People warned about the 'worst thing' they should never do when waking up in the middle of the night

A sleep expert has revealed exactly what you should never do if you ever find yourself waking up in the night.

There's nothing worse than spending all day looking forward to a restful and restorative night of sleep, only to find your body rudely waking you up in the early hours of the morning.

What happens next is a common experience shared by the majority of people around the world. You'll spend hours tossing and turning while scrunching up your eyes and praying that you'll be able to push your body back into dreamland by the force of sheer will alone.

However this is usually not the case for most of us, who find themselves feeling even less alive by the time their morning alarm sounds.

But is there anything we can do to salvage a ruined night's sleep?

Turns out, the answer lies in doing exactly the opposite of the attempting to force yourself back to sleep.

Trying to get back to sleep may seem like the sensible thing in the moment, however sleep experts have now explained why this will cause your sleep cycle to deteriorate even further.

"Thinking about the fact that you’re not sleeping can rouse your mind and make you more anxious. A better move is to accept your situation—don’t resist being awake—and find an alternative focus," Dr Fiona Barwick told Self.

It's well documented that using your bed for anything other than sleeping will decrease your sleep quality over time.

If you can't get to sleep there's no point forcing it (Getty Stock Images)

By now we're all more than aware that it's not ideal to work from your bed or spend your afternoons lounging around under the covers - and this applies to waking up in the night as well.

Instead, it is ideal to physically get out of bed and take yourself away to do another activity until you feel drowsy again.

"It’s important not to stay in bed," sleep expert Luis F. Buenaver explained in a post published on John Hopkins medicine.

He continued: "Doing this will lead your brain and body to associate your bed with wakefulness instead of with sleep. It can be difficult leaving a warm, comfortable bed after waking up in the middle of the night.

"But think of this step as an investment in better sleep—if not tonight then tomorrow night and in the future."

Picking up your phone can also be one of the worst things you can do (Getty Stock Images)

And for anyone who passes the hours by helplessly doomscrolling - you'll want to cut that out as well.

It's important to resist the urge to pick up your phone during this period. The blue light from your screen will trick your brain into thinking it's daytime, thus damaging your body clock even further.

Barwick instead suggests looking for activities which will help you feel relaxed instead of agonising about the precious seconds of shut eye you're losing.

Happy sleeping everyone.