--- title: "182: 3 ways to deal with waking up in the middle of the night-Sleep Breakthrough session with Sunil" entity: "podcast" canonical_url: "https://www.thesleepdetective.com/podcast/182-3-ways-to-deal-with-waking-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night" markdown_url: "https://www.thesleepdetective.com/llms/podcast/182-3-ways-to-deal-with-waking-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night" lastmod: "2025-02-15T10:00:00.000Z" --- Sunil started waking up in the middle of the night about 6 months ago and it doesn’t make sense because he eats healthy, he exercises, he doesn’t have a lot of stress, and he’s doing so many things to take care of himself. In this Sleep Breakthrough call, Sunil and I talk about his health and sleep and what could be causing him to wake up for 2 hours in the night. I gave him one tip to help him fall back asleep faster. And I recommended a surprise change to his exercise plan. And I told him the 3 most likely reasons for his wake ups and he’s going to look into one of them to start. Resources: - Blood sugar https://thesleepdetective.com/post/what-you-need-to-know-about-blood-sugar-and-sleep-1 - Support your liver https://thesleepdetective.com/post/how-to-minimize-toxins-to-sleep-better https://thesleepdetective.com/post/is-your-liver-causing-your-insomnia - Continuous glucose monitor: https://www.hellolingo.com/ Sign up for a free Sleep Breakthrough call that will be aired on this podcast! You’ll fill out an assessment and then we’ll meet on Zoom and I’ll tell you 3 things to do right now that will have the biggest impact on your health and sleep. [Schedule your call here.](https://l.bttr.to/F9olL) [Schedule a consultation](https://p.bttr.to/3VJwvDs) to get started with the [Complete Sleep Solution program](https://thesleepdetective.com/complete-sleep-solution) so you can consistently sleep 7+ hours uninterrupted, naturally and permanently. Episode Transcript Sunil started waking up in the middle of the night about six months ago, and it doesn't make sense because he eats healthy, he exercises, he doesn't have a lot of stress in his life. He's really doing so many things to take care of himself. In this sleep breakthrough call, Sunil and I talk about his health and sleep, and what could be causing him to wake up for two hours in the night. I gave him one tip to help him fall back asleep faster. I recommended a surprise change to his exercise plan. And I told him the three most likely reasons for his wake ups and he's going to look into one of them to start. This is the sleep detective podcast to help you finally understand why you don't sleep well and how to fix it so you can consistently sleep seven plus hours uninterrupted. Naturally, my name is Martha Lewis, and I'm a functional health and sleep coach. I've helped myself and over 200 clients overcome their sleep problems and restore their health, even if they've already tried what seems like everything. Sunil, welcome to the podcast. It's great to have you here. Oh, thank you. It's my pleasure. Yes. Awesome. So, uh, You know, you filled out the assessment before this call and it sounds like you've been dealing with sleep issues for the past six months. Is that right? Yes. Uh, I've been, one of the joke around the house is that as soon as I hit the pillow, I go to sleep. But, uh, so that was the, so nobody really believes that I have some trouble kind of staying asleep these days. I mean, again, uh, it comes and goes, but, uh, the days. Um, and again, um, last couple of months have been kind of tough, um, bright, even though I, I don't take a nap during the day, but I'm, you know, go to bed in a consistent time. But then next thing I know is that I am, you know, awake and bright and, you know, then wake to two, three hours before get to get, get back to sleep. So, yeah. Um, it typically happens anywhere between 11 and two. Okay. That's when I'm mostly awake. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, this is one of the most common things I'd see. And that was my issue too, where I had gone from being this great sleeper to all of a sudden I'm awake at 3am for two hours, um, kind of happened out of the blue. So do you know what triggered this? Did anything change in your life or was it just. You have no idea. That's the thing. We can't, when I looked at all the things that I've been doing, everything has been consistent. We have been, I'm a kind of a creature of a habit. So, uh, everything is very, very somewhat consistent. Don't too many changes. Um, no, the only change we, we made consciously was, uh, try to do more protein intake. Uh, but that I don't think that directly correlate to this because I used to sleep well too after that. Okay. Um, but other than that, you know, we exercise regularly, both me and my wife exercise regularly. Uh, we eat well, we don't eat out at all. All food are in our homemade. Um, we don't drink alcohol. Um, and we take a lot of activity outside. So we don't sit in the house. We always in the sun. Um, so I don't see any significant. Yeah, I cannot tell you this is two things change and everything after that