Causes of waking up too early

Waking up too early is an issue both for babies and parents, as they definitely need that extra bit of energy to make it through the day. And sometimes, when you wake up at 4am and that is not caused by a crying baby, it is even more frustrating. For that reason, in today’s post we are going to go through the most common causes of waking up too early, to help you get the good night of sleep that you deserve.

Causes of waking up too early

1. Daylight

Although many people worry about underlying issues when it comes to sleep, the truth is, in some cases can be due to something as simple as having too much light coming through the window early in the morning.

In the UK, during spring, sunrise can happen as early as at 4:45am, having daylight coming through your window from as early as 4 o’clock. This means that even if your eyes are shut, your body is starting to react to daylight, sending signals to the brain that is time to wake up and start a brand new day. This effect is even more noticeable when it is a sunny, clear day.

There is a hormone called melatonin that controls the sleeping cycles and is activated by the amount of light that surrounds you. When it gets dark your melatonin levels increase, which makes you want to go to sleep. As the sun rises and the light gets into the room where you sleep, the melatonin levels decrease and your body naturally starts to wake up, sometimes a bit too early.

How to avoid waking up to daylight

Fortunately, the solution to this problem is as easy as using some blackout blinds. This type of blinds are designed to reduce the amount of light that comes through the window, keeping the room completely dark so that you, or baby, can have a good night of sleep, thus avoiding waking up too early in the morning.

The LightsOut Premium Pop-Up Black Out Blind is a best seller, as its super easy to install (simply pop up and stick them to the window) and very good value for money. Plus, they are portable, which means you can get them into your suitcase and bring them wherever you like if you are are going to sleep away from home, or simply use them on a different room in the house.

2. Anxiety

High stress levels in the body can lead to a state of sleeplessness, both in the beginning of the night, early in the morning or at any sleeping phase.

As a matter of fact, insomnia is one of the main effects of anxiety, so in some cases an early waking could be due to this.

For this scenario the solution is not always as easy as just chilling out and getting back to sleep. Dealing with anxiety normally takes a bit more of effort, involving changes in your lifestyle and trying to solve the main issue that is causing the stress to try to fix the sleeping problem.

3. Sleeping habits changing with age

The biology of our sleep changes with age and that is an irrefutable scientific evidence. The older we get the less sleep our body needs.

Circadian rhythms are the ones regulating our sleeping cycles and they are the ones responsible of sending the order to the brain of going to sleep or setting an internal time to wake up.

Also, in the specific case of women, menopause can play an important role when it comes to sleeping habits. It is a big hormonal, psychological and physical change in women that causes, among other things, sleeping disorders in many women. As many as 61% report insomnia symptoms. This might mean waking up too early, having trouble to fall asleep or waking up in the middle of the night due to hot flashes.

Babies and toddlers waking up too early

As we mentioned earlier, waking up too soon can be an issue for both parents and babies. And if it is the later who can’t sleep, neither can the mom nor dad.

In this case, the anxiety and aging causes are obviously not relevant, but the daylight can definitely be an issue for a toddler or a baby that is not able to sleep through the first hours in the morning.

As you can see, many people struggle with avoiding the temptation of snoozing the alarm and wake up early as they should. Nevertheless, there are certain people who deal with exactly the opposite problem –waking up too early. But there is always a reason for that, and sometimes is simpler that it seems –try some blackout pop up blinds!

Leave a comment

All comments are moderated before being published