Hey there! 😃
I made the mistake of drinking a really strong coffee at 3 PM once…maybe twice. 😂
“I’ll be fine,” I thought. “I sleep at midnight.”
Poof.
3 AM. Wide awake. Eyes open. Brain online.
I’m in my mid-30s, by the way. Apparently, I did not get the memo that getting older can also mean lighter sleep and more nighttime wake-ups. 😅
You wake up. It’s 3:07 AM. You don’t need to pee. You’re not thirsty. Nothing woke you up.
So naturally, your brain decides this is the perfect time to remember something embarrassing from 2009. 🙈
Sound familiar?
So why do we keep waking up in the middle of the night?
First, sleep isn't one long, uninterrupted state. We move through different stages throughout the night, and sleep tends to become lighter as we get older. That can make nighttime awakenings more common.
And then there's caffeine.
That innocent-looking afternoon coffee can come back to haunt you hours later. Caffeine can stick around in the body for quite a while, which is why my 3 PM coffee apparently had a 3 AM agenda. ☕
Yes, I am still offended.
But it's not always the coffee.
Stress can also make it harder to stay asleep. When you're carrying a long to-do list, worrying about tomorrow or replaying something someone said three hours ago, your brain doesn't necessarily get the message that it's supposed to be off duty.
Hormonal changes, needing to use the bathroom, medications, pain, alcohol, noise and even the temperature of your bedroom can also contribute to nighttime wake-ups.
Basically, your 3 AM wake-up call may have several suspects. 🫣
So what can we actually do?
Start with the boring-but-effective stuff: keep your sleep schedule fairly consistent, watch your caffeine intake later in the day, keep your bedroom comfortable and give yourself some time to wind down before bed.
And if your brain starts holding a midnight board meeting?
Don't negotiate with it.
Put the phone down, take a few slow breaths and give yourself a chance to settle back down.
You can also make your bedtime routine a little more intentional with a few drops of Bea Oleia Bulgarian Rose Pure Oil in your diffuser. 🌹 Dim the lights, put the phone away and let that beautiful rose aroma turn your room into somewhere that feels a little more like a retreat.
There’s even some interesting research behind rose aromatherapy. A 2025 systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials found that Rosa damascena aromatherapy was associated with improvements in sleep quality, (although more research is still needed).
And if you do wake up at 3 AM?
Try not to panic about being awake. The more you stare at the clock thinking, I have exactly four hours and 37 minutes left to sleep (🙋🏻), the more awake you may feel.
Put the clock away.
Breathe.
And whatever you do, don't start thinking about that embarrassing thing you said in 2009.
It wasn't that bad.
Probably.
Show me your bottle and I’ll show you mine? ’Til next time! 🤭
xo, L.
References:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12623198/
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/sleep/sleep-and-older-adults