thing happened. Yeah, and that's okay. I didn't, you know, I was the same way too. Some people know like something specific happened and others, you know, we don't know. And, but I think what's been happening is that you're Um, you know, you live this very healthy lifestyle, which is great. Um, and I, I was too, but I think there were stressors in my body that I didn't know were there that were gradually like slowly affecting my health. And then all of a sudden it just tips the scales enough to where, Oh, like my sleep is impacted and that is how my body is showing that things are out of balance. So does that make sense? Yeah. I mean, clearly something changed or, or, and then, because just to be honest with you, it happened maybe around six months ago, then it kind of got reset. And then again, so it's not that it is something has been going on for two years and it happened for a while. And then two, three months later, things became normal then. So I'm kind of, I think there's a cycle going on, maybe some internal reset maybe. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And do you have any other health issues or symptoms? No. I mean, the only thing that happens is when I exercise, sometimes I get hurt and that other than that, there's no other. Injury or any health issues. It is just from my own making of overdoing something . Yeah. Yeah. So blood work is fine. No high cholesterol or high blood pressure or No, no, I don't have, my blood work is good. I, everything is heart rate is, you know, very comfortable. Um, yeah, it's pretty healthy, I would say. Yeah. Yeah. Which is great. No medication. I don't take medication other than some vitamin supplements. Yeah. Um, okay. Nothing, no medication at all. Yeah, I mean, you're doing all the right things and living this healthy lifestyle, so I know it's frustrating when then all of a sudden you're waking up in the middle of the night. So, yeah, um, but it is common, unfortunately, and it looks like you have a really good schedule like you're going to bed nine nine thirty waking up. 530, 540. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it used to be four, but after, you know, but that was when I was working. No, I don't work. So, you know, there's no reason to get up at four. So I get up around five, five 30 depends upon, you know, whether I have a gym session in the morning or what, so, but consistently between five and five 30. Yeah. Okay. And then you're getting about five to six hours of sleep. You think I, because I'm definitely getting sleep otherwise, you know, because I don't take a nap during the day. And I'm pretty active and alert and I can do whatever I want to do. I can concentrate. I can study all that during the day. So I don't think I am completely deprived of sleep. I may be getting four to five hours and sustaining me, but I am not, you know, but this is still bugging me. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Especially if you're used to getting eight hours or seven hours and then, yeah. And we ideally want at least seven hours of sleep a night. So yeah. Probably that's the anxiety part. Maybe. Right. Yeah. And it sounds like your energy is still pretty good. Your stress levels are. Yeah. Morning when I get up, I'm completely, I don't feel lethargic at all. I'm totally awake. As soon as I wake, I'm out of the bed. I don't lie down on the bed at all. Yeah. Okay. So, I mean, the first thing I would recommend is actually getting out of bed when you are sleeping. So, you know, like you, like we've said, you're in bed for eight hours, but only getting four to five hours. So, um, what can actually help you get more sleep is if you think you've been in bed, I don't recommend looking at a clock. Cause then that just, yeah, yeah. So if you think it's been 20 to 30 minutes and it sounds like usually you fall asleep, fine. It's mainly this waking up. So when you wake up, let's say you wake up at 11 or one or whatever it is. If you aren't going back to sleep in about 20 minutes, Then I suggest actually getting out of bed. And I know this is really hard because we're tired and all we want to do is go back to sleep, but what happens when we start having sleep issues is that we lose this association that bed equals sleep. And so now bed becomes this place where you're awake for long hours of time, maybe getting frustrated, you know, and so it can help to actually get out of bed, go to another space, keep the lights dim and do something relaxing. And so that can be for me, I always like to read a book, you could stretch, you could listen to something, you know, you don't want to be on screens though, like watching TV or on your scrolling through your phone or anything like that. Um, but do something relaxing until you get sleepy again and then go back to bed. Okay. And if. Again, if another 20 or so minutes goes by and you haven't fallen asleep and get back up again. And so the first couple nights, like it could be some up and down until your brain finally gets it like, okay, when I get in bed, that's when I go to sleep. And so if there's something in your body that's causing you to