This band-aid-like tracker could shed light on your insomnia 1:00
(CNN) --
Many people are afraid of the sound of the alarm clock, which signals the start of a work day.
Others wish they weren't already awake when the alarm went off and that the sound had really woken them up.
Waking up minutes or even hours before your alarm is not a new phenomenon, sleep experts tell CNN, but it can cause people incredible discomfort.
The added stressors of the pandemic sharpened our collective struggles to sleep.
More than a third of Americans sleep fewer hours a night than the minimum recommendation of seven hours, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), studies from around the world show that between 10% and 30% of the population suffer from insomnia, which is defined as constant difficulty falling asleep and the inability to return to sleep after bedtime.
People with insomnia can have a combination of "nocturnal awakenings" and what are called "early awakenings," according to a 2009 study from the Center for Epidemiologic Research on Sleep at Stanford and other universities.
The study concludes that some people may experience early awakenings without other symptoms of insomnia, such as "difficulty falling asleep", "nocturnal awakenings" and "unrefreshing sleep", that is, sleep that is not substantial even with the hours recommended.
"It's a bit of a myth that insomnia is just not being able to fall asleep," said sleep specialist Rebecca Robbins, an instructor in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
"A common complaint is excessive sleepiness, and waking up feeling very unrested."
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Although insomnia treatments include cognitive behavioral therapy and medication, there are other daily tips that can help with early awakenings.
An acute sleep disorder could be implicated in someone who does not experience chronic insomnia but who wakes early.
"Sleep is an element of our waking life," says Robbins.
"If you are experiencing difficulties, traumas or something disturbing that is happening (...), those events are imposed on our dream."
The constant waking up before that everyday sound is coupled with immense frustration at not going back to sleep.
Stress can feel like an isolating and all-consuming situation, taking precedence over the initial sleep problem.
"You start ruminating about it, and then you start doing things that make the insomnia worse," says Dr. Rajkumar Dasgupta, associate professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
"Don't start saying to yourself, 'I'm going to force myself to stay in bed until I fall asleep.'"
So what can you do about it?
Don't look at the clock or the phone
If you wake up suddenly - in what seems like the middle of the night - resist looking at the clock.
Finding out that it's 3 in the morning when you set your alarm for 7 can lead to increased stress from the sleep you were hoping to get.
"Anxiety and frustration increase ... Watching the clock becomes habitual, and that habitual response of frustration and anxiety also causes a stress response in the body," says sleep specialist Wendy Troxel, a scientist of the behavior of Rand Corp.
When stress sets in, cortisol levels rise and the body goes on alert.
This process is counterproductive to maintaining drowsiness;
the brain becomes hyperactive.
"You look at the clock. It's exactly 3 in the morning, and immediately the tension makes you clench your teeth. You think about all the demands...how horrible it's going to be when you're sleep deprived," Troxel said.
"All this mental processing and agitation is contrary to the sleep state. It makes you more alert and agitated ... instead of signaling to the brain that it's okay to go to sleep."
If your alarm is on your phone, checking the clock can be an even more important trigger.
Consider getting an alarm that isn't connected to your phone.
"Our phone is the strongest signal in our waking life," says Troxel.
"You get light exposure from your phone, which can directly stimulate your circadian alert signal."
The content we consume on our phones can be very activating, whether it's scrolling through social media or reading the news.
All of this can stimulate emotional states that are more activating than relaxing."
People will lose up to 58 hours of sleep a year by 2099. Why?
Get out of bed
So, paradoxically, experts say you have to get out of bed.
Yes, even at 3 in the morning.
"Give up the idea of going back to sleep," says Troxel.
"When you do that, when you let go of the pressure that sleep isn't such an effort, sleep is more likely to come back."
In a stimulus control technique, you can distract your brain with a mundane task to help you recover from drowsiness more quickly than staying frustrated in bed.
"As soon as that little voice appears, change the environment. Get out of bed," says Robbins.
"Try to reboot your brain and keep the lights low."
Mentally mapping the bed to sleep helps people associate positive sleep thoughts with their space.
Leaving the room when the restlessness appears can separate the frustration from the bed.
Anything from reading a book to knitting to listening to soft music (but not on the phone) can positively distract the brain.
Once the drowsiness sets in again, go back to bed.
Record what works and what doesn't
Dasgupta recommends keeping track of not only what time you went to bed and woke up on any given night, but also what relaxing techniques, environmental factors, and even nutrition and exercise routines seemed to help you sleep that day.
"The perfect dream is like having a puzzle, and you need all the right pieces," Dasgupta said.
"People who have insomnia are missing one of those pieces of sleep hygiene. When you make a recommendation, like muscle relaxation, maybe that's not what they were missing. Maybe the sound wasn't the key part. Maybe They need more than that heavy blanket.
It also depends on the circadian rhythm that we have, that is, the 24-hour solar cycle that the body follows and that tells us when we fall asleep at night.
If some environmental factors change - such as travel, work schedule or lighting - the body's circadian rhythm can be thrown off, leading to an uncomfortable early awakening before the alarm, explains Dasgupta.
In this case, changing the lighting in a certain room or getting alternative lighting could help.
Progressive muscle relaxation can work: Start with your toes, squeeze the muscles in question for three seconds, then release.
Breathe during this process.
The 4-7-8 breathing exercise, along with muscle relaxation, can give good results, according to Dasgupta.
Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds, and breathe out for 8 seconds.
Doing yoga can help fight insomnia due to stress due to the pandemic and the elections, says academy
Others may find yoga, meditation, or reading helpful when they wake up before their alarm clock.
The key here is also to get out of bed.
The same techniques do not work for everyone, but the practice of various strategies that can influence sleep is essential, to end up building a well-executed routine.
"Take it easy," says Robbins.
"That's why we consciously use this ritual word before bed, because ideally you build strategies into your routine. It's your toolbox."
If the problem continues beyond three times a week for three months, Robbins recommends talking to a sleep specialist.
It may require more than a simple habit change.
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