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Why You Keep Waking Up at 3 AM, According to Science

Ancient sleep patterns and natural changes in sleep cycles may help explain nighttime wake-ups, but worrying about them can make things worse.

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If you’ve been noticing people around the internet talking a bit more about how they’re constantly waking up at 3 AM no matter what they do, no matter what sleep aids they take, no matter what time they get to bed, know that it’s a conversation topic that humanity has been having with itself for thousands of years. Suddenly waking up when you desperately need your sleep is nothing new, yet modern researchers might finally have come up with a good explanation, and it’s rooted in our ancient past.

Historian Roger Ekirch traced over 2,000 historical references to “segmented sleep,” the pre-industrial sleep routine........

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