wake up, it's not going to solve that. But I found that for myself and many of my clients, you can get a lot more sleep just by doing that. Cause for me, I would, I could lie there for two hours and just, my mind is racing and I'm trying to like, Do breathing things and, but you know, nothing's working. But if I actually get up, go read and like 10 minutes I'm sleepy and then I go back to bed and go back to sleep. Have you ever tried that? No. Um, I haven't tried it because, uh, uh, I used to have a habit of getting up at three o'clock and doing work, but that is when I was working, you know, to me, between two to five was one of the most productive time in my day. You know, I can be all kind of. Um, uh, output. Yeah. And but I stopped doing that because there's nothing reason for me to get up and do it at that point in time. So I just laid on the bed and think about something. Um, and then next thing I know is that I am or my wife say I'm snoring. So Yeah. Yeah. So that could be something to try is getting out of bed and see if that helps you fall asleep faster. Okay. Yeah. Ideally you don't want to be working or doing anything stimulating. Um, so that's good that you're past that point in your life. Um, and you don't have to do that anymore, but yeah, give that a try and see if that helps you fall asleep. Let me ask you one question. See, one other thing I like to do is I study. in between, you know, during the day, some languages and things like that. Do you recommend when I wake up in the middle of the night, as you recommended, get out of the bed, do I study or do I shouldn't do it, get into any active activities? I wouldn't, I wouldn't do anything like that. What you, you almost want to read something boring, like definitely something, you know, not an engrossing novel or, I mean, if studying is going to, Like help you get tired, but you know, but then you're also probably not going to retain it. So it's probably something that you want to go back to anyway. So I would recommend something more relaxing Onday. Okay. Yeah. And I know it's hard if we're used to being productive all the time too, you know, to not to being awake and not being productive, but I mean, You know, the most common reason why we're waking up at that time is because the body's releasing cortisol, which is our stress hormone, and it shouldn't be releasing it in the middle of the night, but once the body releases cortisol, it takes time for our body to process it and for it to clear. So the more you can do that's relaxing, like the faster it's going to be able to kind of clear from your body and you'll be able to go back to sleep. Okay. Well, one thing to try new, but I never tried, so I will definitely try. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Awesome. And, um, okay. So the second thing I was going to recommend, which you might not like to hear, but I know you're doing, you know, one to two hours of exercise a day, um, most days of the week. Is that right? Yes. Sometimes more. So strenuous exercise actually causes the body to release cortisol. And if you're not already not sleeping, like you're waking up for a couple hours in the night, again, that's a sign that your body's stressed, your body's releasing cortisol. So then that strenuous exercise is making us release even more cortisol. So it's really, it's like stressing your body out more and your body's already stressed. So, but this happens five o'clock in the morning, and then we are talking about another 14 hours later. So how do I correlate that? Yeah, it's just creating this pattern of, of stress in your body. And so when we're younger, like our bodies can handle it and maybe cortisol comes down. But if it's too much, then it's going to keep cortisol levels elevated. And then it could be other, other imbalances that are causing the body to release cortisol at night. But it's still just this extra stressor on your body that's already stressed. Like I would love to see your cortisol levels and your cortisol pattern and see what's actually happening. Um, cause that would tell, like that would give a lot of insight. I use a dried urine test called the Dutch test because a blood test, um, you just, it's that second in time. So you can. like find your cortisol at that time, but it's not going to show where it is the rest of the day and what the pattern is because ideally cortisol is lowest first thing in the morning and then it spikes to his highest level within two hours of waking up and then it should gradually go down throughout the day and be at its lowest point all night. And so a lot of times I'm seeing. You know, in, in, in my test results too, and clients I work with, like cortisol is super high in the middle of the night and then going down throughout the day or it's spiking at the wrong time of day. So yeah, without testing, we don't really know what's going on, but I just know that the more stress that the body's been under and the longer it's been under that stress, then for a while, like our body's going to do everything it can to stay in balance and to handle that stress. Okay. But when we're talking years