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I am having a similar issue but haven’t been doing this for as long as you. I am also using HRT but it made no difference to sleep unfortunately (so I can’t blame insomnia on menopause!). I am going to bed later like you, and I also have my alarm set for 6am but always usually wake up really early (between 4-5). I find that regardless of how late I go to bed, I still seem to wake up super early, and like you I don’t want to get out of bed at 4-5am because it seems pointless as I won’t be going back to sleep before my alarm goes off. Will be interested to hear the response to your question..
I think the two main issues for me are (1) I am a really light sleeper and (2) when I wake up or something wakes me, my mind instantly becomes alert.
I have started staying up later (as suggested in your emails/podcasts) and I think this will help me, however even when I am sleepy, I find that the going and getting into bed can make me feel awake again. Before dealing with chronic insomnia, I still usually read a book (in bed) to feel sleepy as I can then turn my light off instantly and go to sleep (without having to walk from another room). This is what worries me about getting up in the night if I can’t sleep as I think that even if I start feeling sleepy, I will be fully awake by the time I walk back to my bed. I have always been a light sleeper and will wake up if I hear a noise or if my husband snores (or moves at all in bed). I sleep with noise masking earbuds which help block out noise but I can’t always control the noises that wake me up (other than sleeping in another room). The other thing that helps me fall asleep at the start of the night is listening to a hypnotherapy audio – even though I wake up to remove my airpods, I instantly go back to sleep and have a ‘heavy’ feeling.
Whenever I am awake at night, my brain is activated and it’s not necessarily related to stress or worry but I can’t seem to switch it off. I try to visualise lying on a beach or similar but that still involves effort as I am “trying” to fall asleep. So my specific questions are:
Firstly – is it ok to rely on reading or hypnotherapy to fall asleep? (noting I still have to be really sleepy at the time I do them so realistically I can stay up later until sleepy and then go to bed and read/hypno.
Secondly, I know that I will always wake a couple of times in the night regardless so are there some good techniques to quieten my mind that don’t involve getting out of bed? I do get this feeling that I have forgotten how to go to sleep and find that I am trying to not think about anything but that still requires effort. Funnily enough I have tried reading and hypnotherapy when I have woken during the night but neither worked (yet they work at the start of the night). I have only tried this a couple of times in the night and gave up after that.
