This article originally appeared in Psychology Today.
On a recent night, I was just starting to drift off into that sweet, relaxed, beautiful place of letting go deeply into sleep, when some unexpected series of sounds (coming from my husband’s phone) jolted me from my sleep, causing my heart to race. I knew my husband didn’t mean to wake me up, but nonetheless, reactivity started getting the best of me as I tried to fall back to sleep.
I became irritated, frustrated and started spinning narratives in my head about how I had gotten disturbed out of my sleep and now I may not get the sleep I needed, and now I can’t fall back to sleep, and what if I feel exhausted tomorrow, and... Of course, all of these thoughts caused my heart to beat more quickly and kept me more alert and awake.