Hi, all,
I know this question has probably been asked over and over again, but I just have to ask, perhaps for want of a fresh perspective. For the past three weeks I have been waking up around 4 or 5 no matter when I go to sleep. I have no problem falling asleep at night, probably due to exhaustion, but when I wake up in the dead of night or very early morning I can only fall back to sleep with Valium, 5 mg.
I've been using Valium ocassionaly for about 2 years now, but it was in a pattern of every now and then, as needed, and sometimes not a single pill for weeks. Then, when Valium put my sleep back on track , I wouldn't need it until the next time my sleep got a little funky.
Now , for the last three weeks I have to use it every night if I want to get enough sleep. Every night I wake up at that time, no matter what, workday,weekend...
Why does my brain now constantly wake in this ungodly hour? I know how the inner clock can get used to that after a few nights, but how do you break that cycle?
I don't nap, I drink only 1 cup of coffee in the morning, I use ear plugs to try to stop the noise from outside, the room is dark... all that usual stuff.
Anyway, thanks for reading,if you have any tips please share.
Edgar
You don't say how old your are. If in the 70s (as I am), early awakening is not unusual. I would hesitate about taking any sleeping pill or valium at that hour of the morning as I feel it will make you drowsy mid morning until the stuff wears off
Why not get up at 05.00 and get some early morning exercise; I do, and go swimming
Thank you for the reply.
I'm 30. I've had intermittent trouble sleeping since my teens, but never as persistently as this.
I have two reasons not to get up when this happens. First, I don't want to upset my wife's sleep, let at least one of us sleep well.
The second reason is, of course, work. I have to get up around 7, 7:30 for work, no time for exercise. As for after work, I know exercise can help when you have a problem falling asleep at night, but I don't know if it helps in my kind of problem any? I suppose I could give exercise a shot, but I doubt it. As a teacher, I walk up and down constantly durimg lectures (I'm not the kind to sit and talk), and I walk a lot daily.
I must mention that I have MS, and this condition is known to affect sleep in many patients, but I didn't have this persistant a problem until now, so I doubt this is the reason , either.
Ome more thing, I must admit my sleep has deteriorated visibly since I moved to a new apartment about a year ago. I would wake up at 5:30 , 6 a couple of nights a week, but now it's happening every night, and I don't know what to do.