Why Many People Wake Around 3am, and What Sleep Experts Say to Do About It

Many people know the experience of waking suddenly in the middle of the night, often between 2am and 3am (between 8 and 9 o'clock at night in Ethiopian time), and then struggling to fall back asleep. Explanations shared online range from stress and hormones to spiritual causes and hidden health risks. Sleep specialists who spoke to the BBC say the reality is more ordinary: waking during the night is a normal part of how humans sleep.

Waking is built into sleep

Sleep runs in repeating cycles of roughly 90 minutes, moving between lighter and deeper stages. Researchers say healthy adults commonly wake several times a night. Most of these awakenings last only seconds, and many people do not remember them.

UK sleep researcher Stephanie Romiszewski told the BBC that although people are often told they need one unbroken stretch of sleep, sleep medicine recognises night-time waking as very common.

Timing also plays a role. Deep sleep is concentrated in the first half of the night, while sleep in the hours before dawn is lighter and more easily disturbed. This is why people tend to remember waking closer to morning. Mumbai-based psychiatrist Dr Rishabh Verma told the BBC that for people who usually go to bed around 10pm or 11pm, the 2am to 3am period is a turning point, coming after much of the night's deep sleep has already passed.

When worry takes over

Experts say the real problem begins when a person becomes fully alert and starts worrying about not sleeping. In the early hours the body is already preparing for the day, gradually releasing more cortisol, a hormone associated with alertness. If the brain treats waking as a sign that something is wrong, cortisol levels can rise further, making it harder to settle. Romiszewski said that the harder people try to force sleep, the more awake they tend to become.

People living with persistent stress may already have elevated cortisol, which can turn a normal, brief awakening into an early start to the day. Specialists also say that during light sleep, the brain's emotional centres are relatively more active while areas involved in reasoning and problem-solving are less engaged, which may help explain why worries at 3am can feel bigger than they are.

Other contributing factors

• Health conditions: sleep apnoea, restless legs syndrome and thyroid problems can disrupt sleep.
• Diet: heavy evening meals and caffeine consumed after midday can interfere with sleep. Some experts also caution against large amounts of sugar in the evening.
• Alcohol: neurologist Dr Prashant Makhija told the BBC that alcohol may help people fall asleep quickly, but as the body processes it over the following hours it can have a stimulating effect, disrupting the lighter sleep of the early morning.
• Differences between women and men: some studies suggest women wake more often than men despite getting more deep sleep, with hormonal changes linked to menstruation, pregnancy and menopause cited as possible factors. Romiszewski also pointed to the often-overlooked burden of work and caregiving, which can lead women to go to bed later.

What specialists recommend

Experts say the aim should not be to never wake, but to make awakenings brief and easy to recover from. Their advice includes:

• Keeping a consistent wake-up time and getting daylight and physical activity soon after rising.
• Going to bed only when genuinely sleepy.
• Avoiding checking the clock or phone during the night.
• If still awake after about 20 minutes, moving to another room with dim light and returning to bed only when drowsy.

Specialists advise anyone who wakes frequently, stays awake for long periods, or finds their mood and daily life affected to seek professional help. They also encourage people to let go of the expectation of perfect sleep and to accept that sleep patterns change with illness, travel, pregnancy and other life events.

Source: BBC Tigrinya

Picture: BBC Tigrinya