Waking After a Few Hours? Try This

It has to do with insulin secretion.

We need all the sleep we can get these days, right?

An annoying sleep disruption is waking after only a few hours of sleep. When it happens, you may still feel tired but be unable to get back to sleep.

This can be caused by one of two things. The first is eating sugary foods before bed. The second is drinking alcohol, especially a drink with a sugary mixer, before bed.

In either case, it has to do with insulin secretion.

Some people are more susceptible to this reaction than others. The susceptible folks release more insulin when they eat or drink certain types of carbohydrates. It’s known as carbohydrate sensitivity.

Carb sensitivity is fairly common and can make sleeping through the night difficult if you’ve eaten the wrong things.

A better way to get yourself to sleep is to eat complex starches about 80 to 90 minutes before bedtime. Starches include winter squash, quinoa, lentils, potato, sweet potato, beans, rice, turnips, millet, and other foods of that type. Don’t fret about the carbs, just eat a small portion.

Avoid alcohol and avoid sugar. The insulin they trigger might wake you up and keep you awake.