ARE YOU A LION, BEAR, WOLF OR DOLPHIN?
We're not all wired the same when it comes to our internal clock.
Some of us spring out of bed ready to go. Others need a few hours before the brain and body properly come online.
And some of us are still thinking clearly long after most people have hit the pillow.
Sleep specialist Dr Michael Breus popularised a simple way of describing these tendencies using four animals: Lion, Bear, Wolf and Dolphin.
It's a useful way to start thinking about one important idea:
Your natural tendency toward earlier or later sleep and wake timing matters.
DON'T GET TOO HUNG UP ON THE ANIMAL.
The labels are simply an easy way to describe chronotype. The useful bit is recognising whether your body naturally tends toward earlier or later sleep and wake times — and where practical, working with that tendency rather than constantly fighting it.
WHY THE HELL AM I AWAKE AT 3AM?
For me, this became the question.
Getting to sleep generally wasn't the problem.
I'd hit the pillow, drift off reasonably quickly and get several hours of seemingly good sleep.
Then...
Eyes open.
Sometimes for no obvious reason whatsoever.
And here's where things can go pear-shaped.
You check the clock.
You roll over.
Ten minutes later you check again.
Now you're thinking about tomorrow. Work. Training. Something somebody said yesterday. Something you need to do next Thursday.
And before long you're no longer resting.
You're actively trying to sleep.
Anyone who's been there knows how ridiculously unsuccessful that can be.
SO WHY 3AM?
Firstly, there's nothing magical about 3am.
Our sleep isn't one continuous eight-hour coma.
As we saw above, we move repeatedly through different stages of sleep. Earlier in the night we generally experience more deep N3 sleep.
As the night progresses, deep sleep reduces and REM periods become longer, with brief awakenings between sleep cycles being perfectly normal.
Most of the time we don't even remember them.
The problem can arise when something turns that brief awakening into a proper one.
Or sometimes...
absolutely nothing obvious.
You simply become conscious.
And then your own brain takes over.
THE 3AM LOOP
CONCEDE.
One of the most useful things I've learnt about my own sleep is remarkably simple:
Stop trying so bloody hard to sleep.
Sleep isn't a squat.
You can't grit your teeth and force out another rep.
In fact, the harder I've tried to make myself sleep, the more awake I've often become.
THERE'S SOME GOOD SLEEP SCIENCE BEHIND THIS TOO.
One of the principles used in CBT-I — Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia — is stimulus control.
The idea is beautifully simple:
So if I've been properly awake for a while, rather than starting a wrestling match with my pillow, I concede.
Maybe read something decidedly unexciting, breathe, stretch gently or simply sit quietly.
Then, when those heavy eyes return...
Back to bed.
We're going to come back to this in the Sleeping Reboot, because there are several things I've found can help prevent the 3am awakening in the first place — and a few strategies that have helped me enormously when it happens.
WAKING UP ISN'T ALWAYS THE PROBLEM.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT CAN BE.
WHAT'S MUCKING WITH YOUR SLEEP?
Sometimes the answer is obvious.
Sometimes several little things are stacking together.
And sometimes the culprit is something you've simply become accustomed to.
These are some of the most common things worth looking at before deciding you're simply “a bad sleeper.”
Righto — we've done enough talking about sleep.
Now let's actually build a better night.
THE 24-HOUR SLEEP CLOCK
Here's something I probably underestimated for years.
I thought improving sleep was mostly about what I did in the hour before bed.
Dark room. Quiet. Cool. Relax. Eyes shut. Job done.
Not quite.
Your brain and body run on an internal roughly 24-hour circadian clock.
And that clock is constantly taking cues from the world around you — particularly light and darkness, but also movement, exercise, meals and the regular timing of your day.
ZEITGEBERS — FANCY WORD. SIMPLE IDEA.
These external timing cues are often called zeitgebers — German for “time-givers.” They help your body clock understand where it is in the day.
YOUR BODY CLOCK NEEDS TO KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS.
Give it strong, consistent signals during the day and you're helping create the conditions for sleep later that night.
Give it mixed signals — little daylight, sitting indoors all day, caffeine late, bright light at night, late meals, irregular bedtimes — and we shouldn't be surprised when the clock gets a little confused.
☀️ MORNING — TELL YOUR BODY: WE'RE UP.
Morning light is one of the strongest signals to your circadian system.
Get outside.
Move.
Let your brain receive a very clear message:
Night is finished. The day has started.
And interestingly, what you do here helps influence what happens many hours later.
🏃 DAY — BUILD THE SIGNAL.
Daytime should look and feel like daytime.
Move your body. Work. Train. Eat. Interact with people. Get outside periodically.
If you're going to use caffeine, use it as a daytime stimulant rather than an evening life-support system.
We want a strong contrast between:
DAY = LIGHT + ACTIVITY
and
NIGHT = DARK + QUIET
🌅 SUNSET — TAKE YOUR FOOT OFF THE PEDAL.
As natural light disappears, start allowing your environment to change with it.
You don't need to wander around the house carrying a candle.
But perhaps your lounge room at 9pm shouldn't look like the MCG under lights either.
🌙 EVENING — PREPARE, DON'T FORCE.
As biological night approaches, melatonin signalling increases and the body's temperature-regulation systems help prepare us for sleep.
This is where we can work with the process rather than fight it.
Dimmer lights.
Less stimulation.
A comfortable, cooler sleeping environment.
And perhaps most importantly...
STOP TRYING TO SQUEEZE ANOTHER DAY INTO YOUR NIGHT.
Emails. Work. Food. Alcohol. Netflix. News. Social media.
Eventually, something has to tell the brain:
We're done.
😴 NIGHT — LET THE ARCHITECTURE DO ITS JOB.
Now we're back to those sleep cycles.
Earlier in the night, deep sleep tends to dominate.
As morning approaches, REM becomes increasingly prominent.
Your job isn't to manage any of this.
Your job is to create the conditions and get out of the way.
☀️ MORNING — AND AROUND WE GO AGAIN.
Circadian wake-promoting signals increase.
Core body temperature begins rising.
Alertness returns.
Light hits the eyes.
Movement begins.
And the clock gets another strong:
“RIGHTO — WE'RE UP.”
Don't just prepare for sleep at 10pm.
Prepare for it from the moment you wake.