[SNP149]

Hi,

I am at my wits end because of my sleep problems. I don’t have trouble falling asleep at all, I fall asleep within 2 minutes and sleep like a rock for about 3-5 hours, usually waking between 2 and 4AM That’s when I start dreaming, not bad dreams, nice dreams actually. I dream of friends, family, etc, but when the dream is over my body wakes up and I cannot fall back to sleep. I wish I could stop dreaming because I think I would have a full nights sleep.

Does anyone have this problem too and how can I resolve it?

Thanks in advance!

[Scott]

Hi @SNP149,

Welcome to the forum!

Our sleep drive diminishes during the night as morning approaches which could be a reason for your wakefulness and you could also be experiencing a transition from one sleep phase to the next which can result in a brief awakening. How many hours of sleep are you achieving, on average, every night?

What’s the quality of your day following one of these nights?

Scott J

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If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[SNP149]

Hi,

Thank you for replying. Most nights I get between 4-6 hours and I feel horrible in the morning. Wake up totally exhausted, sometimes have headaches or lightheadedness and it just zaps my energy.

[Needbettersleep]

It’s too bad that you feel tired in the morning. I’ve been having sleeping issues for years now and many times I’m awake from 2 a.m. until 6 a.m. like tonight. On my good nights I usually wake up every 2 hours and fall back asleep within minutes, but most nights I wake up every 45 minutes after each sleep cycle and fall back asleep within minutes… I know many people going through this I started taking magnesium glycinate about 6 months ago mostly for joint pain which it has helped a bit but it hasn’t done much for my sleeping. good luck

[Martin Reed]

Since the body focuses on deeper sleep in the first few hours of the night, it makes sense to consider that you are more aware of dreaming after a few hours of sleep since that’s when we tend to do most of our dreaming. So far, then, so normal!

Let’s see if we can explore why you might be finding it hard to fall back to sleep when you wake and why you seem to feel unrefreshed in the mornings.

When you wake during the night, why do you think you find it hard to fall back to sleep?

What time do you usually go to bed at night, and when do you get out of bed to start your day?

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

[Chee2308]

Hi! Martin is right about dreaming in the later part of the night when sleep drive is diminished. So what about dreaming, which is normal, that bothers you since you aren’t even having nightmares? Why aren’t you allowing a normal part of sleep to happen and fretting over it unnecessarily? Dreaming isn’t the problem here, thinking of it as a problem becomes your problem and you are starting to get in the way of normal sleep. If I told you that not dreaming isn’t normal and may in fact, hurt your brain by increasing your risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s, would you feel better about having dreams and therefore sleeping again? This is attitude you need to develop, by saying to yourself “There’s nothing wrong with me, just go back to sleep, nothing to solve here”. Dreams are a way the human brain removes wastes and consolidate memories by organizing them more efficiently. Think of it like disk defragmenting of your computer. All these is done to improve normal operation and efficiency of your machine. Trust your own body, it knows what it’s doing to keep you in good shape. I hope you found this useful and best wishes.

[Jaran]

@SNP149, I will share a trick that works for me. I’ve never read about it or heard anyone else say this, and it may not be helpful for anyone else. So please take it for what it’s worth.

I go to the bathroom or whatever is needed, then I lay back down and tell myself to “go back into the dream.” I visualize where the dream was when I woke up, and focus my mind on it. Almost like picking up a story right where it left off.

If it’s mildly unpleasant, I can often “rewrite” it to the way I’d LIKE it to be, then “go back into the dream.”

It’s strange because by the next morning I rarely remember the dream, and almost never by later in the day. I just know that “going back into the dream” helps me fall back asleep.

Wishing you well!

[SNP149]

I usually go to bed between 10 and 11.30. After I wake up from the dreams my mind seems to wander and I believe that is why I can’t fall back. I normally get between 3-5 hours of sleep a night which is definitely not enough. Sometimes I get out of bed at 5AM after being up for 2 hours prior, or sometimes I get out of bed later. Every day is different.

[SNP149]

Believe me, if I found it easy to go back to sleep, I wouldn’t be on this forum. I know dreams are good, and I don’t mind having them, just wish they wouldn’t wake me up when they are over.

[Jaran]

Have you tried closing your eyes and continuing the dream? (“Going back into the dream”)

[Martin Reed]

Since you mentioned that every day is different in terms of when you get out of bed to start your day, that might be something worth tackling since an inconsistent out of bed time disrupts the body clock and makes it hard to generate any kind of consistency with sleep.

Without a regular rise time, the body clock can start sending wake signals through your body when you want to be asleep, and it can allow sleep signals to take over when you want to be awake.

You said you normally get between three and five hours of sleep each night, which is quite a big range!

If you are going to bed sometime between 10:00 PM and 11:30 PM and getting out of bed any time from 5:00 AM onwards, you might be allotting too much time for sleep compared to your average nightly sleep duration at the current time. This can lead to more time awake at night and lighter/more fragmented sleep.

So, with all this in mind, it might be worth creating a sleep window with an earliest possible bedtime and a final out of bed time in the morning and sticking to that for at least a few weeks to see what effect that has on your nighttime awakenings and the quality of your sleep.

I hope this helps!

—

If you are ready to stop struggling with insomnia you can enroll in the online insomnia coaching course right now! If you would prefer ongoing phone or video coaching calls as part of a powerful three month program that will help you reclaim your life from insomnia, consider applying for the Insomnia Mastery program.

The content of this post is provided for informational and educational purposes only. It is not medical advice and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease, disorder, or medical condition. It should never replace any advice given to you by your physician or any other licensed healthcare provider. Insomnia Coach LLC offers coaching services only and does not provide therapy, counseling, medical advice, or medical treatment. All content is provided “as is” and without warranties, either express or implied.

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