Consistently waking up in the middle of the night

For the past couple weeks I’ve been waking up around 3 and 4 AM. It can take me anywhere between 20 minutes to an hour to be able to go back to sleep. Needless to say this is really starting to piss me off. I have no idea why this is happening and how to stop it.

Does anybody have any ideas on how I can sleep through the night?

Some possibly relevant data. I live alone, there is no noise that time of night. I’m 28 and currently being treated for mild depression. I have a history of insomnia. It comes and goes and it is usually tied to stress. Though this week there really hasn’t been anything stressing me out, heck I’m on vacation right now…

When I wake up I usually have a headache and get pretty angry because I woke up too early and I’m getting frustrated. I also usually need to eat something before I can fall back asleep.

What up, sir? Long time no hear. There are two interesting books that may be of interest to you. The two books are preety good with sidenotes and other layman’s lifesavers to grasp the material.

Treating And Beating Anxiety And Depression: With Orthomolecular Medicine: A Guide For Patients (Paperback)
~ Rodger H. Murphree (Author)
# SBN-10: 0972893814
# ISBN-13: 978-0972893817

The Brain Chemistry Plan (Paperback)
~ Michael Lesser (Author), Colleen J. Kapklein (Author)
# ISBN-10: 0399528490
# ISBN-13: 978-0399528491

http://www.umm. edu/altmed/arti … mnia-000096.htm cool website.

I assume you have changed the dosage of your meds? More often or higher concentration?

You might have a Melatonin issue that would be explained by the link or books.
http://www.umm. edu/altmed/arti … onin-000315.htm

Hey Teaser.

Thanks or the book list and link. I’m going to check them out.

I haven’t taken any medications in years except for Advil to deal with random headaches.

I remember taking Melatonin years ago to deal with the same issue though I don’t know what affects it had. I might as well buy a bottle and see if it does anything.

Try high quality ZMA and melatonin. I had the same if not worse problem then you. Your probably lacking zinc and magnesium so your not able to go into deep sleep. ZMA will help with that. When I started taking it I would fall asleep so hard and wake up 8 hours later. Its the shit man.

As a dumb thought (on my part) have you been checked for sleep apnea?

That can cause you to wake up and have some trouble going back to sleep. It might be worth having your doc check it, although most insurances only cover 80% as I found out the hard way after my hubby had a sleep study done.

sunshinekid makes a great point. Take a sleep study. I did, and it only showed that I have terrible sleeping habits. I think in your case it would be more helpful.

I’ve never heard that taking ZMA would help with sleep. I thought it was just used with bodybuilding. The multi-v I’m taking, Centrum Ultra Men’s, has 100mg of magnesium and 11mg of Zinc. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to also throw in a ZMA.

I have considered doing a sleep study, though I wonder about the cost. I’m currently an unemployed, uninsured college student. I probably won’t have any health insurance until I get a job or Obama care kicks in. I haven’t seen a doctor in years and instead to go the health center if I need something looked at.

Regular exercise can go a long way toward a sleep full night.

Try the melatonin. Dual release formula would be most effective for your situation, since additional drug is released over time rather than all up front, which would mostly wear off by your “waking” time range.

I had a similar situation and had to get a scrip for it, it was so problematic. I used Ambien, and it worked really well for a while, but then I acquired an addiction to it. Took me quite a while to wean myself off it. Now I only use natural sleep aids.

You could also try chamomile tea or extract (Hylands makes one called Calms).

When you wak up, try staying awake. Don’t go back to sleep and see how you sleep the next night. If you sleep right through it could be your circadian rythm waking you up when you don’t really need to sleep anymore.

My point is very similar. 3 a.m or 3.30 - it’s not so early. Assume, if you go to sleep at 10 p.m., it adds up to 5 - 5 and a half hours of healthy sleep during the most suitable hours. It might well be that it’s enough or nearly enough for you.

Like Tossed Salad said, I would strongly recommend you not make yourself sleep for a while. It might well be that you body will adjust and you start sleep, for instance, from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. without breaks.

I went to vitamin shoppe and this really cute girl helped me. She recommended I try a product called “Lights Out” by Roex. Like Fantom said, she told me the melatonin would wear off by the time I normally wake up. This stuff has melatonin and L-tryptophan which she said would help keep me asleep. She gave a personal recomendation and she seemed to know her stuff. I’ll give it a shot.

I’m usually in bed by 11:30 at the latest and I don’t know how I can stay up later. My head starts to hurt around 11 and I can’t do anything that requires any more brain power than reading that late at night.

What really bugs me is that I live next to a Jr. High and I am woken up around 7:20 M-F when they kids get dropped off for school. Sometimes I’m able to go back to sleep.

If I do wake up very early tomorrow then I’ll find a way to stay awake.