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Are you tired of waking up at 3AM ON THE DOT – night after night after night? Is this something you’ve been experiencing more frequently as you get older?
Well in this video we’re going to discuss my fundamental strategies as well as a step-by-step night routine for you to follow that’s going to improve your ability to STAY asleep the entire night.
As any good sleep specialist will tell you, it all starts with finding out what your perfect bed time is – and sticking to it. If you don’t already know what this is, I’ll leave a link down in the description below to my sleep quiz which will tell you what chronotype you are and what time you specifically should be going to sleep.
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0:00 Waking Up at 3AM? 0:30 The KEY To Sleeping Through the Night 1:00 8 Hours Before Bed Do This 1:30 4 Hours Before Bed Do This 1:55 3 Hours Before Bed Do This 3:20 1 Hour Before Bed Do This 4:45 My Personal Night Routine 5:24 2 Supplements to Help Sleep Through the Night 7:00 What Happens Next
😴 Michael Breus, Ph.D., is a double board-certified clinical psychologist and sleep expert. He's been in practice since 1999 and helped thousands of patients improve their sleep. Dr. Breus has written five books on sleep and conducted over 1,000 interviews to the press and public.
#sleep #sleepbetter #sleepinstantly #sleeptips #sleeping #senior
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Dr. Michael Bruce presents a step-by-step nighttime routine designed to prevent middle-of-the-night awakenings by managing sleep pressure, circadian timing, and sleep architecture through strategic timing of caffeine cessation, exercise, alcohol, food, and a structured power-down hour.
- Middle-of-the-night awakenings become more frequent with age and can be prevented through consistent bedtime routines tied to individual chronotype
- Strategic timing of caffeine, exercise, alcohol, and food cessation (8, 4, and 3 hours before bed respectively) removes physiological barriers to sleep continuity
- A structured 60-minute power-down hour divided into three 20-minute phases (task completion, hygiene, relaxation) primes the nervous system for sleep maintenance
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The key to sleeping through the night is finding your perfect bedtime based on chronotype and sticking to it consistently.
“the key to sleeping through the night is finding out what your perfect bedtime is and sticking to it. If you don't already know what this is, I'll leave a link down in the description below to my sleep quiz, which will tell you what chronotype you are and what time you specifically should be going to sleep.”
Caffeine has a half-life of between 6 and 8 hours, meaning 50% remains in the brain after that time period, and stopping caffeine 8 hours before bed allows enough clearance for sleep pressure to build.
“Eight hours before bed, you're going to stop caffeine. Why? Because caffeine has a halflife of between six and eight hours. And if we can get out 50% of the caffeine that's swirling around in your brain, we have a much better shot at you going to sleep quickly.”
Stopping exercise 4 hours before bed prevents core body temperature elevation, which would delay the cooling process needed for sleep onset.
“4 hours before bed, stop exercise. We just don't want your body to get too hot. When your body heats up, it takes longer for it to cool back down, and you want a lower core temperature before getting ready for bed.”
Alcohol destroys stage 3 (slow-wave or deep) sleep, which is the physically restorative sleep stage that becomes increasingly important with age.
“alcohol destroys stage 3 for sleep. And as we get older, that turns out to be incredibly important sleep because that's our physical restoration.”
Waking up at the same time every night (e.g., 3:22 a.m.) becomes more frequent as people age, and this pattern can be prevented through consistent sleep routines.
“you're in a deep sleep, dreaming peacefully, and then bam, you're wide awake all of the sudden, and it's 3:22 a.m. on the nose again. Does this sound familiar? And maybe is this something you've been experiencing more frequently as you get older?”
Stopping food intake 3 hours before bed (excluding medication with food) allows adequate digestion time and improves sleep quality.
“3 hours before bed, stop most food intake. Now, I want to be clear. If you need to take medication with food or something like that, this is not what counts, but giving your body that time to digest is going to be a really important thing to do.”
