Here are some common reasons it may be happening.
1. Your Sleep Cycles May Simply Be Bringing You to a Lighter Stage of Sleep
Sleep isn’t one continuous state.
Throughout the night, your brain moves through repeated cycles involving non-REM and REM sleep. Earlier in the night, deeper non-REM sleep tends to make up a larger proportion of the night. As morning approaches, lighter sleep and REM periods generally become more prominent.
During lighter stages of sleep, you’re easier to wake.
This means a small disturbance that wouldn’t wake you during deep sleep may wake you later in the night.
You might briefly wake because of:
- A noise
- Temperature changes
- Your partner moving
- A dream
- Needing to change position
- A full bladder
- Light entering the room
Sometimes you don’t even remember waking.
If you happen to look at the clock during one of these natural awakenings, you may start noticing a pattern around 2 or 3 AM.
