Waking up in the middle of the night can be frustrating—especially when you struggle to fall back asleep. But there are ways to help your body relax and drift off again without too much effort. Here are ten evidence-based strategies that could help you get the rest you need.

1. Block out disruptive noises

If a disturbing sound outside your window wakes you, try shutting it to block it out. You might also try using earplugs, turning on a fan, or listening to white noise. A 2021 research review found that white noise may improve sleep in some individuals, though results were mixed and more studies are needed.

2. Leave your bed

Try moving into a different room if you haven’t fallen asleep in 15 minutes. Then do something relaxing to distract your mind for a few minutes. This may make it easier to fall asleep when you return to bed.

3. Avoid staring at the clock

Staring at the clock may make you feel anxious about not sleeping. You might even consider getting rid of your alarm clock completely. Research published in 2019 suggests that anxiety and trouble falling asleep are associated. People who manage anxiety often worry about falling asleep, and people who have difficulty falling asleep often feel anxious.

4. Avoid screens

Turn off all your devices. Notification sounds may awaken you. Smartphones and other electronics also emit blue light that may suppress your body’s melatonin production. Melatonin is a hormone that helps regulate your circadian rhythm and sleep cycles. Blue light-blocking glasses are an inexpensive option that may improve sleep, according to a 2021 research review, but research is mixed.

5. Meditate or try breathing exercises

A 2018 research review on the effect of mindfulness meditation indicates breathing exercises or meditating may help treat some aspects of sleep disturbance and improve sleep quality. One useful method is the 4-7-8 breathing technique: inhale through your nose for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 7 seconds, then exhale through your mouth for 8 seconds.

6. Relax your muscles

One technique that some people may find helps them relax and sleep is performing a full body scan. Close your eyes, breathe slowly, and move your attention from your face down to your feet, relaxing each area as you go.

7. Sleep with the lights off

Resist the temptation to turn on the lights, even if you get out of bed. Bright light may interfere with your body’s melatonin production and wake you up.

8. Focus on something boring

Research from 2018 found that many people report feeling sleepy when bored. The classic “counting sheep” technique — or any uninteresting task that occupies your mind — may help distract you and make falling asleep easier.

9. Listen to relaxing music

Relaxing music may help calm your mind and block sounds that may disrupt your sleep. Personal preference plays a large role in determining what type of music is best, so experiment with different styles.

10. Try sleep apps

Sleep apps offer relaxing stories, music, and sounds. Apps like Calm and Headspace offer free trials, allowing you to see what works best for you.

Mumbaikars are currently being forced to wade through waterlogged streets, as the city has been receiving heavy rainfall for the last few days.

Floodwater often gets mixed with harmful contaminants like animal waste, animal feces, waste from human settlements, industrial pollutants, and harmful microorganisms, which can lead to serious monsoon infections.

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Here’s how one can stay safe after getting exposed to floodwater:

Precautionary Measures After Walking Through Floodwater

HealthandMe spoke to Dr. Murtaza S Bagwala, Head of Emergency Medical Services, Saifee Hospital, Mumbai, about how to keep infections at bay after coming in contact with filthy floodwater.

Pay Close Attention To Your Feet And Legs, Even If They Don't Hurt

When you are in floodwater, there may be sharp objects like broken glass, nails, stones and metal debris around you. You are more likely to come in contact with these objects unintentionally.

Dr. Bagwala recommends, “Small cuts, blisters, or punctures may not be noticed but can lead to infection if bacteria get into the skin. If you see any injury, clean it well, brush on antiseptics and consult a doctor for advice if the wound is deep or dirty.”

Also read: World Zoonoses Day 2026: Monsoon Season And The Rise Of Zoonotic Diseases

Don't Overlook Body Aches Or Fever In The Following Days

As the risk of contracting infections is high during monsoon, do not neglect if you develop flu-like symptoms after coming in contact with contaminated floodwater. The expert warns against dangerous monsoon infections like leptospirosis.

He says, “After contact with water contaminated with the urine of an infected animal (usually a rodent), the early symptoms of leptospirosis may include fever, severe muscle pain, headache, vomiting, chills, or redness of the eyes. The symptoms are very similar to those of a viral disease, so prompt medical evaluation is crucial to avoid complications, such as kidney, liver, or lung involvement.”

Don't Ignore Skin Changes

The doctor also says that if your skin’s colour or texture changes after getting exposed to floodwater, do not ignore it. He says that if the area around the feet or legs becomes red, swollen, painful, warm, discharges pus or the itching persists, it should be treated immediately.

These can be signs of bacterial or fungal infections that need to be treated, especially in individuals with diabetes, poor blood flow, or impaired immune function.

Also read: Leptospirosis In Monsoon: Expert Explains Why Early Detection & Prevention Is A Must

Determine If Your Tetanus Shots Are Updated

As you can get cuts and bruises after walking through floodwater, it is important to stay on top of your tetanus shots.

The expert advises, “Seek health care advice if you have a cut or puncture wound, particularly from a sharp object that was submerged in the water, while walking through the water. Early management of wounds can help avoid complications."

Take Precautions When Eating Or Drinking After Exposure

You are also at risk of contracting gastrointestinal infections after coming in contact with floodwater. Contaminated water may enter your mouth and lead to stomach and intestinal infections or may contact food and lead to food poisoning.

Prevent diarrhoea, vomiting and dehydration by drinking only clean, safe water, eating only freshly prepared food and practicing good hand hygiene before eating.

