than 2 times in women. We are not talking here about micro-acknowledgments that naturally occur when you go from one sleep cycle to the other but real nightwakes that last several minutes and after which it can be difficult to go back to sleep. “”At the moment particularly, the socio -cultural or geopolitical context can be anxiety and promote night awakenings and insomnia. Even if we do not have control over this kind of thing, it’s still very stressful and it can unconsciously sleep sleep“Explains Damien Davenne, emeritus researcher at the University of Caen and chronobiologist specializing in rhythms of life.
Night awakenings are also more numerous with age. “”As you get older, sleep needs do not necessarily decrease but sleep is distributed a little differently during the day. We are going to have more facilities to fall asleep during the day – to prick the nose or to take naps for example – and as the sleep programming is done over 24 hours, we will sleep less at night and have more facilities to wake up at night“Explains our interlocutor.
But most often, “The fact of waking up the night in a untimely way is mainly linked to individual factors, tells us our interlocutor. These night awakenings reflect disturbances of insecurity, anxiety or ruminations. Awakening mechanisms are thus put in place in the middle of the night because things work or worry us (a passage of an exam, an oral presentation, a job interview, a driving license …)“. These awakenings are more frequent during difficult passages in life, painful pains painful or periods of stress at work. If after about fifteen minutes, sleep has not returned, you have to get up and do soft activities (read for example) while waiting for the next sleep train.
To avoid these nocturnal awakenings, you have to go back to basic rules: having regular bedtime and lifting hours, practicing regular and sufficient physical activity during the day (particularly important when you get older because you tend to be more sedentary), eat light and early enough to make sure you go to bed in full digestion, sleep in a non -superheated room, limit alcohol, coffee, tea or tobac. hours before bedtime. Obviously, if these insomnia settle in a lasting way and are linked to mental ruminations, it may be useful to consult a psychologist to work on the origin of anxiety. Hypnosis, meditation, yoga or cardiac coherence techniques can help.
