A neuroscientist has revealed why you might be waking up in the middle of the night and how to prevent it. Having difficulty sleeping is not uncommon - in fact the NHS says one in three of us will it experience it at some point in our lives.

Aside from making us feel tired and irritable it can have an impact on our health, if it carries on for a long time. Therefore, prioritising your sleep is important.

One expert explained that some people may be regularly waking up at a specific time and struggling to get back to sleep. Speaking with Doctor Mark Hyman, neuroscientist Dr Andrew Huberman, shared his advice.

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In a video clip of their interaction shared to Dr Hyman’s instagram, Dr Huberman said: “A lot of people wake up at 3 or 4am and can't fall back asleep.

“Here's probably the reason. We can all push on and stay awake more easily than we can just force ourselves to sleep. If you're waking up at 3 or 4am, unless you're drinking too many fluids and that's the reason why, chances are you are running out of melatonin.

“What it means is you stayed up too late and you probably are one of these people that should be going to bed at 8.30 and waking up about 3.30 or 4am.

“People don't like that answer because they think ‘No, but I want to be the person that goes to bed at 11’.

He shared one way to help this issue. Dr Huberman said: “There are ways to shift your circadian rhythm that we could talk about but try and go to bed one hour earlier and chances are you will wake up feeling better at 3 or 4am.

“Now it's not exactly a solution but if you're in an argument with your spouse or something about going to bed at one hour or the next, you can leverage biology or cite this discussion.”

In the video’s caption, Dr Hyman continued: “Around that time, your melatonin levels drop naturally.

“If you’re consistently waking up in those early hours, it’s likely that you’re running out of melatonin because you stayed up too late for your body’s natural rhythm.” Melatonin is a hormone found naturally in your body.

At night, your levels of melatonin rise, before returning to normal during the day, which helps to control how and when you sleep. Dr Hyman added: “Some people are simply built to fall asleep earlier, their circadian clock runs ahead.

“Trying to push your bedtime later can create that 3am wake-up pattern. Your brain’s “seesaw” between alertness and calm works best when you align with your body’s natural timing.

“When you stay up late under bright light, you delay melatonin release - then it drops too soon in the night, waking you up mid-cycle.” He advised: “So if you’re tired of those 3am wake-ups, don’t fight your biology…work with it.

“Get morning sunlight to anchor your rhythm, dim lights at night, and honour your body’s clock.”

The NHS advises that you should see a doctor if:

• Changing your sleeping habits has not helped your insomnia


• You've had trouble sleeping for months


• Your insomnia is affecting your daily life in a way that makes it hard for you to cope