India has approximately 101 million people living with diabetes, one of the largest such populations in the world. Blood sugar levels, HbA1c targets, and medication compliance tend to dominate the clinical conversation around the condition. What receives considerably less attention, from both doctors and patients, is what diabetes does to the feet, and what the consequences of that neglect look like over time.

How Diabetic Foot Ulcers Develop

Diabetic foot ulcers develop when nerve damage caused by prolonged high blood sugar, referred to as diabetic neuropathy, reduces sensation in the feet. A small cut, blister, or pressure sore that a person without neuropathy would notice and address goes unfelt. In the absence of pain as a warning signal, the injury progresses. Infection sets in. By the time the patient presents for medical attention, the wound has often reached a stage where conservative management is no longer sufficient.

The High Cost of Delayed Treatment

The clinical outcomes associated with delayed presentation are sobering. A 2024 study published in Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome, drawing on real-world data from a tertiary care facility in India, found that amputation was required in 43.4 percent of diabetic foot ulcer patients. Ten-year mortality among those who underwent amputation reached 30.9 percent, compared to 24.5 percent among those who achieved primary healing.

A 2025 cross-sectional study published in Cureus found a significant disparity in mortality rates between individuals with diabetic foot ulcers and those with diabetes alone, at 231 deaths per 1,000 person-years compared to 182. Globally, 18.6 million individuals develop diabetic foot ulcers annually.

Prevention Requires Daily Foot Care

The gap between the clinical evidence on diabetic foot complications and the attention the condition receives in routine diabetes management is where the preventable harm accumulates. Most patients presenting with advanced diabetic foot disease describe a history of minor symptoms that were attributed to something else, ignored, or left unaddressed because they were painless.

Regular foot inspection, appropriate footwear, avoidance of barefoot walking, and early medical review of even minor foot injuries are the practices that interrupt this progression before it reaches the point of irreversibility. Dedicated foot care clinics are built around exactly this philosophy, bringing together the multidisciplinary expertise needed to catch complications early and treat them before the window for limb salvage closes.

Why Multidisciplinary Care Matters

Eastern India carries a significant share of this burden, with patients across West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, and the Northeast frequently facing limited access to the multidisciplinary care that diabetic foot management requires. Diabetologists, vascular specialists, wound care experts, reconstructive surgeons, and rehabilitation teams working in coordination produce outcomes that sequential, single-specialty care cannot consistently achieve. Where such integrated care is available and accessed early, limb salvage rates improve, and amputations are reduced.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s recent advisory on diabetic foot care reinforces that foot health in diabetes management warrants systematic attention, not as an afterthought to glycemic control, but alongside it.

(Dr. Anupam Golash, Consultant - Plastic Reconstructive Surgery, CK Birla Hospitals, CMRI)

A small implanted device that stimulates the vagus nerve may offer substantial and lasting relief for people with severe treatment-resistant depression, according to a large multicenter clinical trial.

The findings, published in the International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, showed that improvements in depressive symptoms, quality of life, and daily functioning were sustained for at least two years in most patients who responded to treatment.

Notably, more than 20% of treated participants (39 patients) were in remission after two years, meaning their depressive symptoms had improved enough for them to function normally in daily life.

"We were shocked that one in five patients was effectively without depressive symptoms at the end of two years," said lead author Charles Conway, professor of psychiatry and director of Washington University's Treatment Resistant Mood Disorders Center.

Depression Remains A Major Health Burden

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Earlier this week, Republican Tom Kean Jr. revealed that he had been diagnosed with depression, explaining his absence from public life for more than 100 days.

He is far from alone. About 20% of U.S. adults experience major depression during their lifetime. While most people improve after antidepressants or psychotherapy, up to one-third develop treatment-resistant depression, in which standard treatments fail to provide adequate relief.

Study Focused on the Most Severe Cases

The RECOVER trial, led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, enrolled nearly 500 patients across 84 sites in the US. On average, participants had:

• Lived with depression for 29 years
• Tried 13 unsuccessful treatments
• Undergone therapies including electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
• Three-quarters were too ill to work.

"We believe the sample in this trial represents the sickest treatment-resistant depressed patient sample ever studied in a clinical trial," Conway said.

"There is a dire need to find effective treatments for these patients, who often have no other options. With this kind of chronic, disabling illness, even a partial response to treatment is life-altering, and with vagus nerve stimulation, we're seeing that benefit is lasting," he added.

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Benefits Lasted for Two Years

The VNS Therapy System, manufactured by LivaNova USA, Inc., involves implanting a small device beneath the skin of the chest. The device delivers carefully calibrated electrical pulses to the left vagus nerve, which serves as a major communication pathway between the brain and internal organs.

Although every participant received an implant, only half had their devices activated during the first year, allowing researchers to compare outcomes.

The latest analysis focused on 214 patients whose devices were activated from the beginning of the study.

Among them:

• About 69% (147 patients) achieved a meaningful improvement in at least one outcome after 12 months.
• More than 80% of those responders maintained or improved those benefits after 24 months.
• Among patients with a substantial response after one year, 92% continued to experience benefits two years later.

Conway noted that even a 30% improvement can dramatically change the lives of patients with severe depression, who often struggle to carry out basic daily activities and face a higher risk of hospitalization or early death.

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Some Patients Improved Later

The study also found that recovery may take longer for some people.

Nearly one-third of participants who had not responded after the first year reported meaningful improvements by the end of the second year, suggesting prolonged stimulation may continue to produce benefits.

Researchers also observed consistently low relapse rates among patients who improved, particularly among those with the strongest responses.