and decades of stress and it sounds like early morning wakings, working out hard, like our body gets to the point where it can't handle that as well anymore. Especially if then there are other stressors happening as well. Okay. So I tend to recommend limiting strenuous exercise to 30 minutes and then you could still do like, I recommend walking instead, yoga, like more gentle exercises instead, but ideally like 30 minutes, four times a week. If you're open to that and seeing if that helps just reduce overall stress in your body and see if that helps with your sleep. It's totally. Opposite to the goals that I have set for myself. Yeah, I told you I wrote, I am trying to increase my view to max that require me intense, more intensity, but it's very different than than I'm being intended to do for them. To be honest with you, my 20 goals. Yes. And I know how that is. I mean, I live in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. So it's a ski town, a mountain town. Like I spent my twenties and thirties being so active, like all day ski tours, all day bike rides, like, and at the time my body could handle it. But I think that as I got older and then I got a parasite when traveling in Asia. And so I suspect that it all just became too much for my body to handle. And I got to the point where I would be exhausted after exercise. And like five years ago, I really had to cut it down and it was hard because that that's like how I define myself. That's true. Yeah, it's totally true. Yeah. Um, I'll also add that. I don't know if you know, Dave Asprey, he's like the bulletproof coffee guy. He's Like kind of the follower of biohacking, but he, he talks about in one of his books, how to increase VO two max by doing these like super strenuous things for like a minute at a time and then resting. And so instead of spending like hours. He like, yeah, I mean, we have two testes. It's an either one by one or two by two or things like that. Yeah. So you could do it in short periods of time, but yeah. So I guess it's, what are your, like, what are your priorities to like, do you want to focus on the sleep or do you want to focus to max and see what happens? So I know, I know this is not always what people want to hear. It's okay. I mean, again, these are inputs, right? These are different than what you've been thinking. So naturally. Um, you, you have seen this working. So I mean, if I need to sort it out, I need to attempt to have some of these ideas. Okay. Awesome. I'm glad you're at least open. And then the last thing I was going to recommend, you know, I've been talking about cortisol, if cortisol is being released in the middle of the night. So we like, we also want to find out why that is happening. And so one of the things, I mean, it sounds like. You're eating a very healthy diet. You don't necessarily have a lot of symptoms of blood sugar imbalances, but I'm wondering, you know, being vegetarian, um, with egg whites and dairy, it sounds like you're having, I just wonder if blood sugar could be an issue. Um, and it's interesting that you started eating more protein. Do you know how much you're eating now? Yeah. Um, last week I reduced it. I normally tend to get to at least one and a half grams for my body weight. So I am 70. So my goal is to get 110. Okay. So protein and that is split across three meals. So, you know, okay. Okay. Yeah, that's good. Um, so, you know, I didn't see the details of your diet or anything, but I tend to recommend, like, that sounds like a great amount of protein. Um, there could be going on something digestively, like, um, H. pylori is a type of bacteria that lives in the stomach that affects protein digestion. And so it's interesting, you know, you said it wasn't an exact correlation, but you started eating more protein and then, um, The sleep issues came too. So that could have something to do with it. Like the protein isn't the problem, but your body's ability to digest it, or like you still need the protein, but you need to be digesting it well. So that could have something to do with it. Um, or if you don't have enough digestive enzymes to digest that protein, so that's a possibility. Um, it doesn't sound like blood sugar is as much as of a possibility if you're always below. I mean, I test every year we do our blood work and H1A, B, C, uh, all that is very consistent with where it needs to be. It hasn't changed much at all. Very stable. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I mean, I, you know, I spikes during the day, but quickly, but then it goes away because every meal we walk to after eating, we take a 10 minutes, 15 minutes walk. Okay. Perfect. Yeah. I mean, you're doing all the right things for sure. So yeah, so it doesn't sound like blood sugar is as much of an issue. I will say that. You know, I, what is normal on say blood work for fasting glucose, like the labs will say up to a hundred is normal. I like to see it between 75 and 90. So it is sometimes a matter of interpretation. But it sounds like you've tested your blood sugar if you See that it spikes and it's fine for it to spike after eating. And I haven't, we…