People are just realizing what it means if you keep waking up at the same time in the middle of the night
Waking up at the same time each night can send you into a panic and leave you wondering why but the real reason is more surprising than just a racing mind.
A good night's sleep is crucial for daily life, yet waking up suddenly during the night or early morning - typically 3 to 4am - is surprisingly common, with one US study finding that 35.5 percent of people reported jolting awake more than three times a week, as reported by Sleepfoundation.org.
Many restless sleepers believe their nightly wake-ups are caused by an overactive mind - reliving embarrassing memories from the past or simply overthinking - and often aren't sure whether they should seek help.
'As a cognitive therapist, I sometimes joke that the only good thing about 3am waking is that it gives us all a vivid example of catastrophizing,' Greg Murray, a sleep expert, wrote in an article published by The Conversation.
'Waking and worrying at 3am is very understandable and very human,' he added.
However, the reason behind this phenomenon isn't rooted in anxiety or the stress that often creeps in during the quiet, dark hours of the night.
Instead, the collective experience of a 3am wake-up call is intricately tied to how our bodies function on a day-to-day basis.
Murray, the Director of the Centre for Mental Health at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, tied the strange phenomenon to our body's neurobiology and hormonal rhythms.
During a normal night's sleep, our neurobiology - the study of our nervous system's structure, function, and development - typically hits a critical turning point between 3am to 4am.
Around this time, our core body temperature begins to rise, sleep pressure eases since we've already rested, melatonin - the sleep hormone - has peaked, and cortisol - the stress hormone - starts increasing, gearing the body up to wake and face the day ahead.
This experience surprisingly happens without outside signals - like bright light peering through our bedroom windows - as our bodies are built to predict both sunrise and sunset thanks to our natural circadian rhythm.
However, rising cortisol levels can play a key part in whether or not you fully wake up during the wee-hours of the night, as it mainly helps regulate your body's response to stress, The Cleveland Clinic explained.
This stress hormone plays a massive role in making you feel on high alert and 'triggers the release of glucose (sugar) from your liver', giving your body a quick burst of energy during stressful moments.
Simply put, if you're more stressed than usual, your body likely releases more cortisol during the night - leading to those abrupt, middle-of-the-night wake-ups.
Although about one in three people report jolting awake in the middle of the night, the truth is we all wake up several times - we're just not usually aware of it until stress comes to play.
According to Murray, when sleep is going well, 'we are simply unaware of these awakenings'. But with added stress, there's a good chance those brief wake-up moments turn into fully self-aware moments.
Stress can also cause hypervigilance - feeling anxious or on edge about being awake during the night - which often leads to insomnia.
External supports are also missing in the depths of night - no social connections or cultural comforts.
'With none of our human skills and capital, we are left alone in the dark with our thoughts,' Murray explained.
'So the mind is partly right when it concludes the problems it's generated are unsolvable - at 3am, most problems literally would be.'
Once the sun rises, familiar sounds, smells, and sensations help put things in perspective.
Problems that felt overwhelming just hours earlier suddenly seem much smaller, and people often wonder why they couldn't calm themselves down the night before.
'The truth is, our mind isn't really looking for a solution at 3am,' Murray wrote.
'We might think we are problem solving by mentally working over issues at this hour, but this isn't really problem solving; it's problem solving's evil twin - worry,' he added.
The revelation stunned people across the internet, many of whom had long believed they were alone in their mysterious, late-night awakenings.
'So true. Reading this at 4am,' one user wrote to Facebook.
Another added: 'My 4am issue is finally explained.'
'The Bain of my life,' a third chimed in. 'Interesting read.'
'I don't know about fears and shortcomings, but my brain goes off in all directions when I awake in the middle of the night,' wrote another.
Joining into the conversation, another user wrote: 'These might be the answers to my waking most nights.'
So, for those who wake up at the same time every night, the big question remains: What do you do about it?
'Buddhism has a strong position on this type of mental activity: the self is a fiction, and that fiction is the source of all distress,' Murray explained.
As a helpful tip, Murray recommended practicing Buddhist-informed mindfulness during the day to manage stress - making it easier to use the same technique during those quiet, restless hours at night.
If all else fails, traditional cognitive behavioral therapy advice can help - getting out of bed, turning on a dim light and cracking open a book to distract your mind and ease back into sleep.
'One last tip,' Murray wrote. 'It's important to convince yourself (during daylight hours) that you want to avoid catastrophic thinking.'
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