It's perfectly normal to experience this pattern of waking, so try to acknowledge it and wait for sleep to come again. If it doesn't, you don't have to just lie there feeling anxious. Get up and read or listen to music and try again once you feel drowsy.
Around this time in the sleep cycle, we're at our lowest ebb physically and cognitively. From nature's viewpoint, this is meant to be a time of physical and emotional recovery, so it's understandable that our internal resources are low.
Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, which helps synchronize your sleep-wake cycle. Limit awake-time in bed. If you don't get back to sleep within 20 minutes after waking up in the middle of the night, get out of bed and do something relaxing until you feel sleepy again. Stay away from stimulants.
All in all, waking up at 3 a.m. may just be a symptom of stress, one too many glasses of water before bed or loud noises outside. But if these wake-up calls become frequent and you can't pinpoint a reason, it may be worth investigating why that invisible alarm is going off in your head.
If you wake up early feeling alert, should you just get up? It depends how early it is. If it is 3am, you should do your best to get back to sleep because if you don't, you're likely to feel tired and irritable later.
Your sleep patterns
One likely explanation for waking up at the same time each night is that you go to sleep at the same time and then, at the same time each night, you reach a light stage of sleep and wake up. We're also more likely to remember waking up if it's closer to the time we normally get up for the day.
At that time, you should sit up and do whatever process you have been initiated for, it will bear the maximum fruit in the way the planet is spinning. And what is happening, something very fundamental changes somewhere between 320 to 340. This is called Holtom.
See, our circadian rhythm directs our cortisol, an awakening hormone, to rise around 3am, in preparation for the next morning. However, if you cortisol levels are already high, which is a consequence of stress, then it's likely you will wake up.
If you wake simultaneously every day, it may be related to body functions such as sleep timing, circadian rhythms (your body's inner clock), and sleep cycles. These patterns affect when we rise in the morning. They also explain why we stir from time to time during the night.
Fall back asleep by doing breathing exercises, relaxation techniques, avoiding clocks, and keeping the lights off or low. If you can't sleep after 20 minutes, get out of bed and do a sleep reset. Do a relaxing and distracting activity until you feel sleepy again.
According to my survey, most people (22%) wake up between 6:00 AM - 7:00 AM. If you wake up past 10:00 AM, I recommend going to bed and waking up earlier, as it's going to help with productivity levels throughout the day. And if you're lucky, you'll miss the morning traffic.
Try to go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, which helps synchronize your sleep-wake cycle. Limit awake-time in bed. If you don't get back to sleep within 20 minutes after waking up in the middle of the night, get out of bed and do something relaxing until you feel sleepy again.
People with ADHD frequently report having trouble waking up in the morning. For help getting out of bed, try using light therapy or plan something enjoyable for when you get out of bed, such as exercise or a nice breakfast.
The Best Time to Sleep Is Between 8 p.m. and Midnight
To align our sleep schedules with our body's natural cycles (our circadian rhythms), adults should go to bed when it's dark out, after 8 p.m. We also get deeper, more restorative sleep when our sleep time begins before midnight.
If you wake up between 1 am and 3 am it means your liver was overloaded. The liver is responsible for detoxifying our bodies and processing emotions each night. You may be suffering from an unhealthy diet, excess alcohol consumption, and/or unresolved anger or high levels of stress.
The “first night effect” (FNE) is a well-known phenomenon in polysomnographic (PSG) recordings characterized by decreased total sleep time, lower sleep efficiencies, reduction in REM sleep, and longer REM latencies on the first night of testing (Agnew, Webb, & Williams,1966).
There are many reasons why you might be waking up early all of a sudden. They include external factors, such as environmental disturbances like temperature, light, and noise. They also include internal factors, like your circadian rhythm, sleep disorders like sleep apnea, and/or medical issues, like heartburn.
Reasons this might happen include drinking caffeine or alcohol late in the day, a poor sleep environment, a sleep disorder, or another health condition. When you can't get back to sleep quickly, you won't get enough quality sleep to keep you refreshed and healthy.
If you get into bed and cannot fall asleep after 20 minutes, get up, go to another part of your house, and do something soothing, such as reading or listening to quiet music. Lying awake in bed for too long can create an unhealthy mental connection between your sleeping environment and wakefulness.
Middle insomnia describes a difficulty maintaining sleep after initial sleep onset. For these individuals, sleep is fragmented with frequent awakenings at night. Middle insomnia is commonly associated with neurological syndromes (e.g., RLS), pain syndromes, or depression.