This is due to a phenomenon called homeostatic sleep drive, which is sometimes referred to as sleep load or sleep debt. If you stay awake for a long period of time or if you stay up late, you will fall asleep faster due to the adenosine level building up throughout the hours you've been awake. “Once you've slept for a few hours, your brain starts clearing out the adenosine, sleep drive goes down, and you may experience lighter stages of sleep and awakenings.” However, if you’re not getting the recommended amount of sleep per night but can fall asleep quickly, it could also be a sign that you’re sleep deprived. Sleep is usually deepest earlier in the night, when you first fall asleep and becomes lighter as the night goes on, Dr Bhopal adds. “The longer you stay awake, the higher the sleep drive and the faster you fall asleep.” “This is part of what contributes to ‘sleep drive’,” Dr Nishi Bhopal, a sleep specialist for SleepAdvisor and integrative psychiatrist, tells Bustle. However, in times of stress, the brain can wake up fully in these moments and the thinking, planning, problem-solving, and worrying start.”īut how does falling asleep quickly factor into this? During the day, we build up a neurotransmitter called adenosine that makes us feel sleepy. “At the end of a cycle we all briefly wake up, just a little to probably check the environment, roll over and then go back to sleep again. “We sleep in cycles of around 90-120min,” Dr Lederle told Bustle. However, good sleepers tend not to notice these brief awakenings and often report that they 'slept through.''ĭr Katharina Lederle, a sleep and circadian specialist who works with insomniacs through her program Somnia, agrees. In fact, no-one 'sleeps through the night', that's a myth. Each cycle ends with a brief period of wakefulness and this is completely normal. The cycles tend to go like this: wake > light sleep > deep sleep > light sleep > wake. 'During these cycles, we move through different phases of sleep. So, what does it mean if you fall asleep quickly then wake up after two hours? Why does it mean if I wake up after two hours of sleep?Īlison Gardiner, who is a behavioural psychologist and the founder of Sleepstation, an online sleep improvement programme, told Bustle that, if you're trying to understand why you wake up after two hours of sleep, you first need to understand 'the structure of sleep.' While the latter could be down to some trivial reasons - like a loud noise or forgetting to take that last-minute trip to the toilet - it could also be a symptom of a potential sleep disorder. Some find it hard to drift off, and others find that they can get to sleep easily but wake up after a few hours. But unfortunately for some, getting a good night’s sleep can be seriously elusive. That awful feeling of dragging yourself out of bed when you’ve barely slept is enough evidence.

I sleep now u sleep soon