IT could be nature’s call, the pitter-patter of little feet or a cat scampering loudly across the roof over your bedroom — and suddenly you are awake. Try these tips from sleep and anxiety experts on how to get back to sleep. 1. Use deep breathing Deep breathing is a well-known method of stress reduction and relaxation, if done correctly. Start by putting your hand on your stomach. Close your eyes and take a slow, deep breath through your nose, making sure that you can feel your abdomen rise. Try to breathe in for a slow count of six. Now release that breath very slowly — to the same count of six — through your mouth. “Taking slow deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth using our main respiratory muscle, the diaphragm can help relax the body and mind,” said sleep specialist Raj Dasgupta, an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. 2. Avoid clock watching Want to feel even more anxious and guilty about not sleeping? That’s what clock watching will do. So don’t keep checking the time. “It’s important not to get worked up about one bad night’s sleep because anxiety itself makes it difficult to fall back asleep,” said USC’s Dasgupta. It can also be overstimulating, said Bhanu Kolla, an addiction psychiatrist and sleep medicine expert at the Mayo Clinic. “You usually end up trying to determine how much time you have left to sleep and worrying about whether you will fall back to sleep in a reasonable amount of time,” Kolla said. “This can in fact make the process of returning to sleep more difficult.” 3. Don’t drink alcohol before bed Don’t drink before bed, said Kolla, who studies the interaction between sleep disturbances and addictive disorders. “As alcohol is metabolized it forms acetaldehyde which is stimulating,” he said. “Therefore if you drink too much alcohol right before going to bed, in about four hours it is converted to aldehyde which can disrupt sleep and wake you up.” 4. Write down your worries It’s best to try to get rid of your worries — as much as possible — well before bed, experts say. “Close the day by capturing anything left to do tomorrow — so you don’t have to work on that at 3 a.m. — and bullet point ongoing issues so you have a clear picture,” said Cynthia Ackrill, a former family physician who is also trained in neuroscience. “Reflect on what went well that day and be grateful. This is good to do at end of work day or after dinner, before evening relaxation.” You can also try “dumping” as a method of stress reduction, Ackrill said. “Keep a pad and low light next to the bed and write down your worries,” she said. 5. Beware of blue light and stimulation Don’t use a computer, smartphone or tablet to jot down your worries, though, experts warn. In fact, the No. 1 rule is “no computers, cell phones, and PDAs in bed and at least one hour prior to bed time,” said Vsevolod Polotsky, who directs sleep research in the division of pulmonary and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 6. Get up after 20 minutes Don’t just lie there staring at the ceiling, experts say. If you can’t get back to sleep after 15 or 20 minutes, get out of bed and go into another room where there is dim light and do something calming until you feel drowsy again. “Maybe read a boring book and try a little Sudoko, but avoid picking up your phone or going on your computer,” Dasgupta said. In addition to blue light, “the temptation to go on social media or check your work emails might prevent your mind from relaxing,” he said. Do those boring activities until you start feeling drowsy, and “only then return to bed,” Mayo’s Kolla said.(SD-Agencies) | 