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Thank you, Martin, for your response! I really appreciate it. You are right, I am sure my early awakenings stem from the fact that I am focusing too much on them. When I wake up, I become very aware of it happening and develop a tension that in turn makes it hard to fall asleep.
Can I ask you a quick question related to early awakenings and the sleep window? I currently apply a sleep window from 12am to 6am, as 6am is the time I would like to get up. However, since I wake up every night at around 5am (I don’t check the time, but I know it is 5am because this is already happening for a year every single day), I find it difficult to go back to sleep knowing that my alarm will go off very soon. Would it be better to change my sleeping window to 11pm-5am? I feel very comfortable going to bed at around 11pm because this is my “natural” sleeping time. However, I am afraid that making 5am my anchor time will make my body clock getting used to this waking up time even stronger. It seems counterproductive, as I do not want to start my day this early. Maybe you have an advice for me.
Hi Jklanc,
I just read your question in this forum and since I am in a similar situation like you, I was wondering, if you were able to overcome the early morning awakenings?
I too have insomnia (for about a year now) and my main issue is not falling asleep but staying asleep. Every single night I wake up after 4-5 hours and have difficulties going back to sleep. Sometimes it works, but recently I lay awake until my alarm goes off, even when I feel calm and relaxed. Before my insomnia started, I usually slept 7-8 hours. Maybe there are other people here who are in a similar situation and can share their story or some advice.
Hi Martin! Thanks for your feedback. I have the impression that by the end of week 3 I started to fall asleep much quicker than usual. Also, I wake up in the night later than I initially would: When my insomnia started, I would usually fall asleep quickly (sometimes I also had difficulties with that though) and then wake up after 3-4 hours, not being able to fall asleep again. Now I wake up after 5-5,5 hours which feels like an improvement to me. I also manage to fall back asleep after waking up – not always, but more often than in the past. My sleep hasn’t normalised yet, but I feel less stressed and more hopeful thanks to the little improvements I’m noticing. Not checking the time in the night really helps me.
Hi Packer Fan! The first two weeks of the sleep window have been the hardest for me. To be honest, week 2 has been a complete mess – I was sleeping worse than ever. Don’t give up! For me, it became better at the end of week 3.
Hi Kara-Jay!
Staying awake for so long really is a challenge! When I start getting sleepy in the evening, I try to be active: For example, I get up from the sofa and tidy some things in the house. Yesterday, I ironed some clothes around 10:00 pm and then prepared a meal for the next day. Sometimes, I take a shower (not too close to sleeping time though, because it wakes me up). I also started to go for an evening walk every day (between 8:00 and 9:00). That kills time and has a good effect on my anxiety. Basically, I try to do all things that I usually do in a day much later. Oh, and I try to not watch TV too early because that makes me doze off within minutes. I hope this gives you some ideas for staying awake. I wish you all the best!
