Why do I wake up at 0345 all of the time?

General Questions
#1

Its 12:15 AM here. I’m afraid to go to bed until I’m completely exhausted. Why? Because I alwayas wake up between 0345 amd 0415. I don’t know why. Its annoying the crap out of me. I can’t get back to sleep after that, but I’ll lay im bed and then get drowsy again around 0630…which is about the time I need to get up.

Is this normal? Why do I wake up around the same time? I’ve never been a morning person. I function on auto pilot most mornings, going to shower, getting dressed getting a cup of joe…but I know I’d feel so much better every morning if I didn’t spontaneously awake at the time I do. The only way I sleep though the night is to stay up really late like now, or drink a lot before I go to bed. But thats self defeating. I’m tired and sluggish because of it in the morning. Does this happen to anyone else and if it does please advise me on a way to get a full good nights sleep.

#2

Standard advice to insomniacs is, don’t lie awake in bed. If you can’t sleep, get up. Go do something else. Your body is telling you, for whatever reason, that it’s not going to sleep right now, so stop fighting it. All you’re doing is reinforcing a bad association: that bed is a place for tossing and turning, not for sleeping.

#3

I guess that you’re right, but I can’t be tired and sluggish at work. It makes the whole day an ordeal. This only started happening to me about three maybe four months ago.

And when I wake up I’m unable to go back to sleep right away but i’m usually so worn down if i got out of bed I wouldn’t be able to do anything. When I do drift off, I wake up at the slightest sound or jolt. Its gotten to the point where my wife will sleep in another room because she doesn’t want to accidentally wake me up in the middle of the night. She’s suggested that I take sleeping pills, but the one time I did I couldn’t stay awake all day.

I’ll try what you say…maybe if i just get up it will work itself out. But its not good to go to tbed at say 1130 and wake up at 0345. I know I need more sleep more than that. Maybe 15 years ago I could do that, but damn, I’m getting old. I needs my Z’s!

#4

Are you sure you are waking up for no reason? I used to wake up in the middle of the night for what I thought was no reason and then realized it was because I’d left an alarm clock set for 4am. Although it was not set to go off it made a pre-alarm “click” noise that woke me up. If you check your alarm and it’s behaving normally, see if you can hear your neighbors alarms, or check if there’s been a change in the local train schedule.

#5

What else is going on Jolly? Sounds like anxiety in some other aspect of your life is effecting your circadian rhythm. Any stress or anxiety in your life? Aside from not being able to sleep?

#6

Early morning wakefulness is a possible symptom of depression. It’s my personal bane; I wake up every morning at about the same time. I keep a bottle of diphenhydramine on my bedside table. One of these usually gets me another 4 hours or so.

#7

Try using one capsule of L-Theanine when you can’t sleep. It’s very mild and just makes you a little drowsy. Should allow you to get back to sleep quickly with no after effect.

Or you could do what I do - get up at 430 and go to the gym. I guarantee a good nights sleep that night!

#8

Oh man, I have this problem too, and have for years. I’ll go for 2 weeks or a month or so waking up at almost the same time every night/morning, and I’m unable to go back to sleep until about 5 minutes before I’m supposed to get up in the morning.

I’m going to request a referral for a sleep study when I see my doctor next month; you might want to check that out too, Jolly.

#9

I had a similar problem some years ago, and it was always around 2:00AM. I read a lot about insomnia, and in most cases it is inadvisable not to take sleeping pills, as then you depend upon them, and they often lose their efficacy, and thus you need more.

One bit of advice was interesting. Most of use fret (as you seem to be doing) about this, trying hard to do something about it, which probably make it worse. This book pointed out strongly that you have to keep reminding yourself that nobody ever died of the condition. :rolleyes: Yeah, I know, big help, but the point is that if you realize that if you awake, it is because your body does not need sleep right then. I actually learned to accept that, and just relax and try to think of pleasant things such as happy vacations, beautify places I’ve been, etc. That was not easy, but eventually it helped. I still wake up at 2 some nights, but don’t sweat it, and eventually fall back asleep. Also, when you do wake up, don’t look at the clock, just go limp and lay there.

Finally, I have also found that if it begins to bug me too much, I just turn on the light and read until I fall off. You can get a little book light to clip on your book, which probably would not disturb your wife, and then she can come back to your bed, and you can warm your feet on her…

Good luck.

#10

Don’t sleep along the hypotenuse.

#11

There was a caller on Coast to Coast AM the other night with this same problem, and the guest’s advice was: videotape yourself at night, then play back the tape and watch before you wake up to see if you notice anything weird. Apparently he had dealt with a case like this recently, and when the person viewed the tape, a large hooded figure came and stood over them for a few minutes, then left right before their traditional waking time. :eek::eek::eek:

#12

And now we know why I won’t be sleeping tonight…

#13

Do you have a beer or two in the evening? Alcohol can have a “rebound” effect- ie. it messes up your circadian rythym.

#14

Lunesta is supposed to be great for insomnia. All I need to knock me out is the commercial. You know, the one with the sleepy music and the floating Luna Moth?

If you could just get that commercial on a continuous loop and keep it running on the bedroom tv all night…

#15

Do you take the opportunity to relieve your bladder ?

#16

No shit. If thats the case, I think I’ll live with it. Better a few lost hours of sleep than a heart attack.

#17

Another WAG but a friend of mine has been going through the same thing; it took a while for some other symptoms to surface but it turns out she has either an ulcer or Gastritis. Either way the Gastroenterologist said the stomach produces more acid during a certain part of that night and that’s what is eventually waking her up. Just another possibility to fret about :stuck_out_tongue:

…and yeah, the hooded figure? Eep!

#18

Maybe it’s sleep apnea. Ask your wife to watch you sleep, and see if you stop breathing for periods of time.

#19

I’m smelling a bit of ‘whoosh’ in the air here, actually. :slight_smile:

#20

[hijack on] Where the heck do you live that has a gym open at 4:30 a.m.? :eek:

[hijack off] If it’s feasible, go see a doctor–they’ll be able to tell you whether or not it’s a symptom of a larger problem (an ulcer, a sleep disorder) or if you just need a couple of over-the-counter pills and a glass of warm milk.

Or you could hire a good exorcist for the black hooded figure, whichever. (Not if it looks like this, though.)