We’ve all had one of those nights, where you wake up in the early hours as your mind slips into a spiral of negative thoughts.
Yet by the morning, all those worries and fears seem so trivial, making you wonder why you lost so much sleep.
So, what’s going on? One expert has the answer to why you toss and turn over small problems in the wee hours.
Greg Murray, a psychology researcher with expertise in mood, sleep and the circadian system (the internal clock regulating sleep), has explained what happens to our minds, HullLive reports.
He says it's to do with our body's sleep cycle and the way our mind works.
“In a normal night’s sleep, our neurobiology reaches a turning point around 3 or 4am," he said.
“Core body temperature starts to rise, sleep drive is reducing (because we’ve had a chunk of sleep), secretion of melatonin (the sleep hormone) has peaked, and levels of cortisol (a stress hormone) are increasing as the body prepares to launch us into the day.
“Remarkably, all this activity happens independent of cues from the environment such as dawn light – nature decided long ago that sunrise and sunset are so important that they must be predicted (hence the circadian system).
“We actually wake up many times each night, and light sleep is more common in the second half of the night. When sleep is going well for us, we are simply unaware of these awakenings. But add a bit of stress and there is a good chance that waking will become a fully self-aware state.
“Not surprisingly, there is evidence the pandemic is a sleep-disturbing stressor. So if you’re experiencing 3am wakings at the moment, you’re definitely not alone.
“Stress also impacts sleep in insomnia, where people become hypervigilant about being awake.
“Concerns about being awake when one “should” be asleep can cause the person to jolt themselves into anxious wakefulness whenever they go through a light sleep phase.
“If that sounds like you, be aware that insomnia responds well to psychological treatment with cognitive behavioural therapy. There’s also a strong link between sleep and depression, so it’s important to speak to your doctor if you have any concerns about your sleep.”
“As a cognitive therapist, I sometimes joke the only thing good about 3am waking is that it gives us all a vivid example of catastrophising,” Professor Murray says.
“Around this time in the sleep cycle, we’re at our lowest ebb physically and cognitively. From nature’s viewpoint, this is meant to be a time of physical and emotional recovery, so it’s understandable that our internal resources are low.
“But we also lack other resources in the middle of the night – social connections, cultural assets, all the coping skills of an adult are unavailable at this time. With none of our human skills and capital, we are left alone in the dark with our thoughts. So the mind is partly right when it concludes the problems it’s generated are unsolvable – at 3am, most problems literally would be.
“Once the sun’s up, we’re listening to the radio, chewing our Vegemite toast and pushing the cat off the bench, and our 3am problems are put in perspective. We can’t believe the solution of just ringing this person, postponing that thing, or checking such-and-such was overlooked in the wee hours.
“The truth is, our mind isn’t really looking for a solution at 3am. We might think we are problem solving by mentally working over issues at this hour, but this isn’t really problem solving; it’s problem solving’s evil twin – worry.
“Worry is identifying a problem, ruminating about the worst possible outcome and neglecting the resources we would bring to bear should the non-preferred outcome actually occur.”
