Waking up in the middle of the night isn’t anything unusual because it can happen to anyone. However, experts argue that waking up between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. repeatedly can signal underlying health issues.

Dr. Eric Berg DC, who is very popular on the social media, sharing advice on nutrition and healthy habits, admitted that the pattern of waking up in the middle of the night during this window once almost “wrecked” his own life.

In a recent video he posted on YouTube, Dr. Berg explained that cortisol, the stress hormone, should be lowest between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. However, at those people who wake up at this hour, cortisol in fact spikes, and that not only affects their sleep but also their daily functioning.

According to him, one way of trying to regulate cortisol levels is taking magnesium, since cortisol spikes in the middle of the night could be triggered by deficiency of this mineral.

Of course, he says that if you struggle with waking up in the middle of the night it would be best to consult your GP.

Further, Dr. Berg, who considers himself an “insomnia expert,” shared his personal experience of battling insomnia for a number of years.

“How do you fall back asleep if you wake up between 2 and 3 a.m.? I dealt with this for more than a decade, and it was destroying my life,” he said.

According to him, it wasn’t just a matter of waking up briefly during the night. There were nights when sleep never came at all, and he would lie awake until morning. “It felt like torture,” he said.

Dr. Berg went on to highlight why waking up between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. can be so disruptive, pointing to how the body’s internal clock is supposed to function.

Under normal conditions, cortisol levels are at their lowest around 2 a.m. and gradually rise to peak near 8 a.m. In his situation, that rhythm had flipped, leaving him wide awake at night and drained by morning. He also warned that chronic lack of sleep is associated with serious long-term health risks, including heart disease, dementia, and diabetes.

Despite magnesium deficiency, Dr. Berg explained that other causes that disrupt sleep could be low blood sugar, which also triggers cortisol levels to go up. This is especially true for people who consume a lot of carbs. When blood sugar drops during sleep, the body may increase cortisol to stabilize it.

He recommends keeping track of what you consumed the day before, since things like refined carbs, MSG, alcohol, late meals, and constant snacking can disrupt sleep.

Cortisol levels can also be affected by low sodium, so adding a bit of sea salt during the day might help. Dr. Berg also noted that the liver is most active between 1 and 3 a.m., so waking then could suggest liver strain, with milk thistle sometimes offering support. In that sense, sleep may be sending important signals about what’s going on in the body.

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