[SA324]

I wake up early (5:30 to 6 am) and then because of noise can’t sleep but my sleep is not over yet. I keep pushing myself to sleep a bit more so I don’t feel sleepy the rest of the day, which stresses me as the noise doesn’t let me sleep and there is nothing I can do to block it. I would rather wake at 7 am to complete the sleep and I tried unsuccessfully to adjust my rhythm by going to bed later but still wake up too early. I have also tried some other things like exercising and avoiding caffeine but it does not help. In general I have a significant level of anxiety surrounding this. Waking up at 6 makes me feel sleepy all day long and disrupts my routine.

How can I address this problem? Does anyone have any ideas?

[Unfatigued]

Hi SA234

I’ve been doing CBT-I for a little while now and I have the same problem. My current target sleep window ends at 06:30, but I’ll often wake up for good before then (sometimes well before).

One thing my therapist suggested for this (which I haven’t been able to try yet, so I can’t say whether it works) is to get exposure to sunlight in the late afternoon and early evening. The idea is that it delays melatonin production, and so helps you to sleep later. Anyway, that’s something simple to try if you haven’t already.

[Martin Reed]

It sounds as though trying to control your sleep in this way isn’t proving to be helpful, SA324. Are you able to remember a time when sleep wasn’t a concern? How did you manage to sleep right through until 7:00 AM in those days? Any insights there?

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