Getting adequate exercise (10-20 minutes of zone 2 cardio and 10-20 minutes of resistance training daily) is critical for staying asleep through the entire night.
“getting adequate exercise is critical for staying asleep the entire night. I recommend 10 to 20 minutes of zone 2 cardio and maybe 10 to 20 minutes of resistance training every day.”
The recommended sleep routine and supplementation strategies require consistency and time to produce results—some people may improve within 1-2 nights, but others require weeks to build the strategies into sustainable habits.
“Give these techniques some time to play out. Remember, your body needs consistency and routine to be able to effectively sleep better throughout the night. Yes, some of you may get better sleep starting tonight or maybe tomorrow night, and I really hope that's the case. But for others, it might take a little bit longer. Be patient with the process and really try to build these strategies into habits.”
Caffeine blocks adenosine receptors and prevents the sleepy feeling from fully setting in, even when a person does not consciously feel more alert.
“even though you might not feel more alert, caffeine is still in your system blocking adenosine, preventing that sleepy feeling from fully setting in”
The final 20 minutes of the power-down hour should be devoted to relaxation practices such as meditation, prayer, warm compresses, breathing exercises, warm feet, audiobooks, aromatherapy, or light journaling.
“Finally, I want you to spend the last 20 minutes or so on relaxation, meditation, prayer, whatever it is that you like to do that's calming and relaxing.”
The second 20-minute phase of the power-down hour should be dedicated to hygiene (brushing teeth, showering) and preemptive bathroom use to clear excess fluids from the system.
“20 minutes for hygiene. That can be brushing your teeth, showering, whatever it happens to be. This is also a good time to go to the bathroom even if you feel like you don't need to because we want to get any excess fluids out of your system.”
Stopping fluid intake 3 hours before bed prevents nighttime bladder filling and sleep disruption from bathroom visits.
“finally, the other thing you need to do 3 hours before bed is you're going to want to stop fluids”
Melatonin helps regulate circadian rhythm and promotes deep sleep, making middle-of-the-night awakenings less frequent.
“Melatonin is used to help regulate our circadian rhythm and it too promotes deep sleep, making wakeups less frequent.”
CBN (cannabinol) may reduce nighttime awakenings by interacting with CB-1 and CB-2 endocannabinoid receptors to stabilize sleep cycles and increase slow-wave sleep.
“CBN may help reduce nighttime awakenings due to its effects on the endockinabonoid system, neurotransmitters, and inflammation regulation. CBN interacts with the CB-1 and CB2 receptors to stabilize our sleep cycles. It may also increase slowwave sleep which may help reduce those sudden wakeups.”
During the first 20 minutes of the power-down hour, complete outstanding tasks like phone calls, emails, or texts to clear the mind before attempting sleep.
“I want you to spend the first 20 minutes to just get stuff done. That might be a last minute phone call to a friend or family member or it can be catching up on the last few emails or texts of the day, things like that. But set an alarm only 20 minutes.”
Alcohol should be stopped 3 hours before bed and limited to a maximum of 2 drinks per day (with zero alcohol being optimal).
“stop 3 hours before bed and limit yourself to two drinks. No alcohol is even better”
Melatonin should be dosed between 0.5 and 1 milligram and taken approximately 90 minutes before lights out.
“I recommend somewhere between a half and 1/2 milligs of melatonin and you should be taking it roughly 90 minutes before lights out.”
The 'power down hour' is a structured 60-minute pre-bedtime routine divided into three 20-minute phases: task completion, hygiene, and relaxation.
“we've gotten to that time of night where we can start our power down hour. This is roughly 1 hour broken up into three 20inut chunks.”
Patience with the sleep improvement process and commitment to building the recommended strategies into sustainable habits are prerequisites for experiencing meaningful results.
“That's when you'll see some real results. I promise.”
