3 hours before bed: No more food or alcohol. 2 hours before bed: No more work. 1 hour before bed: No more screen time (shut off all phones, TVs and computers). 0: The number of times you'll need to hit snooze in the AM.
The 15 minute rule
This helps with associating your bed with sleep and has been found to be one of the most effective strategies to address long-term sleep difficulties. If, after 15 minutes, you find that you are not asleep, don't stay in bed. if you're still awake after another 15 minutes, get up again and repeat.
Even waking every 60 to 90 minutes can be part of a healthy sleep pattern. The deeper stages of sleep, or REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, occur about every 90 minutes and get longer as the night goes on, so your brain might become more alert between those cycles.
Reasons this might happen include drinking caffeine or alcohol late in the day, a poor sleep environment, a sleep disorder, or another health condition. When you can't get back to sleep quickly, you won't get enough quality sleep to keep you refreshed and healthy.
Several of the most popular natural sleep aids include melatonin, GABA, tryptophan, 5-HTP, CBD and THC, valerian root and lavender.
Let's take a look at the liver. According to the Organ Clock it is the most busy during 1-3am at night.
"The overall best is if you can wake up naturally because you're done sleeping," he said. On the other hand, if you're waking up early on just a few hours of sleep, you should probably try and squeeze in some more shuteye.
This can be a natural, normal waking mechanism. Notice that in many cases you're waking up during a dream in the morning. Adding sunlight is another cue for you to wake up. In addition, the lowest point in the circadian cycle is called the singularity.
It's important to drink enough water during the day, however, it can be disruptive if you drink directly before bed. Avoid drinking water or any other fluids at least two hours before sleeping to prevent waking up at night.
The idea is to align your bedtime to your 90 minute sleep cycles, so you wake after a complete cycle in REM sleep (when we have structured dreams) and thus feel more refreshed.
Going to sleep after midnight was associated with a 25% higher risk of heart disease compared with falling sleep between 10:00 and 10:59 p.m. Going to sleep between 11:00 and 11:59 p.m. was associated with a 12% higher risk of heart disease compared with falling sleep between 10:00 and 10:59 p.m.
Staying in Bed Too Long: If you wake up during the night and cannot fall back asleep, experts recommend getting out of bed after 15 to 30 minutes. To help your brain associate your bed with sleeping rather than with being awake, you want to avoid lying awake in bed for too long.
You wake up at 3am because this is the time you shift from a deep sleep into a lighter sleep. If you turn in at 11pm, by three in the morning you're mostly out of deep sleep and shifting into longer periods of lighter sleep, known as REM.
Is it a normal part of sleep? It is common to wake up during sleep. In fact most people wake two or three times during the night.
Most of us wake up three to four times during the night for varied reasons, and this is considered a part of a normal sleep pattern. However, a lot of us wake more frequently, sometimes even every two to three hours in the night. This is a reason for concern.
If you are waking up roughly every 2 hours you could simply be waking as you emerge from a sleep cycle — and this is completely normal. However, it can be difficult to fall back to sleep if you become concerned about these awakenings.
Primary Meridian: Liver
If you're waking up in the middle of the night after a cocktail or two, it's because your liver is working in overdrive to relieve your body of excess toxins. The liver cleanses our blood and when this process gets interrupted, it can result in low energy and feelings of angst the following day.
So if you wake up at 3 AM, when Liver energy peaks, you may be suffering from Liver Qi stagnation, which could be related to an unhealthy diet, excess alcohol consumption, unresolved anger or high levels of stress.
5 am to 7 am is the time of the Large Intestine making it a perfect time to have a bowel movement and remove toxins from the day before. It is also the ideal time to wash your body and comb your hair. It is believed that combing your hair helps to clear out energy from the mind.