# Sleep issue...help!



## highwood (Jan 12, 2012)

I tend to be an early riser. I have no problem falling asleep and often by 9:30 I am out. THe issue is that I will wake up too early or in the middle of the night. ONce I start doing this it seems to happen more and more.

Tuesday morning woke up at 4:30 a.m. wide awake so I just tossed and turned for an hour or so and then got up as I have to be at work at 7:00 anyway. Wednesday morning woke up at 3:00 a.m. and tossed and turned for two hours or so but feel back asleep and slept for about half an hour before having to get up. 

Thursday morning same thing...except woke up at 4:30 and was awaken for the day.

This morning woke up at 2:45 and tossed and turned for a couple of hours then fell back asleep for an hour or so.

HOw do I get out of this horrible habit? 

Seriously the only way I can sleep until 6 or 6:30 is if I wake up in the middle of the night then fall back asleep...or worse yet sleep until 4:30 and that is it for the night.

I don't mind getting up early...I have always been like that...but gee I am thinking 6 or 6:30 after sleeping uninturrupted for 7 or 8 hours.

Sad thing is one night I tried staying up until 10 or 10:30 and same thing just automatically woke up early.
It is so rare for me to need an alarm clock to wake up it is not even funny.

Any suggestions:scratchhead:


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## Rowan (Apr 3, 2012)

If you haven't already, you might try valerian or melatonin. Both are usually available wherever you buy vitamins. They are both natural sleep aids that are also supposed to help improve "sleep quality" and sleep duration. You may have to play around a bit with dosages to find what works best for you.


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## okeydokie (Sep 10, 2008)

Something is stressing you out. It happens to me occasionally when work deadlines build up. I take 50mg of diphenhydramine every night and that helps me a lot. Not necessarily recommending that for you


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## Hope1964 (Sep 26, 2011)

This happens to me all the time. One or two nights in a row I can handle, but after that I feel like a zombie.

When I wake up I read, often that puts me back to sleep. If I just lie there trying to go back to sleep I never do. I try to get to bed by 9 or 9:30 pm, that way if I do wake up I have had a bit more sleep than I otherwise would. Falling asleep right after an orgasm seems to help me sleep through better. If I have anything alcoholic before bed, I wake up more often, so I rarely drink on weeknights. And when all else has failed for a while, I take a muscle relaxant, or half a one, at about 8 pm, that usually zonks me out really well for the whole night.


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## JustHer (Mar 12, 2013)

Don't know how old you are, it might be hormones. Sometimes calcium and magnesium helps. I like a product called "calm". I take it an hour before bed, it is magnesium and you can also get it with calcium in it.

Acupuncture helps too. I wouldn't be surprised if the Acupuncturist found your liver zone to be blocked. It often causes one to wake around 3 am. If you have never tried acupuncture, give it a go, it really does work.

Some people have a reaction to alcohol when they reach a certain age and this can cause you to wake way too early too.


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## highwood (Jan 12, 2012)

Thanks some great suggestions...maybe I will try melatonin! I am 45. YEs if something is bothering me that is often how it starts..one night I wake up in the middle of the night or way too early and my mind immediately goes to what is bothering me. After that it just seems like my brain gets used to waking up early and I do it. 

Acupuncture...hmmmmm...interesting! I might have to check that out.

I rarely drink..maybe if that a glass of wine every couple of weeks.

Sometimes I download hypnosis tapes on my phone and play them while I am asleep as the unconscious mind still absorbs things. I know they have sleep issue ones as well.

Okay so maybe melatonin, a hypnosis sleep ap first and then check out accupuncture if that does not work.

I can function in the day but man it is so frustrating...if I could just sleep continually from 9:30/10:00 at night until 6:00 I would be thrilled.


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## John Lee (Mar 16, 2013)

More sunlight, more exercise, and if you don't have good sunlight then use a high-brightness lamp (10,000 lux). Does not have to be "natural" light just very bright -- you sit in front of it for like 20-30 minutes in the morning and it stimulates seratonin production, which helps sleep. It's medically tested, not just natural remedy quackery. You can find them sold as "SAD Lamps" (for seasonal affective disorder). 

Alternatively, you can embrace your strange sleep schedule and use it to get things done -- my wife does that. I read recently that there are some historical descriptions in Europe of "first sleep" and "second sleep" -- people would wake up in the middle of the night, do stuff, and then go back to sleep.


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