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Why are we awake ??

pappabass

pappabass

Inactive
May 19, 2006
2,575
3,311
Alabama !! Roll Tide
#1
Good morning guys, been awake since 3:45am. Yuck. Wife is sleeping like a queen. Been waking up at this time for some time now. Anyone else have this issue?
I take a sleep RX but as soon as I get about 5 hrs sleep, boommm I am awake. My body is still sleepy but my mind turns wide open !
Any suggestions?
 
#2
Put down your phone. :D

Seriously, I go in phases of doing the same thing. You just have to be still, close your eyes, and find ways to calm your mind. I also have a white noise generator app on my phone that helps zonk me out.

If you have a blue light filter on your phone, set it to come on overnight. If your eyes get some blue light, you're almost hosed for going back to sleep.
 
#8
It turns out that there is research to suggest that the idea of sleeping 8(ish) consecutive hours might be a very modern cultural invention spurred in large part by the development of street lamps. For the vast majority of human history and prehistory, there was little point in being awake when it was dark outside, and even less reason to go outdoors. The invention of outdoor street lamps made it possible for the first time for people to be active in the evenings, and thus going to bed later than they would have previously. A leading hypothesis is that until these recent developments, the most common pattern for most people was to sleep about 4 hours, spend an hour or two awake, and then sleep another 4 hours. If you google the phrase "two sleeps" you'll find lots of info about the idea.

This started happening to me in my early 50s (I'm now 61), which evidently is quite common: I'd wake up almost precisely 4 hours after going to bed and then not be able to get back to sleep for an hour or two. One thing that helped me was just learning that this was indeed common, and perhaps "natural" -- that it didn't mean there was something wrong with me. Then I started getting up after those 4 hours and spending an hour watching TV and/or practicing bass (often both simultaneously) or something, and then going back to bed. Another thing I often do is listen to some kind of podcast on my phone at low volume -- ideally something that is interesting enough to keep my mind from wandering (and worrying), but not so interesting that it prevents me from getting back to sleep.
 
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#9
Sleep for me is always one of two scenarios.

I either fall asleep right away, then wake up 4-5 hrs later and can't get back asleep at all, or...

I lay awake tossing and turning for two hours trying to get to sleep, but then once asleep I'll sleep all the way to my alarm.

Rarely do I go to bed, fall right asleep, and stay asleep all night. :(
 
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#10
My sleep habits have been corrupted for years. I once discussed the subject with a physician, who suggested I undergo a "sleep study," which is typically conducted within a hospital...perhaps the least conducive environment for getting good (unmedicated) rest.
Stay in bed, float up stream (float up stream)...

– The Beatles, "I'm Only Sleeping" (1966)
Click to expand...
 
#11
while there are exceptions, to be sure: most folks experience sleep 'cycles' in roughly ~90-minute segments, so: waking up is easier after 90 minutes, 3 hours, 4.5 hours, 6 hours, 7.5 hours, 9 hours, more or less.

for several years now, i sleep 3 hours, up for a while (1-3 hours) and then another 3 hours of sleep, typically. i'll have 'issues' when i can't snag that second 3-hour sleep. my point: it takes me 7-10 hours to get 6 hours of sleep.

most sleep research suggests: if you're awake = get up. go back to sleep when you're ready, again.
 
#12
I had sleep issues for years. No issues getting to sleep, but I'd wake up in the middle of the night and stay awake for a couple hours. It was incredibly frustrating. After talking to my doctor, she recommended medical cannabis (I'm in a medically legal state). I currently take a small dose of a THC-infused "elixir" liquid about an hour and a half before I go to bed, and it knocks me out. Most importantly, it keeps me asleep for most of the night, and I feel good the next morning. I highly recommend it if it's available to you.
 
#13
One thing you might want to try is a phone app like Sleep Cycle.
Every night before bed you can complete a survey about the time
you've spent before bed (eg: alcohol, screen time, exercise, etc ) then
all night your phone monitors the depth of your sleep using the phone mic
and/or accelerometer. Every morning you get a chart that shows how deeply
you were sleeping, when you were snoring (including audio samples),
and a measure of the 'quality' of your sleep. You've got to keep your
phone charging all night to do this, because the app is running while
you sleep.

The reason this is useful is that then after several days/months it
can generate statistics on what is correlated, and inversely correlated
with your sleep quality. That's the useful part for me. Sure enough,
screen time before bed is correlated with poor sleep for me. So is
alcohol. :drool: And my sleep is worse when I go to bed at a different
time than usual, and when I've taken fewer steps in a day.

This all may be stuff you already know, but maybe you'll find it useful.
Measuring things can help improve them... Good luck!
 
#18
I use to be a 3am waker all the time.
Here's what helped.
I turned all the power in our bedroom off when I go to sleep.
Has worked like a charm.
And also waking up and engaging your mind in deep thought or electronics is very bad.
 
#19
Lobster11 said:
It turns out that there is research to suggest that the idea of sleeping 8(ish) consecutive hours might be a very modern cultural invention spurred in large part by the development of street lamps. For the vast majority of human history and prehistory, there was little point in being awake when it was dark outside, and even less reason to go outdoors. The invention of outdoor street lamps made it possible for the first time for people to be active in the evenings, and thus going to bed later than they would have previously.
Click to expand...

I think there is something to this. When I was in my mid 20's my wife and I decided to radically simplify our lifestyle and we moved to a remote area in the northwoods near Lake Superior.

From May through October, we lived in a house that had no electricity or running water and we found that we adjusted our body rhythms to daylight times. When the sun went down we got tired and went to bed. We woke up at dawn, which was always accompanied by constant bird calls of all species.

One thing of note: We both had physically demanding day jobs and we rode bikes everywhere, so we were plenty tired by the end of day (plus we were young and healthy and newly married) which made it easy for us to get to sleep at night.
 
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#20
I've always been a light sleeper and if I'm at all stressed I will either have a difficult time falling asleep or I'll fall asleep relatively easily but will be wide awake at around 4:00 A.M. Needless to say, I've been sleeping pretty badly over the past week.
 

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