I used to wake up at 3 a.m. because of a common TV habit — this doctor’s simple fix helped me finally sleep through

A woman with long dark brown hair lies in bed holding a green alarm clock that reads 3 a.m.

Just when I think I’ve got my sleep issues sorted, nighttime anxiety comes knocking — and usually at the inconvenient time of 3 a.m. Waking up at night is a recurrent sleep problem for me and I’ll never tire of trying to get to the root cause of the issue.

In my search for answers, I’ve spoken to Dr. Joshua Roland, a Board-Certified Sleep Medicine Physician, and Dr. Matthew Walker, a leading sleep scientist. According to Dr. Roland, a ‘temporary second wind of energy’ is causing my wake ups — and falling asleep in front of the TV is one of the biggest culprits.