Insomnia Help... what to do about waking up at the exact same time every night?

So for the past week I’ve gone to sleep around 10:00ish (my usual time) easily. I then wake up at 1:45 or 2:00 a.m. ON THE DOT and lay there awake until everyone gets up around 6ish. However I’m not WIDE awake… I’m thoroughly exhausted for those 4 or so hours, so tired it actually makes me feel nauseous, yet unable to find sleep after 2:00 a.m. Then of course I get anxious because I’m not sleeping, then just listen to my heart pound while laying in my bed. I run my own dog walking/pet sitting business and have a 4-year old son so taking long naps during the day to catch up is just not possible, and I’m honestly not a “napper” anyway, never have been.

I don’t want to go the route of Tylenol PM, last time I took one of those not only did I STILL not sleep but I spent the next day in a Tylenol PM hangover. I exercise nearly every day (usually mid-morning), eat very healthy, rarely have caffeine after 1 PM.

Anyone have any suggestions for getting over this weird body-clock-induced wakeup time? I know you’re supposed to get up and do something else if you wake up a lot at night but that seems to only REALLY wake me up, then I’m awake, it’s 4 a.m. and I don’t know whether to lay in bed or read the paper or what. Any suggestions would be good before I’m fully committed to an insane aslyum.

Try taking some melatonin at bedtime, or drink a bit of warm milk, if you can tolerate it. Melatonin you can get OTC just about anywhere. I wake up in the middle of the night at times as well; unfortunately it’s because I’ve got night sweats … I just have to try to cool down and go back to sleep. LOL

Good luck, Winnie, I hope you find something that works for you!

Jolly Roger posted a similar thread a few weeks ago, that might have some good advice in it.