Why You Keep Waking Up At 2 am & What It’s Doing To Your Body

Do you find yourself waking up between 2 am and 4 am most nights? These early morning wake-ups aren’t random. Your body is trying to tell you something.

When we get to the root cause(s) of why you’re waking up in the night and struggling to get back to sleep, you can wake up feeling refreshed. .

As a burnout nutritionist. I’m interested in everything that could be affecting your energy levels and there’s no getting around it - if you want to feel fantastic, you need to fix your sleep.

Autumn is a huge time for change and there’s no better time to work on the issues that are keeping you feeling knackered so you can take back your power.

Here’s what can happen when your sleep is constantly being disrupted.

Increased inflammation - Not getting enough sleep increases levels of low-grade, chronic inflammation and it only takes one night of poor sleep to start doing this.

More fatigue and less energy - No doubt you know what a bad night’s sleep does to your energy levels. But it can be more subtle than this. You may be sleeping but not enjoying quality sleep. Deep sleep is the most important for energy and feeling refreshed when you wake up.

Weight gain - Poor sleep skews our hunger hormones, ghrelin and leptin. Even just one bad night’s sleep leaves you with cravings for sugary and carb-heavy foods that you can’t seem to satisfy. Sleeping badly is one of the biggest reasons why you get cravings and put on weight.

If you’re exhausted all the time, can’t lose weight and are battling brain fog and anxiety, sleep is one of the pillars we need to work on.

You can’t resolve these issues without proper sleep. We need to be sleeping 7-9 hours per night and enjoying quality sleep with enough deep sleep. Waking up in the early hours means this isn’t happening, and it’s the reason you’re experiencing symptoms like fatigue, brain fog, weight gain, anxiety - the list goes on.

So let’s talk about the main reasons why you keep waking up in the night.

Reason #1 - Blood sugar fluctuations

Blood sugar is one of the biggest culprits for waking up in the early hours.

If your blood sugar starts dropping too low in the early hours, it can wake you up. You may have no idea that this is the reason but it’s your body’s way of saying “I need more energy to be able to perform vital tasks.”

We do a lot of work on managing blood sugar in The Burnout Fix because it has so much impact on energy, inflammation, sleep, weight, appetite, and cravings.

Reason #2 - Sluggish detoxification

Sluggish detox can be another factor in why you keep waking up at 2 am.

The liver is busiest in the early hours of the morning and wants to work its detox magic while you sleep. If you’re awake at this time, the liver can’t detox properly and this can have wider implications for hormone balance.

It’s not just the liver though - the lungs are also trying to clear out while you sleep.

These are vital jobs and they all need energy and if your blood sugar is dropping during this time, you’re more likely to wake up.

Reason #3 - Cortisol spikes at the wrong time

Cortisol should peak early in the morning to help us get going for the day. By evening, it should be much lower and melatonin (the sleep hormone) takes over.

If cortisol is still pumping around the body when it should be at lower levels, it’s much harder to get to sleep in the first place. We need cortisol levels to be low at night to promote sleep and stop us from waking up in the night.

What we need is to rebalance our hormones, especially cortisol, so that we can sleep through the night, move through the various sleep cycles and wake up feeling good.

Reason #4 - Shifting circadian rhythms

If your circadian rhythm is out of whack, it’s much harder to sleep well. Instead of feeling sleepy around 10 pm and being ready to get up by 6-8 am, your body is telling you to go to sleep and wake up at completely different times.

There’s a lot we can do to reset your circadian rhythm - a consistent sleep pattern, balancing your hormones, getting exposure to natural light early in the day and avoiding screen time before bed (more on this one later!), for example.

Reason #5 - Caffeine and/or alcohol

Need a caffeine hit (or ten) to get through the day? It’s likely affecting your sleep.

Caffeine can keep you awake hours later. With a half-life of 6-8 hours, that coffee you downed mid-afternoon or even at lunchtime can interfere with your sleep. Drink it at 1 pm and it’s still in your system come at 9 pm.

A glass of wine before bed may feel relaxing but it’s bad news for sleep. Your body is working hard to process the alcohol, which can take a few hours. After the alcohol has left your body, you’re likely to wake up. There’s another problem with alcohol too - it’s a double whammy of being dehydrating and needing to pee more.

Reason #6 - Menopause and hormonal changes

The body goes through so many changes during perimenopause and menopause so it’s no great surprise that it can be a factor in sleep problems.

Insomnia is common as hormones start to shift - even more so if your sleep is disturbed by other factors too. But you don’t have to put up with the changes that come with menopause. We can balance your hormones so you feel fantastic.

Reason #7 - Exposure to blue light

When do you switch your devices off before bed? If it’s within a couple of hours of bedtime, the “blue light” they emit can disturb sleep. It’s another culprit for cortisol spikes, which is definitely not what we need.

Another problem is electromagnetic fields (EMFs), which are known to disrupt sleep. This is why I always recommend putting your phone on airplane mode or better still, moving it across the room so it’s not near your head at night.

Get To The Root Cause(s) of Sleep Problems To Feel Like Yourself Again

Resetting your sleep so you can stop waking up at 2 am is the key to getting your energy back, banishing brain fog, shifting stubborn weight gain and feeling good.

Are you ready to take the first step to fixing the root causes of your sleep issues (and so many of the other symptoms you’ve been putting up with for years)?