09/11/2021
Why Do I Keep Waking Up at 3 a.m. for No Reason?
Reason #1: Your blood sugar is low
When someone asks me, Why do I keep waking up at 4 a.m., or 2:30 a.m., âthe first question I ask them is, âWhen was the last time you ate?ââ says Breus. âOften, theyâve finished their last meal at 7 p.m.; now itâs 3 in the morningâthatâs 8 hours laterâso guess what? Theyâre out of fuel.â When your brain senses your tank is close to empty, it spikes cortisol to help jumpstart the metabolic process, get you hungry, and wake you up to eat. âThat can be part of whatâs going on,â says Breus.
How to stay asleep: âDonât go to bed hungry,â says Breus. To be clear, you shouldnât go to sleep with a full belly â the body isnât meant to digest food lying down â but you donât want to be starving either. "About 30 minutes before bedtime, think about having a 250-calorie snack⊠and hereâs the key: It should be 70% complex carbs and 30% protein. An apple with some nut butter would be a perfect type of snack. Or a non-sugary cereal like oatmeal with some almond milk."
âAnother option is a teaspoon of raw honey,â says Breus. âIâve found that raw honey is difficult for the body to metabolize and helps keep your blood sugar stable longer. Many of my patients can make it through the night simply with a teaspoon of honey.â
If you donât want to eat, consider having a cup of guava-leaf tea. âItâs a little medicinal tasting, but the literature has shown it can help stabilize blood sugar,â says Breus. âSome of my patients have that 30 minutes before bed and it seems to help.â
Note: If you have diabetes, youâll want to check with your doctor to make sure your blood sugar is properly controlled throughout the night. Waking up often could signal that your hormones or blood glucose levels are fluctuating.
Reason #2: Youâre shifting from deep sleep to lighter sleep.
Nighttime sleep involves multiple sleep cycles that occur throughout the 7 to 9 hours of rest adults typically need. When you sleep, your body cycles through these sleep stages:
a transition from wakefulness to sleep
light sleep
deep sleep
rapid eye movement (REM) sleep
The length of each stage varies throughout the night. You have longer deep sleep earlier in the evening and longer REM sleep â lighter sleep when dreams occur â as morning approaches. Your arousal threshold (meaning how easy it is for something to wake you up) varies depending on what sleep stage youâre in.
Once youâre past the deep-sleep stage (the first four to four-and-a-half hours youâre asleep) and into lighter sleep, youâre more easily awakened. So, if you turn in at, say, 11 p.m., according to James C. Findley, Ph.D., clinical director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the Penn Sleep Center in Philadelphia, by 3 in the morning youâre mostly out of deep sleep and shifting into longer periods of lighter sleep. And since your brain is more active during light sleep (the REM stage), itâs more likely that youâll wake up.
How to stay asleep: During lighter sleep, youâre more apt to wake up from environmental factors like noise from a passing truck or your bedroom being too hot or stuffy. Ideally, your bedroom should be dark, comfortably cool, and quiet. Consider using earplugs or an eye mask to block out unwelcome noise and light or cracking the window to let in some cooler air.
Interestingly, says Breus, between 2 and 3 a.m. is when your core body temperature, which is determined by your circadian rhythm, stops dropping and starts rising back up, which also puts you in a slightly lighter phase of sleep. âIf your environment is too warm, if itâs not nice and cold, youâre almost assured to wake up,â Breus says.
Person up at night due to anxiety
Andrey Popov/Getty Images/iStockphoto
Reason #3: Youâre anxious or stressed.
Stress may be something thing to consider if your 3 a.m. awakenings are a fairly recent phenomenon. If thereâs something in your life causing anxiety or worry (like, oh, I donât know, a global pandemic?), or uncertainty surrounding your job, relationships, health, or finances, that could very well be a cause.
Cortisol, which is best known as the bodyâs âstress hormone,â also plays a pivotal role in managing our sleep âarchitecture.â Studies of our circadian rhythmâyour 24-hour body clockâhave shown that cortisol levels naturally begin to increase between 2 and 3 a.m. If youâre already stressed or anxious, and your cortisol levels are naturally rising, itâs not surprising that your eyes would pop open at this hour. When your bodyâs sympathetic nervous symptom kicks into gear, the increase in heart rate and blood pressure also may make it harder to fall back asleep.
How to stay asleep: The key to falling back asleep when you keep waking up during the night is encouraging a transition from a state of anxiety or frustration to relaxation. The calmer you are, the quicker youâll fall back asleep. Relaxation techniques, like deep breathing, and proper sleep hygiene can help you quiet your mind and fall back asleep.
Reason #4: Youâre experiencing age-related sleep issues.
Aging influences our sleep cycles. As we get older, we spend less time in deep sleep, so weâre more prone to awakenings from things like noise and light. In addition, our sleep-wake times may also shift: Typically, as we get older, we go to bed and wake up earlier than we did in our younger years. We may also develop a medical condition that impacts our sleep or take medications that alter our sleeping patterns.
How to stay asleep: Discuss any significant sleep changes with your doctor, especially insomnia or odd sleep awakenings, to rule out medical issues like sleep apnea, menopause-related hot flashes, diabetes, or thyroid dysfunction, which can cause nighttime awakenings.
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