Why you wake up at 3 am after only after 4 hours of sleep?

If you keep waking up at 3am or after only four hours of sleep, this video will help you understand what is really happening. Many people I speak to with long-term insomnia or sleep problems experience this same pattern. You fall asleep without a problem, then wake up wide awake in the early hours and struggle to drift back off.

In this video, I explain a pattern I see often in my sleep coaching practice. We'll talk about this specific scenario so that you can look at what might relate to your sleep situation in a practical way. The scenario we'll talk though in this video is when you go to bed feeling tired, you fall asleep easily, and usually get a good and fairly deep first block of sleep. Then after three or four hours, your body and mind becomes more alert again and you find it hard to fall back to sleep again, or not able to do so. It is quite common for people with insomnia or otherwise disturbed sleep, especially when the sleep difficulties have been there for a long time.

I'll share with you why your body might be waking up at this point of the night and how physical tension, the way you emotionally react to the waking and how your mind behaves can all make it harder to fall back asleep. All of this can create a cycle of nighttime wakings and sleep deprivation.

The good news is that this can change. When you understand why the waking happens, you can take practical steps to improve your sleep length, sleep through the night, and feel calmer during the early hours so that you have a higher chance of falling back to sleep again. 

I'll also explain what you can do at 3am, how to avoid the habits that keep you awake, and how to begin to retrain your body to settle again.

Of course, feel free to ask a question or let me know how this video helped you.

Have a good day
Beatrix

It's always best to watch the entire video, but here are some chapters for you:

00:00 Introduction to why you are waking up at 3 am after only 4 hours of sleep

03:00 How frequently does this happen across your week

04:01 Practical explanation of why this keeps happening during the night

06:26 The various parts that can play a role in why you are waking up after 4 hours of sleep

09:13 Emotional reactions or reasons why you wake up and can't fall back to sleep at 3 am after 4 hours of sleep

13:33 Mental activity waking you up at 3 am after sleeping for 4 hours

15:55 What are the combination of these components do you see with your wakings at night