For months I've been waking up at 3am, unable to fall back asleep — two doctors have finally explained why and how to stop it

The image shows a dark haired woman wide awake in bed, while an inset image of a clock reads 3am.

Picture the scene: you climb into bed and drift off with ease… only to be wide awake again around 3am. This has been my reality for the last few months.

I’m often then left wide awake in the middle of the night, heart racing and unable to fall back to sleep. I had to find out why this was happening, so I tracked down two sought-after sleep experts to give me some answers...

“Although frustrating, waking up around 3-4am and being unable to fall back asleep is a common problem and may be more frequent in women,” explains behavioral sleep specialist Dr Carleara Weiss, PhD, MS, RN, a Sleep Science Advisor at Aeroflow Sleep.

Here, Dr Weiss, along with Dr. William Lu, MD, a sleep medicine physician and Medical Director at digital sleep clinic Dreem Health, each explain the potential reasons behind these 3am wake ups, plus their advice on how to fall asleep quickly again.