Waking up after 4-6 hours can disrupt deep sleep or REM, which may trigger a stress response that makes you feel wired. Early waking activates the sympathetic nervous system (fight-or-flight system), which may lead to daytime alertness but later exhaustion, panic, and insomnia. Cortisol, which rises in the morning to wake you up, may spike too early, making nighttime relaxation harder. Meanwhile, melatonin disruption weakens sleep quality. Though stress hormones may keep you alert initially, prolonged sleep deprivation overstimulates your nervous system, which causes the negative symptoms you described.
If you sleep the full 8-10 hours, your body completes more full sleep cycles, which makes it easier to fall asleep again the following night. You can try these methods in order to improve sleep quality:
- Try to sleep and wake up at consistent times to regulate your body's rhythms (sleep hygiene).
- Reduce screen time and caffeine in the evening to help prevent a second-wave alertness boost.
- Deep breathing or power breaths, Meditation (such as
Blue Light, Void Meditation, entering trance states as already mentioned), or magnesium supplements can also help calm your nervous system before bed.
The point here is you should find ways to calm and ease your mind and nervous system in the evening before sleep.
