The Second Wind Trap: To Get Up Or not to Get Up--That Is the Question!
- Yakov Moshe Pasner
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
That burst of energy that hits right when you should be winding down for bed isn't a sign you're not tired — for many men over 50, it's the very thing quietly keeping them up for hours.
By Yakov Moshe Pasner | Restful Sleep Consultant | sleepwithasmile.org
It was a very odd experience.
An "ear to ear" smile beamed across my face as I was walking through the Davidson Ward in the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. And no — I was not going to see someone who just gave birth. Actually, I was visiting someone with a chronic illness. So how did that smile appear on my face? The answer was hanging right there in the elevator — a donor's plaque that read: "LIFE IS FULL OF UPS AND DOWNS!"
How true is this for most of us, most of the time — and even within the same day. Personally, I faced this recurring cycle every day for a good part of my life, and it showed up most reliably right around bedtime.
Every evening around 9pm, right when I should have been winding down, I'd get this weird burst of energy. Suddenly I wanted to clean the kitchen, answer emails, begin a project. My body felt awake. My brain felt sharp. And I'd think — great, I'm not even tired yet, I'll go to bed a little later.
Occasionally I actually went to sleep "just a little bit later," as planned. However, more often than not, that "little bit" ended up being between two and three hours later.
It took me years to digest what was actually happening. That "second wind" wasn't a sign that I wasn't tired. It was often the opposite — it was my body's stress response kicking in right as my natural wind-down window passed. Cortisol spiked instead of dropping. And before I knew it, I was burning the midnight oil. This is the Second Wind Trap.
Why This Happens
Under normal circumstances, cortisol — the body's main stress hormone — is supposed to taper off in the evening, making room for melatonin to rise and prepare the body for sleep. But for a lot of men over 50, the day's accumulated stress, screen time, or even just an unfinished mental to-do list can trigger a second cortisol spike right around the natural wind-down window, roughly 8 to 10pm. That spike feels like energy. It's actually your nervous system sounding an alarm at exactly the wrong time. And because hormonal shifts after 50 already make the body's stress response more sensitive, this pattern tends to get louder — not quieter — with age.
Breaking the Pattern
The fix isn't willpower — it's recognizing the pattern for what it is. A few things that help: setting a firm "no new tasks" cutoff an hour before your intended bedtime, no matter how motivated you suddenly feel; building a short wind-down ritual that starts before the second wind usually hits, so your body gets the signal early; and treating that burst of energy as information, not permission — it's telling you something about your stress levels that day, not that it's actually a good time to start something new.
If you've ever felt "suddenly awake" right before bed and used it as an excuse to stay up — that's not extra energy. That's your natural wind-down window closing.
These days, when I think back to that elevator plaque, I think about how true it is for sleep specifically. Sleep has its ups and downs too — and once you understand your own patterns, even the downs become something you can work with instead of something that blindsides you at 9pm every night.
This is exactly the kind of pattern I work through with clients every week. I'm Yakov Moshe Pasner, a Restful Sleep Consultant who helps men over 50 around the world identify what's quietly disrupting their sleep — from evening energy spikes like this one to nighttime waking, racing thoughts, and everything in between — through one-on-one coaching over Zoom.
Yakov Moshe Pasner
Restful Sleep Consultant
sleepwithasmile.org
Helping men over 50 rediscover restful, restorative sleep. Serving clients worldwide via Zoom.
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