There's a reason you're sleeping badly right now.

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Lately, my sleep has felt like it's been dragged through a hedge backwards.

I'm crashing later, waking earlier, and somewhere around 3am, my brain/bladder decides it's the perfect time to wake up for a wee.

Hours are then spent tossing and turning as a faint light starts to glimmer behind (what I thought) were quality black-out curtains. Then the birds start. A few weeks ago, the kookaburras would go off around 6am, but I've begun to notice the chorus call of those cheeky kingfishers is starting earlier and earlier.

Listen: We answer all your questions about sleep. Post continues below.

Sick of the restless pondering, I whined to a few friends about my sleep going completely haywire. Their response? "OMG, same."

I remembered vaguely, in a bleary-eyed fugue state, that this happened the same time last year as well.

So, I decided to do some digging.

We offer to hear about winter blues, but it turns out spring can quietly wreck your sleep in its own sneaky way.

Let's break down the science of why you (and everyone you know) might be sleeping like absolute garbage right now.

And more importantly, how you can fix it.

Dr Moira Junge, CEO of The Sleep Health Foundation, explained that as the days get longer, our circadian rhythms — the internal clocks that govern our sleep-wake cycles — can get totally thrown off.

This is known as our body clock.

"We know that the light, dark cycle is the most important factor in what regulates our sleep health," Junge told Mamamia.

"Every single cell in our body has an internal clock and there's a master clock in the brain. That master clock is the thing that sort of regulates our circadian system.

"That clock is regulated by the light, the messages of light signals or dark signals, that are picked up by the eyes via the optic nerve."

Junge added that some individuals (like my lucky self) are more sensitive to light signals than others.

Some people are more sensitive to light than others. Image: Getty.

"Not everyone, but a lot of people, do have a sensitivity to light," she explained. "If we lined up 50 people along the wall, there would be 50 different individual differences to our response to light. Some people aren't that sensitive at all and some people are really sensitive."

Turns out the transition from the darker months, autumn and winter, into lighter months — spring — can be quite rough for people like myself.

"Talking with family and friends, I absolutely hear what you're telling me," Junge said. "I particularly hear it in a month's time when the clocks change with daylight savings."

"The transition of seasons, and the transitions in and out of daylight savings, are times people actually find a little bit of difficulty adjusting.

"It takes them either several days, or in people who are extra sensitive, perhaps a few weeks."

So, what can we do about it?

Although this time of year is rough for my fellow light-sensitive people, there are ways for us to rest.

According to Junge "mindful rest" can be our salvation from those sleep-deprived fugue states.

Watch: We break down sleep relaxing techniques and what actually works. Post continues below.

"Have power naps where possible, even if you are someone who says 'I can never nap,'" Junge said, sharing her tips for non-nappers.

"Just simulate a nap. Do it with no expectations of sleeping. Just go into a quiet room, sit on a chair, or lie on a bed… put earplugs in, the phone on silent and mask on.

"See it as a time of just rest, recuperation and personal sustainability in a really busy life."

Junge said when training yourself to nap you should aim for 20 to 30 minutes a day.

She also said to try shifting bed times as the seasons adjust.

"Think about getting to bed a bit early if you can," she said.

"Your sleep drive would be higher because you're waking up earlier, so you're probably a good chance chance of going to bed earlier if you could try and fit it in and try and find the time to go to bed early.

"That's the trick."

Feature image: Getty.