Still waking up early? When will that end?

Sandie5

Sandie5

New Member
I'm still waking up at about 5 am. When will that end? I don't go to bed early anymore because I don't need to get up and get out to work. Sure would be nice to sleep in a couple hours.
 

Sandie5 said:
I'm still waking up at about 5 am. When will that end? I don't go to bed early anymore because I don't need to get up and get out to work. Sure would be nice to sleep in a couple hours.
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Trying having a little glass of milk when you get up early like that, then crawl back in to bed... that should help you get a few more hours of sleep.
That's what has helped me in the past.

ETA: Or a few spoonfuls of yogurt
 
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I find that I wake up much earlier than I'd rather.

Between 5 and 6 am often.

I've gone back to sleeping in my chair sitting with my legs up rather than lying down. I had a cold over the holidays and when I'd lie down, the wheezing in my chest kept me awake. Plus, lying down sometimes makes me claustrophobic. I feel like I'm trapped or something. Sitting up makes me feel like I'm more in control of my surroundings plus, I actually fall asleep better. I suppose I'll go back to lying down again eventually, but I don't know when.
 
During my working Career I worked all shifts, most all of the days of the year, over
20 years of getting one scheduled day off a month. Working many holidays. Finally
gaining enough seniority to turn down most overtime unless emergency. I learned
to sleep all day, or all night, or half a night and half a day.

Now I go to bed when I want, only when tired, get up very early when necessary to
beat the heat one has to include. Yesterday I took a nap 3 pm to 5 pm and then turned
in at 2 AM. Today I fell asleep and missed most of the 2nd / 3rd quarter of the Cincy FB game.

When retired why set rules yourself don't have to keep. Get good sleep cause I'm tired.
I tend to turn in earlier on the Long daylong hour days. I suppose I wear myself out
better during the sunlight.
 
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Perhaps you are simply getting all the sleep you need.
It is now 5am here in England and I got up half an hour ago. I love having that extra time to enjoy the early morning before the world and his wife are up. It's snowing right now and looking all pristine. That will soon change when the dog-walkers get up!
 
dobielvr said:
Trying having a little glass of milk when you get up early like that, then crawl back in to bed... that should help you get a few more hours of sleep.
That's what has helped me in the past.

ETA: Or a few spoonfuls of yogurt
Click to expand...
Better still is to warm the milk up. Doing so releases tryptophan’. A substance that helps promote sleep. Turkey has a lot of trytophane in it also. Having warm milk and a turkey sandwich before bedtime might help too.
 
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PeppermintPatty said:
Better still is to warm the milk up. Doing so releases tryptophan’. A substance that helps promote sleep. Turkey has a lot of trytophane for n it also so having warm milk and a turkey sandwich before bedtime might help you.
Click to expand...
I was going to include that but thought it might freak some people out. 🤷‍♀️
I'll also add some cinnamon to the warm milk.
 
I set my alarm for 5:20 AM in case I don’t wake up by then.

I no longer hit floor and land on my feet running. I need to get the horses fed by 7:00 AM and turned out to the big pasture. It takes me that long to get with the program, plus let the dogs out. No - I don’t eat breakfast before I head for the barn. I stopped being a big breakfast eater eons ago — it’s my arthritis that needs to cooperate.
 
I start work at 9 (though often start at 8.30 or so) and work from home except a day every two weeks. On those days I do need to get up at 6 so as to travel to work - but on the other days still go to bed at 9.30 and get up at 6. Last night I was an hour later and didn't wake up until gone 7, which was nice.
 
I have suffered insomnia from about age 10. Over the years it grew worse and worse; various patterns of poor sleep throughout my lifecycle. My primary medical diagnosis was "Insomnia R/T complex compounding factors". The next was "high blood pressure of unknown orgin"; have always been athletic, stayed in shape, etc...no heart disease or anything that would cause my high blood pressure. After THIRTEEN years of the VA trying to figure this out, I ran into a doctor (a psychiatrist, MD) and between the two of us determined my waking between 1-4 am was caused by spikes in my BP. He put me on a BP for night spikes. The cause of the BP spikes is continuous nightmares.

Been sleeping a solid 9 hrs AVERAGE since DEC 26, 2023. Once the doc got the BP and other meds coordinated well, it was as if someone flipped a light switch. It hasn't been 100% but at LEAST 90% fixed!!! Am still in wonder, as are the docs.

We are still working on eliminating the nightmares I've had for about....30 years.
Been working on dealing with complex PTSD since I was 10. Trauma ages were: age 3-5; 9-17; 17-19; 34-53.
Complex trauma involves multiple devastating traumas; involve both short incidence as well as long term incidence such as long term captivity.

When one keeps waking too early, or in the middle of the night, especially as we age, it isn't because of "aging" there is always a reason.
Another thing that spiking BP at night does is causes one to want to get up to pee, but that wasn't a problem for me, though.

It isn't ALWAYS an old pipes reason. BP can cause it, overweight causes it MUCH of the time, drinking liquids after 7 pm...but it isn't classified as "a normal part of aging". It is a symptom of SOME thing that can often be fixed.
 
I have never been a good sleeper from the day I was born. Six hours seemed to be my best. Until the past month or two, I would wake up (fully awake) after two hours of sleep, be up out of bed for an hour or two, then back to bed and up again around 3 am. Tried chamomile tea, worked for a couple of months; tried a teaspoon of peanut butter (thinking blood sugar?) just before bed, worked for a couple of months.

About a month or so ago, I switched the cotton sheets for polyester ones; removed the light weight cotton blanket on top of the sheet and replaced it with a heavy 100% wool blanket. (Cotton is cold.) On top of that were two of those fuzzy poly blend blankets. Folded one down to cover just legs; the other stayed on top of the wool blanket. I also started watching something on TV in the evenings, usually a documentary, until just before bed. Bedtime is between 9 pm and 10 pm. Now sleeping better than I have in years. Is it the weight of that heavy blanket? Don't know.

Last night, I went to bed at 8:30, way too early, and woke up at 1:30 am, got up for about 10 minutes, then went back to bed. Didn't go back to sleep until about 3 am and slept until 6:30. During that time, I watched some dumb boring YT videos, volume muted, in bed. The volume has to be off, though. Reading on my Kindle does the same thing. Helps my brain shut down. I don't care what they say about blue light, it helps me fall asleep.

Will see how long this lasts this time.
 
I don't drink milk. Humans are the only species that drink milk past weaning. Not for me.

As for cookies, four cookies were gifted to me on Christmas. I ate them. The first sweets I have had in years; woke up with an awful headache, a sugar hangover. Never again.
 
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