3 a.m.

 

"My favorite's the three o'clock hour. For most people, that's the hard time. If they don't sleep through it, that's the time the mind wakes up and starts worrying about what they did or didn't do that day, or what they'll do or not do the next. And the next, and right up until life's over."

Night Shield

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Ellin Beltz, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Now wide awake from a once peaceful slumber, you roll over to check the clock and find it’s 3 a.m. That’s the same time you woke up last night. And the night before.

 

If that sounds familiar, it’s because nocturnal awakenings happen to a lot of people. Waking up several times throughout the night is a natural occurrence often due to sleep architecture, which are the stages of sleep that one cycles through every night.

CNN

Secrets to A Good Night's Sleep

 He continued to eat, mildly amused by the annoyance in her voice. "Let me think about it. Why couldn't you sleep?"

"How do I know? The doctor's got some sort of holistic tea he wants me to try."

"Sex is a good is a good sedative."

"Maybe. Especially, for instance, if your partner's on the inadequate side. You can catch a quick nap during the act."

"I can promise you won't sleep through it."

She only smiled, and ate her salad.

ANGELS FALL

_____________________

Amin, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

When it comes to a healthy lifestyle, most of us ignore a good night's sleep. Our prime focus is usually healthy food, exercise, and appropriate water intake. Experts say that sleep is the time when our body organizes all of its functions for a healthier you. So, fix your sleep to be healthy.

MSN

myth-busting facts about sleepwalking

She shoved her arms in the robe. “I don’t remember.”

“I can see that, and in your place I’d hate it as much as you. 

It was an hour or so after we’d parted ways for the night, 

you came knocking on my door. 

Not quite awake, 

not quite asleep—

you understand what I mean.”

Stars of Fortune

_____________________________

John Everett Millais [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

In the silent film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," a deranged hypnotist controls a sleepwalker, using him to commit crimes. Obviously, this 1920 film isn't an accurate depiction of somnambulism, but even a century after the film's release, this sleep disorder still isn't particularly well understood. We don't even know what causes it.

Indeed, there's probably more fiction than fact surrounding sleepwalking, and knowing so little about it only adds to the disorder's mystique.

Still, there are things we do know, and that knowledge can help to dispel some of the mystery around sleepwalking.

Mother Nature Network

To fall asleep

She fell asleep like a stone dropped in a pond. Up and moving one minute,

submerged the next. He was a drifter, with the movie reel of the day’s events 

and the previews of the next running through his mind 

as his body settled down. 

Bed of Roses

__________________

Evelyn De Morgan [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

How do you fall asleep? It might happen to us every night 

- and maybe sometimes more often - 

but it's still a deeply mysterious process.

BBC

Power Naps

She chose the corner of the sofa and thought she might rest her eyes until she heard Sam coming back. 

Johanna stifled a yawn, shut her eyes and was asleep in seconds.

She awoke the same way, instantly. 

Somehow she'd snuggled down and had pulled an afghan up to her chin. 

Sitting up, Johanna dragged her hands through her hair just before she spotted Sam sitting across from her drinking coffee.

"I'm sorry." She cleared the huskiness out of her voice. "I must have dozed off."

She'd slept like a rock for half an hour. He'd tucked her up himself.

The Name of the Game 

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By Stougard (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or 

CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

How Long Should Naps Be? 

Science Says 30 Minutes Is The Sweet Spot

ELITE DAILY

______________________

She started to stretch, then her gaze landed on the bedside clock.

“What! Is that clock right?”

 “I don’t know. Who cares?”

“But . . . Did I fall asleep? For an hour ? That’s like a nap.”

“Fee, that is a nap.”

“But I never take naps.”

“Welcome to my world.”

The Search

How to get a better night’s sleep

"Let me think about it. Why couldn't you sleep?"

 "How do I know? The doctor's got some sort of holistic tea he wants me to try."

 "Sex is a good sedative."

 "Maybe. Especially, for instance, if your partner's on the inadequate side. You can catch a quick nap during the act."

 "I can promise you won't sleep through it."

 She only smiled, and ate her salad.

Angels Fall

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By Édouard Vuillard - AAGyOnA867cXFA at Google Cultural Institute 

maximum zoom level, Public Domain, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21880435

Most people know they need to eat right and exercise to be healthy. But what about sleep? We spend about one-third of our lives asleep, and sleep is essential to better health. But many of us are struggling with sleep. Four out of five people say that they suffer from sleep problems at least once a week and wake up feeling exhausted. So how do you become a more successful sleeper? Grab a pillow, curl up and keep reading to find out.

NEW YORK TIMES

____________

Out of habit, she switched on the white-noise maker on the bedside table.

When she moved away to adjust her bedroom air filter, Malachi switched it back off as he did every night. She never noticed.

Three Fates

3 A.M.

"It's all right," he murmured.

"I—I thought you'd gone."

"I said I'd stay." He slitted his eyes open, scanned the dull red glow of the bedside alarm. 

"Three A.M. hotel time. Should have figured it."

Inner Harbor

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By Pegasus1138 - Own work, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=771921

You Asked: Why Do I Always Wake Up at 3 A.M.?

It all results in the same thing: you just can’t get to sleep. But the underlying causes of insomnia are multiple, and it may be a mix of biological, medical and psychological issues, explains Michael Perlis, director of the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

YAHOO!

____________

At three A.M., when spirits often stir, Jude huddled in bed under a thick quilt with a pot of tea on the table and a book in her hand. The fire simmered in the grate, the mist slid across the windows. She wondered if she'd ever been happier.

And fell asleep with the light burning and her reading glasses slipping down her nose.

Jewels of The Sun

Dogs dream just like us

Lucy was sprawled beside the bed in a deep sleep that he envied. 

Every now and then her legs would twitch as she chased dream gulls 

or swam in her dream inlet.

Dance Upon the Air

________________

In the photo: Budha (our dog napping)

Have you ever looked at a sleepy pup and wondered just what was going on inside that fuzzy noggin? New research suggests they dream just like humans do.

NEWSHUB

________________

On the floor beside them, Moe twitched and made excited sounds.

"What did you do to Moe?"

"I gave him a dream, a harmless, happy dream. He chases rabbits on a sunny spring day. 

It will keep him safe and occupied, as we have much to talk about, you and I."

Key of Knowledge 

What your Sleep Position Says About Your Relationship

An elbow in the ribs brought Brianna groggily out of sleep. Her first view of the morning after a

night of love was floor. If Gray took up another inch of the bed, she'd be on it.

It took her only seconds, and a shiver in the chilly morning air, to realize she hadn't even the

stingiest corner of sheet or blanket covering her.

Gray, on the other hand, was cozily wrapped beside her, like a contented moth in a cocoon.

Sprawled over the mattress, he slept like the dead. She wished she could have said his snuggled

position, and the elbow lodged near her kidney, was lover-like, but it smacked plainly of greed. Her

tentative pushes and tugs didn't budge him.

So that was the way of it, she thought. The man was obviously unaccustomed to sharing.

Born in Ice

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Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Because your subconscious mind controls the way you sleep with your partner, sleep body language can be an amazingly accurate way to assess what's going on in your relationship -
even if you can't or don't articulate those things while you're awake.

YAHOO!

___________________

She awoke with the winter sun slanted over her face.

She awoke warm.
Sometime in the night he’d spooned her, and now she lay snugged back up against him, wrapped close. Cozy, she thought, rested and relaxed.
He’d wanted her to sleep, so she’d slept. 

Wasn’t it funny how he managed to get his way without demanding, without pushing?

Vision in White