Your body clock fires an evening alertness surge, and pushing past your first sleepy wave makes it worse.
The Sleep Foundation notes that very late sleepers often feel a second wind in the evening, the classic night owl pattern. Evening light, screens, and late work push the clock later, so the surge keeps arriving later. The fix is clock discipline: fixed wake time every day, dim evening light, and going to bed when the first drowsiness wave hits instead of surfing past it. Persistent insomnia despite a steady routine is a GP conversation, and NHS guidance puts habit change and CBT-based therapy ahead of sleeping pills.
What to do
Common questions
Why do I get a second wind at night?
The second wind is your circadian rhythm doing its normal job at an inconvenient hour. Your internal clock does not simply fade toward bedtime: it produces a surge of alertness in the evening, sometimes called the wake maintenance zone, that evolved to keep you functional through dusk. The Sleep Foundation's circadian rhythm overview notes that people who stay up very late often feel a second wind in the evening, a pattern frequently labeled being a night owl. It gets stronger when you push through your first wave of sleepiness, because your brain reads the late hour as a cue to rally, and screens, work, and bright light in the evening push your clock later, making tomorrow's second wind arrive later still. The counter-move is boring and effective: pick a fixed wake time and hold it every day, dim lights and screens in the last hour, and treat the first wave of drowsiness as your boarding call rather than a suggestion. If you lie awake night after night despite a steady routine, the NHS says changing sleep habits is the first treatment for insomnia, and your GP can help with the rest, including cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, which works better than pills long-term.