I kept waking up at 3 a.m. until I ditched this 'healthy' sleep habit — an expert explains why I had to stop it

In the main image, a woman wakes up and stretches her arms above her head, looking refreshed. In the bottom left is an ident showing a woman checking an alarm clock in the middle of the night.

My mom has always preached the benefits of an early night, so even as an adult it's been my go-to fix following a bad night's sleep. Turns out, going to bed earlier to catch up on sleep is the worst thing I could have done.

"People often assume that if they're tired or sleeping poorly, the solution is to go to bed earlier," explains Dr. Joshua Roland, medical director for Dreem Health. "But this can create a mismatch between your sleep opportunity (time in bed) and your actual sleep need."