[Jacob]

Hello guys. I think i will help many people by puting here this question.

What is better solution for early morning wakepups/early morning insomnia? From my experience. I was and particullary stil waking up to early. But in the past i resolved that by putting my alarm too early. Like i was going to sleep at more or les 10pm and constantly (like half year) waking up around 2 – 4 am. And when i put my alarm in 2:30 a wake up willingly and not unwanted, it resolve in super sleep drive at that morning time, and i was able to fall back to sleep like to 6 am.

In the end it was classical sleep restrition method. And the question is. What is (in the term of sleep restriction) more effective in early morning wakeups? Going to bed later or wake up earlier then is your wakeups?

[Scott]

Jacob,

It’s not uncommon for most people to have awakenings in the middle of the night, especially as you transition from one sleep phase to the next. When you wake between 2-4, what is going through your mind?

You mentioned sleep restriction – what is your current sleep window and are you consistently getting out of bed to start your day at the same time every day? If you’re sleeping from 10-4, you’re achieving 6 hours of sleep so how would you say you feel the next day?

If you’re not sleepy when you go to bed at 10pm each night, you could explore shifting your sleep restricted window to a later time. It’s important that you get out of bed to start your day at the same time every day, even on weekends, though.

Hope that helps,
Scott J

—

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.

[Jacob]

Hi Scott.

Your right. Waking up during a nigth is absoluttly normal. And i dont have problem with that. The issue is, many people with early morning insomnia including me in the 90 % of my nights cannot fall back to sleep 🙂

For me like 6 hours of sleep is my maximum what i can get. Many time is like 5 and sometimes is only 4. And in long term that make kind of feel that you are still struggle to get normal sleep and its like mental evidence that you still have insomnia. Which can sometimes really backlashing you to full insomnia for some days, when you cannot fall asleep at all. Especialy in the really hard and stressfull times like when you preparing for competition, you train more ore you have more work in your job etc.

In that challenging times i am in some kind of state of hyper stress, I can fall asleep in this times, but wake up much more earlier, like after only two or three hours of sleep instead of four or six.

But for you question – whats going trough my head, when i wake up in the middle of night? Well nothing tragic. I dont panic or think that i will not fall asleep again or fall dead in my job that day 😀 Its just i wake up with zero sleepines, but with some exhaustion dependent on of how many hours i slept. Sometimes i just go off my bed and start my day. And in some cases i just tell myself, i rather be laying in bed and relaxing, which i do with zero increase of my heartbeat. I just lay in bed and relaxing, but dont fall asleep, because my body isnt tired or sleepy at all. Exhausted yes, but not tired.

But truth is, when i am sick etc. i sleep like ten hours without any problem, because body is tired like hell. So yes i belive, that more tired i am, more hours i will sleep (but not in stressful times). Which is totally corrrect 😀 its like ping pong. one night i sleep 6 hours and autmatically the next night i sleep only 4 and then again i sleep more like 5

Like 4 – 6 hours of sleep is OK and i can manage my life and go trough the day withou any problem, but i am stuck in this amout of sleep (for nearly half year??) because of my early morning wakeups, which i feel my body considering as a start of the day. And its a problem because with this amout of sleep, challenging times in life more easily evolve in full insomnia, which again is gone after the challenging times are gone, but after tah i am again stuck with early morning insomna, which is still better then full insomnia, but still a issue, which i want to resolve.

So thats why i ask what is better for resolving it. Trying to wake ups naturally later trought the process of going to bed later like 1 am (now i going to sleep in 10 pm and wake up in 2 – 4 am) or willingly waking up earlier like in 2 – 3 am and start a day and wait for sleepines to build up like during a one week and then try to willingly wake up later like 3-4 am and next week 4-5 am and next week 5-6 am.

I just cannot tell if this early morning insomnia is C-rythm issue or stress or mindset issue. But in the end i want to sleep 6 – 8 hours not 4 – 6 🙂

So what is your suggestions. Thanks for reply 🙂

• This reply was modified 3 years ago by Jacob.

[Scott]

Jacob,

If 4-6 hours of sleep is sufficient for you to have a “good” day and you’re not experiencing anxiety during the wakefulness in the middle of the night, do you think you’re putting too much pressure on yourself to achieve longer sleep? Sleep is different than most things in life in that it doesn’t reward your hard work. The more effort you put into getting a good night’s sleep, the harder sleep becomes. After about five hours of sleep, sleep pressure is greatly diminished which means less sleep is needed and it can also be more difficult to fall back to sleep. Have you considered shifting your bedtime to a later time? Instead of a bedtime of 10pm, possibly exploring an 1130pm or 12am timeframe to ensure you’ve built a strong sleep drive for the night?

Hope that helps,
Scott J

—

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.

[Jacob]

Hi Jacob. You really read my mind. I absolutly considering going to bed later. And if i manage to consistently wake up later, like in 5:30 am about two week or more, then i start to shifting my bedtime to earlier times 🙂 Do you think is a good plan?

I dont feel like i have some sort of anixiety when i wake up in the middle of night. I just feel so wake up witch zero sleepines. Many people, if they wake up during a night, they feel like a zombie and have hard time to get to bathroom, but i am like “super ready” for starting new day, so i cannot go bakc to sleep, like you suggest.

Thanks Scotty, after month or more i will write a report how things ging 🙂

[Scott]

@Jacob,

Based on what you describe, I think shifting your bedtime to a later time is worth exploring. It’s important to consistently start your day at the same time each morning and only go to bed at the start of your sleep window if you’re sleepy. I look forward to hearing your progress!

Scott J

—

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.

[Jacob]

So after week i give a little report.

Its so problematic for me to fall asleep later. I can never imagine it beig such a problem. Like i feel more later i want to go sleep, more effort i put into sleep and its harder for me getting sleepy, because anxiety and stress overcome sleepines and i dont feel sleepy at all and cannot drift off.

like first four days i fall asleep, but sleep only for two hours, because body wan to wake up in it natural time, which is 2 – 3 am. Yesterday i wake up cca in 4 am after 4 hours of sleep, but today i dont sleep at all.

Its super hard for me to relax in the evening like my eyes are not heavy at all. I dont have problem to fall asleep before, but now i have, which is paradoxal, i sleep so little and its so harder.

But that waking up in the 2 am confirm, that i really need to going bed later and allow my body to change its rytm for waking up later. But i really fail in stimulus control. I lay in bed even if i dont fall asleep for hours. But i must keep going and keep trying. There is no other way.

[Jacob]

What i really need is that life experience of waking up in 5:30 am, When i can manage to fall asleep easily later and waking up in this time naturally for like two weeks, then i start to going bed earlier and try to sleep more. But i feel even then i will put to much effort and control to my sleep and it will end up like this.

How to lose sleep effort like this and still do some sleep changes like going to bed later?

[Author]

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