Googling "3am Insomnia" gave me this from Wiki:
Segmented sleep, also known as divided sleep, bimodal sleep pattern, or interrupted sleep, is a polyphasic or biphasic sleep pattern where two or more periods of sleep are punctuated by a period of wakefulness.
Discovered in a wide variety of early documents by A. Roger Ekirch, a historian at Virginia Tech, segmented sleep is found in modern non-industrialised societies, medieval, and early modern Europe. Segmented sleep is also particularly common in the winter.[1]
This period of wakefulness was often only semi-conscious, as the French term dorveille implies (see Etymology). It was highly valued in medieval Europe as a time of quiet and relaxation. Peasant couples were often too tired after a long day's work to do much more than eat and go to sleep, but they would wake later on to talk and have sex.[2] People would also use this time to pray and reflect,[3] and to interpret dreams, which were more vivid at that hour than upon waking in the morning,[4] and even to visit. This was also a favorite time for scholars and poets to write uninterrupted.
The human circadian rhythm regulates the human sleep-wake cycle of wakefulness during the day and sleep at night. Due to the modern use of electric lighting, most modern humans do not practice segmented sleep, which is a concern for some scientists.[5] Superimposed on this basic rhythm is a secondary one of light sleep in the early afternoon (see siesta) and quiet wakefulness in the early morning.
There is evidence from sleep research that this period of nighttime wakefulness, combined with a midday nap, results in greater alertness than a monophasic sleep-wake cycle.[citation needed] The brain exhibits high levels of the pituitary hormone prolactin during the period of nighttime wakefulness, which may contribute to the feeling of peace that many people associate with it. It is in many ways similar to the hypnogogic and hypnopompic states which occur just before falling asleep and upon waking, respectively.
The modern assumption that consolidated sleep with no awakenings is the normal and correct way for human adults to sleep, may lead many people to approach their doctors with complaints of maintenance insomnia or other sleep disorders. Their concerns might best be addressed by assurance that their sleep conforms to historically natural sleep patterns.[6]



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