That makes it much harder to get back to sleep.” Your mind may start to race, and your heart rate and blood pressure may go up. “When this happens, your brain switches from sleep mode to wake mode. “If you wake up and begin to experience worry, anxiety or frustration, you likely have activated your sympathetic nervous system, your ‘fight-or-flight’ system,” explains Dr. So, how do we know if these late-night awakenings are tied to a specific sleep disorder? While factors like anxiety and depression can be a temporary distraction causing you to lose valuable sleep, over time (if untreated) they could lead to something else. This can lead to oversleeping and feeling drowsy during the day. Similarly, it’s common for people with depression to experience poor sleep patterns, too. If you’re consumed by what happened earlier that day or constantly thinking about the to-do list that’s awaiting you in the morning, this could trigger your waking up at night. In more serious cases, some people even experience sleep paralysis.Īnxiety can also make it difficult to sleep through the night.

A particularly stressful day can lead to intrusive thoughts in the middle of the night - maybe they come in the form of a nightmare that jolts you up at 3 a.m. Sometimes, our minds can keep us awake more than any outside distractions. But this is more likely to happen in the wee hours of the morning, as you’re coming out of REM sleep. These kinds of external sleep disturbances can cause you to wake in the middle of the night. Maybe it’s a siren blaring from an ambulance, a neighbor’s radio blasting next door or a pesky street light shining right onto your side of the bed. That’s why it’s natural to wake up needing to go to the bathroom once in a while, but when it becomes too common, this could be a sign of nocturia. Your late-night awakenings can stem from a variety of different reasons - whether it be a sleep disorder or a temporary distraction - but here are some reasons you may be waking up hours before the sun is even up: Trips to the bathroomĮven while you’re asleep, your body is still hard at work breaking down what you ate and drank that day. Kane, the real worry comes when those wake-up calls keep you up until the birds are chirping. However, waking up and staying awake can be.Īccording to Dr. Waking up at night - at any ungodly hour - isn’t a problem on its own. And they may not necessarily mean you have insomnia. Regardless, nighttime awakenings are a common phenomenon and are usually harmless, especially if you easily doze off again. “Your body may have become conditioned to it.” “At one point, you may have had a reason to wake up at that time, maybe in response to sleep apnea or a crying baby,” she says. The time - while it may be surprisingly predictable, down to the minute - really isn’t significant, says psychologist and sleep expert Alexa Kane, PsyD. or any other time, you’re one of many people who experience regular nighttime awakenings. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center.

To wake up