Dr. Bruce's personal sleep routine: stops fluids and food 3 hours before bed, brushes teeth and changes into bedclothes (but not socks) early in the evening, watches non-engaging content (Sports Center), then puts on socks, uses a book light, reads until eyes become heavy, puts on an eye mask, and falls asleep within minutes.
“Also, my routine is actually quite simple. I try to stop all fluids and food approximately 3 hours before bed. Then, early on in the night, I'll brush my teeth and I'll put on my bed clothes, but not my socks. I usually watch Sports Center or catch up on any sports scores before bed, but nothing too engaging. Finally, since I go to bed later than my wife, I then put on my socks. I get out my book light, which is a little light that clips onto the back of my book, and I pick up a book and usually read until my eyes get heavy. Then I put on my eye mask. The light goes off and I'm minutes from sleep.”
CBN targets multiple physiological pathways that trigger nighttime awakenings (endocannabinoid signaling, neurotransmission, inflammation, pain, anxiety, muscle tension).
“So CBN is really hitting all of those points that usually trigger awakenings during the night.”
CBN dosing should start conservatively at 3-5 milligrams and not increase substantially beyond that, despite some users reporting 10-30 milligrams.
“Some of our viewers have reported that they take 10 to 30 milligrams, which sounds like way too much for me. So, I'd recommend starting between three and five milligrams and probably not going much further.”
Waking up in the middle of the night and feeling tired in the mornings is frustrating and a common complaint in sleep medicine practice.
“Waking up in the middle of the night and feeling tired in the mornings is frustrating. It really is. I've been helping patients year after year with their sleep, and there will always be new patients who struggle with this very issue.”
Melatonin lowers nighttime cortisol and stress levels, preventing stress-induced sudden awakenings.
“It helps in lowering nighttime cortisol and stress levels, again, preventing those sudden awakenings.”
The 4-7-8 breathing technique (proposed by Dr. Bruce) can lower heart rate and support relaxation during the power-down hour.
“Practice some kind of breathing exercise like my 4 78 breathing technique to lower heart rate.”
CBN has mild anxiolytic and muscle-relaxing effects that reduce subconscious stress-induced awakenings.
“and it has a mild anzolytic and muscle relaxing effects which reduce subconscious stress induced wakeups”
Melatonin has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits that reduce discomfort-related awakenings by mitigating tissue inflammation.
“and it has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits reducing these discomfort related wakeups”
CBN has anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effects that prevent discomfort-related awakenings during sleep.
“It has anti-inflammatory and pain relieving effects which may help preventing those discomfort related awakenings”
Warming the feet before bed using a heating pad or socks promotes relaxation and supports better sleep.
“Warm your feet before bed, either by using a heating pad for a few minutes or just putting on a pair of socks.”
Light journaling of thoughts and daily activities during the power-down hour can support relaxation and sleep onset.
“Also, you could do some light journaling of your thoughts and things that you did throughout the day. That would work out quite well.”
Listening to audiobooks or podcasts with non-stimulating content can support relaxation and sleep onset during the power-down hour.
“You might even want to listen to an audio book or a podcast”
Small light dinners focused on salads with protein or soups are recommended to facilitate faster gastric emptying before the pre-bedtime fasting window.
“I would recommend starting to portion small meals for dinner and focusing on preparing salads with some protein or soups and things like that”
Drinking water between alcoholic drinks helps mitigate alcohol's sleep-disrupting effects.
“drinking water in between each drink will definitely help you out”
Aromatherapy using lavender scents can promote relaxation before sleep, and should be delivered via diffuser rather than candles for safety.
“or maybe try some kind of aroma therapy with scents that promote relaxation, like lavender. Fair warning, do not use candles for aroma therapy because fire and sleep do not mix. Please use a diffuser.”
Warm compresses applied over the eyes for 5-10 minutes while lying in bed can promote relaxation and facilitate sleep onset.
“try a warm compress over your eyes for 5 to 10 minutes. You can do this while lying down in bed.”