As someone who goes through periods of experiencing them frequently, I know how frustrating it is to keep waking up at 3 a.m. and not know why. It feels as though while everyone else is sound asleep, you’re staring at the clock or the ceiling, wondering how you’re going to get through another day in a fog of exhaustion.

“Waking up during the night is normal,” reassures Dr. Chris Winter, a double boarded sleep specialist. “We cycle through lighter and deeper sleep roughly every 90 minutes, and brief awakenings between cycles are part of healthy sleep. It only becomes a problem when you’re suddenly alert and can’t drift back off.”

If repeatedly waking up at 3 a.m. and not being able to fall back asleep is stopping you from getting the rest you need, these are the common causes.

Brief nighttime awakenings are normal. However, they become a problem when they impact the overall quality of your sleep. These are their common underlying causes:

Cortisol, the 'stress' hormone, begins rising around 3 a.m. Our bodies produce cortisol to help us feel alert upon waking — this is called our Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR).

However, if your baseline level of cortisol is already high, due to stress or anxiety, this natural climb can be enough to wake you up.

"Cortisol starts its natural morning climb, and stress can push that rise earlier," explains Dr. Winter, a board certified neurologist with over 30 years of clinical experience.

m. wake-ups could be caused by an underlying sleep issue, such as insomnia.

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