All posts tagged: 3am

Waking Up Every Night At 3AM? You May Have This Common Sleeping Condition

Waking Up Every Night At 3AM? You May Have This Common Sleeping Condition

Published by Sam Flores

I have insomnia, but not the kind that means I struggle to fall asleep (in fact, the speed and ease with which I nod off at night put me off seeking help for years). Instead, the problem happens in the early hours of the morning. It reaches roughly 3am, and my body wakes me up – a common enough process, but one which I, for some reason, don’t recover from. After the disruption, I stay up for hours, only feeling able to sleep when it’s time to get up and go to work. This persists no matter how much shut-eye I do (or don’t) get, how much exercise I do, or how early I go to bed. If that sounds familiar, you – like me – may have something called sleep maintenance insomnia. What is sleep maintenance insomnia? According to Harvard Health, the term refers to a lack of sleep that happens not because someone can’t nod off, but because they wake up and can’t fall back asleep. According to Harvard Health, the term refers …

Getting Night Sweats At 3am? This May Be Why

Getting Night Sweats At 3am? This May Be Why

Published by Sam Flores

Try as I might (and believe me, I’ve tried), I constantly manage to wake up hot and sweaty at 3am. I’ve always attributed that to my insomnia. But hormone and sleep specialists have shared my issues might be partly down to my biology. We know it’s crucial to keep bedrooms cool (experts recommend 16-18°C) to be able to sleep well – and this is perhaps even more important for women. When a study found rising temperatures are impacting sleep globally, it also revealed women were impacted more than men. The Guardian noted “women’s bodies cool earlier in the evening than men’s when going to sleep, meaning higher night time temperatures may have a bigger impact on women”. Women’s slightly higher core body temperatures can also make us “feel” external cold and warmth more intensely, Dr Karan Rajan previously shared. Women appear to wake up overheated more often than men – but why? Dr Renee Young, an endocrinologist and founder of the Young Naturopathic Centre For Wellness, told Pretty You London that “hormones like oestrogen and …

Doctor Offers Simple Explanation Why You Wake Up At 3am Every Night

Doctor Offers Simple Explanation Why You Wake Up At 3am Every Night

Published by Sam Flores

Almost a third of us wake up in the middle of the night at least three times a week Even though I have insomnia, my problem doesn’t actually lie in getting to sleep.  I nod off just fine, but my problem is staying in dreamland. More often than not, I wake up at 3am and simply cannot get back to sleep.  There are things I’ve learned to do to cope with the problem. “Clock blocking”, refusing to stay in bed for more than 20 minutes, and (paradoxically) willing myself to stay awake have all been effective at getting me back to sleep.  But given that almost a third of us wake up in the middle of the night at least three times a week – and that multiple friends had cited 3am as their most common early rising hour – I thought I’d ask Dr Seeta Shah from PANDA London if there’s anything “special” about that time.  Here’s what she told us… Why do I always wake up at 3am? “Waking up around 3am is a surprisingly common …

Waking up at 3am? ‘Cognitive shuffling’ could help you fall back to sleep

Waking up at 3am? ‘Cognitive shuffling’ could help you fall back to sleep

Published by Daniella Wilson

Waking up in the middle of the night is an all-too-common occurrence for many of us (35%, according to a sleep study), with 3am reportedly the time most of us see our slumber interrupted. With the clock change set to disrupt our sleep even more this weekend, we spoke to sleep expert Kathryn Pinkham of The Insomnia Clinic, as well as ITV’s Dr. Amir Khan, for their advice on why we’re always wide awake at 3 am – and how to drift back off, including Dr. Amir’s trick, cognitive shuffling. Why am I always awake at 3 am? © Getty ImagesWaking at 3am can cause us distress 1. A lighter stage of sleep Kathryn explains that around 3 am sits in the lighter stages of sleep, when the body is naturally more prone to waking, but this isn’t the sole cause of your witching hour wake-up call. 2. Cortisol “3 am is when cortisol, our waking hormone, begins to rise in preparation for the morning. If your sleep is already lighter, more disrupted, or you …

I’ve started waking up at 3am every night and this is the 10-minute meditation video that helps me get back to sleep

I’ve started waking up at 3am every night and this is the 10-minute meditation video that helps me get back to sleep

Published by Jenni Sidey

Moving house is up there as one of the more stressful life events. Last week, I moved myself and my dog to a creaky 300-year-old house, in a town where I know just two people, and don’t know my way around at all. On top of this, I’m on new ADHD medication—prescribed stimulants—which make my heart beat fast and my brain hyper-focused in a way I’ve not experienced before. This perfect storm of events has meant I’ve been waking up earlier and earlier every day, eventually being wide awake at an eye-watering 3am. At first, I was happy to use the extra time to unpack boxes but once I was settled, the early wake-ups didn’t stop. So I went searching for a solution. You may like I’ve used Headspace meditations before to manage anxiety and overwhelm, and find the soothing voice of Andy Puddicombe particularly helpful on bad days. Many Headspace YouTube meditations are around 10 minutes long—short enough to be a quick fix, but effective enough that I don’t need to look for another …