Reason why we're all waking up at 3am now and how to stop
If you've ever found yourself wide awake at 3 or 4am, you're far from alone.
Google searches for 'waking up at 3am' are on the rise, and TikTok videos about the topic are attracting tens of thousands, sometimes millions, of likes and views.
Explanations for these early morning wake-ups range from the spiritual to the scientific, with experts highlighting the role of hormonal changes, specifically, increased cortisol levels, in waking up during the night.
Expert advice on sleep hygiene
Olivia Arezzolo, a leading Australian sleep expert, explains that pre-bed routines are crucial for getting quality sleep.
'Late-night scrolling on Instagram and TikTok is a major factor disrupting sleep for Gen Z and Millennials,' she tells news.com.au.
Ms Arezzolo notes that both bedtime habits and sleep environment can significantly affect your chances of sleeping through the night, or finding yourself awake in the early hours.
Improving sleep quality
According to Ms Arezzolo, the following factors can help improve your sleep quality and quantity:
– Avoid blue light after 9:30pm at the latest. This reduces melatonin suppression caused by blue light (dim lights, turn off screens and devices, use blue light-blocking glasses).
– Take a warm shower. This promotes melatonin synthesis due to the drop in core body temperature.
– Have 30 minutes of tech-free time where you read, meditate, or journal.
– Take a natural sleep supplement to support deeper, more restful sleep.
– Finish dinner before 7pm. This ensures the body can enter deeper sleep faster, rather than actively digesting food.
– Avoid caffeine after 2pm.
– No alcohol
She particularly stresses the importance of monitoring your caffeine intake, as this can help you fall asleep and actually stay asleep.
'As it can be active for 8+ hours after ingestion, a 2pm cut-off is essential for long, deep, and restful sleep,' she explains.
Alcohol is also a significant contributor to those 3am wake times, as it disrupts REM sleep.
If sleep optimisation isn't enough …
However, other experts warn that if you're optimising your environment for sleep and still waking up at 3am, your problems could be related to something deeper, like stress.
Scientists have discovered that cortisol (the stress hormone) naturally begins to rise in the early hours of the morning, typically between 2am and 3am.
This is part of the body's preparation for waking up and is considered a normal part of the circadian rhythm — the body's natural process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours.
For those with regular cortisol levels, this rise would occur gradually, allowing you to wake up at your usual time in the morning.
However, for people experiencing elevated levels of stress, anxiety, or worry, baseline cortisol levels may be heightened, according to The Cleveland Clinic.
The natural early morning surge can then push these levels higher, activating the sympathetic nervous system (the fight-or-flight response), which makes it more likely that you will wake up and have difficulty falling back asleep.
To put it simply, if you're more stressed than usual, your body will likely produce more cortisol during the night, leading to those abrupt wake-ups.
The science of sleep and stress
A 2024 longitudinal study published in SLEEP also found that higher pre-sleep cortisol levels activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, leading to increased cortisol and physiological arousal that disrupts sleep.
To add insult to injury, this stress-sleep relationship is bidirectional — meaning that not only does stress lead to sleep interruptions, but poor sleep can also heighten stress responses, creating a cycle that exacerbates the problem.
What to do when you wake up at 3am
If you do find yourself awake in the wee hours of the morning, experts agree there are a few things that can help you go back to sleep:
– Get out of bed and do something relaxing – this can trick your brain into associating your bed with sleeping, rather than being awake. When you feel tired, you can get back into bed.
– Try reading a book, listening to a guided meditation, relaxing music, or sleep sounds.
– Practice deep breathing exercises or progressive muscle relaxation techniques.
– Try not to worry too much about sleep – worrying can keep you awake.
– Avoid looking at your phone or other electronic devices — the light can interrupt melatonin production, preventing you from going back to sleep.
In terms of preventing these nightly wake-ups altogether, it's important to manage your overall stress levels.
Incorporate more stress management techniques into your week, such as breathwork, exercise, and time in nature – or speak to a professional for further support.
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