If You Always Wake Up Between 3-5 AM, Here’s Why

Have you recently had trouble getting a good night sleep? There are times when you go to bed at 11 PM, hoping that once you fall asleep, you’ll be able to get your good 8 hours of sleep, but for some reason you keep waking up at 3-5 AM. You’ll feel tired the next day and then the same happens the next days. Getting a good night sleep plays a major role on our daily performance and mood.

The complicated thing is that these situations can turn into cycles easily, and have a huge, negative impact on your performance and mood. To avoid getting stuck in one of these cycles, or help you break the cycle, I will be addressing why you might be waking up at 3-5 AM every day.

Lifestyle choices

How much of your daily routine did you build around ensuring you have a good night’s sleep? A lot of times, your routine will determine how well you sleep since there are a number of things that everyone does that lead to night time awakenings. If you do any of the things that will be listed below, these might be responsible for your night time awakenings (Silver, 2020):

• You drink caffeine or alcohol before going to bed;
• You eat something right before bedtime;
• You look at your computer or cell-phone screen before going to bed;
• You took a nap very late in the day;
• You smoke.

Of course, changing your daily routine and habits to make sure that you have a better sleep quality would be ideal. And yes, it will be hard to do. For example, it is very common to want to be up-to-date on Facebook, or Twitter, or Instagram, or whichever application you are interested in. And with how busy daily routines are now, it might feel inevitable that you find yourself scrolling through your feed on your cell-phone. But, in the end, if you struggle with suddenly waking up in the middle of the night, you will need to make changes.

Emotional state

Can you recall a period of time when you slept well every single night? Did this happen during a happy time of your life? The effect that your emotional state has on how you sleep every night is very significant. If you are experiencing stress, anxiety, and your emotional state is not in the best condition, chances are that you will find yourself waking up at 3-5 AM every night.

According to Dr. Kane (Health Essentials, 2019), experiencing worry, anxiety or frustration means that you have triggered your sympathetic nervous system (‘fight-or-flight’ system). This will force your brain to switch from sleep mode to wake mode and cause you to have trouble sleeping well.

Additionally, waking up at specifically 3-5 AM has a direct correlation with your breathing. According to Chinese Medicine, which relates different times of the day with a different organ in the human body, the time period between 3-5 AM is directly associated with your lungs (Beckler, 2020). Your lungs have the most activity during this period of time, so any disruption of your breathing will lead to you waking up suddenly (Brainy Dose, 2018).

Once again, the disruption in your breathing during this time is linked back to your emotional state, or more specifically, the stress and anxiety that you are feeling. To avoid this, you should learn how to deal with your stress, and understand that there is no point in worrying about things that are completely out of your control.

Low blood sugar

Did you know that low blood sugar can cause your brain to wake you up in the middle of the night? Your brain is very active during the night as it regenerates, repairs, and converts your short-term memories into long-term. However, since it is so active during the night, it also uses up a lot of your energy reserves.

If you suffer from low blood sugar levels, your brain will consume most of your energy reserves and think that you’ve run out of fuel (Stern, 2019). As a result, your brain will release cortisol to make you hungry and wake you up.

To conclude, if you are waking up at 3-5 AM and feel like your performance and mood is heavily affected by this, try addressing the points that I’ve made in this article. Most commonly, waking up at 3-5 AM will have a lot to do with your routine. Try making small changes, one at a time, so that you can identify what it was exactly that was making you wake up in the middle of the night. Additionally, take care of your emotional state. Learn to accept the fact that there are many things in life that are out of your control, and that stressing over them is just a waste of time and energy.

References

Becker, M. (2020). Waking Up At 3AM – 5AM | A Sign Of Spiritual Awakening?. Retrieved 17 January 2021, from https://www.ask-angels.com/spiritual-guidance/waking-up-at-3am-5am-a-sign-of-spiritual-awakening/

Brainy Dose. (2018). Do You Often Wake Up Between 3 AM and 5 AM? Here Is What It Means [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te7AqSI7YfY

Health Essentials. (2019). Why Do You Always Wake Up at 3 a.m.?. Retrieved 17 January 2021, from https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-do-you-always-wake-up-at-3-a-m/

Silver, N. (2020). Why Do I Keep Waking Up at 3 a.m.?. Retrieved 17 January 2021, from https://www.healthline.com/health/sleep/why-do-i-keep-waking-up-at-3-am

Stern, I. (2019). WHY DO I WAKE UP AT 3AM? 6 REASONS WHY AND HOW TO STOP IT. Retrieved 17 January 2021, from https://drianstern.com/blogs/learn/wake-up-3-am