Ask a woman in her mid-40s how she slept, and she’ll probably laugh at you. Then she’ll tell you the exact minute she woke up, because it’s been the same one for months.For many women, that hour is somewhere around 3:30 a.m. There’s even a name for the unfortunate experience now: Club 330. Membership is free, nobody wants to belong, and you’re probably reading this after getting four hours of sleep. I feel you. Mattress company Simba surveyed 1,000 British women over 40 and found that 84% regularly wake up during the night. On average, it takes nearly 34 minutes to fall back asleep, although 27% spend at least 45 minutes lying there contemplating their existence. Women have been discussing these middle-of-the-night awakenings online for years. One woman on X asked, “How did 3 am become the universal perimenopause wake-up time?” The replies were full of women who’d apparently been keeping the exact same miserable schedule.Why So Many Women Over 40 Keep Waking Up at 3 A.M.Perimenopause likely explains many of them. Estrogen and progesterone fluctuate during the transition, interfering with sleep and making it harder to stay asleep. And, of course, there are the night sweats, because who doesn’t love waking up at 3 a.m. in soaking wet pajamas?The second half of the night is also when sleep naturally becomes lighter, so interruptions are more likely. Hormones don’t cause every 3 a.m. awakening, but they can make an already frustrating situation worse.According to the University of Texas Medical Branch, up to 70% of women experience sleep disturbances around menopause. Researcher Emily Lantz, Ph.D., said nighttime hot flashes were among the biggest complaints women raised during sleep interviews.In her team’s 2026 study, 43 women received either menopause education or cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) that included help managing hot flashes. Women in the therapy group slept better and had fewer nighttime hot flashes. It’s a small study, involving 43 participants, but the findings offer another option for women tired of spending their nights staring at the ceiling.One thing you can try tonight is resisting the urge to check the time. Sleep expert Dr. Zoe Gotts told Metro that checking the time can increase alertness, making it harder to fall asleep again.And if this has been happening for months, bring it up with your doctor. There’s no prize for making it through perimenopause on four hours of sleep.The post Club 330 Is the Club Nobody Wants to Join, But Women Over 40 Know It Well appeared first on VICE.