Waking up super early and not being able to fall back asleep?

[Circus]

So I've had some days recently where I've woken up early, I usually wake up around 5:50. Like, lately I've been waking up around 4 or 5. But today I woke up at 2:00, and couldn't get back to sleep. I've been awake for 3 hours, and decided to see if anyone knows what I can do to help myself with this, being that Google didn't help, just told me that I probably have insomnia.
So, does anyone know what I can do to help this problem?

 

[RedTropicalPeachyFish]

So there's sympathetic nerve and parasympathetic nerve. You may already know but they're like switching hub. When parasympathetic nerve works better, it makes you relaxed and sleepy. And when the other does, it helps you be active/awake.
To activate parasympathetic nerve, you can take a bath that's with pretty warm water, like just a bit higher temperature than human skin. 15 mins in bath, 10 mins out, and again 15 mins in bath, you repeat it couple times and this will activate parasympathetic nerve.
Small amount of caffeine works the same way. Just very small amount.

Also, when you physically work non-stop for like 5+ hours during daytime, it'll toss you in the dead deep asleep as well, even if you don't want to sleep. I'm always that way.

 

[John Wick]

I'm a recovered insomniac who can now sleep up to eight hours.

Exercise, good diet and vitamin suppliments helped me. I still wake up a couple of times but that's my internal clock waking me up to test my BSL, as I'm diabetic. Then I go back to sleep again fairly quickly, unless I've got something troubling on my mind.

 

[Tessie]

ambien does the trick

 

[John Wick]

That's not exactly safe.

 

[Buttonsy]

Oh definitely, I've been waking up around 8 - 10 PM the last few days and it sucks cuz I'm already drowsy when the sun comes up.

I haven't found something that has worked for me personally, but I remember watching a video about the science of sleep that mentioned that doing what's called a body scan helps a lot of people. I'd probably butcher explaining it, so I'd recommend looking up a guide on your own, but basically, it's a form of meditation where you work on relaxing your body bit by bit.

Also, when your sleep schedule is back to normal, you can prevent getting it messed up again by making sure not to look at screens like computers and phones too close to bed, or at the bare minimum, turning on a blue light filter. Not a scientist, so take my explanation with a grain of salt, but what I remember reading is that the blue lights from technology make your brain think it's still daytime, so you end up staying up later than you want to. As much as it can be nice to end the day with doing something fun online, it's better to do something like reading a book, listening to soothing music, or something like that, will be much better for your brain to actually get sleepy at a reasonable hour.

 

[Mayor Monday]

First off, Dr. Google is a terrible curse we unfortunately have access to. Things like insomnia are a very intricate problem that be the result of personal lifestyle, habits, and current situation. No disrespect to you- I've Googled symptoms to my problems plenty of times! I regret it though. It really only brings on anxiety, and sometimes we convince ourselves something is wrong with us. Our brains will even fabricate symptoms because we've made ourselves nervous!

Second, take what I say and the advice of people on here with caution. I'm not saying I or anyone else is trying to steer you wrong; but sometimes what works for others may not work for you. I am not a healthcare professional. Anything I say is only me speaking from experience.

Now as for the insomnia part. Insomnia is reoccurring restlessness, sleep depravation, continuous waking after falling asleep, etc. After one or two nights you could consider it insomnia. If it keeps coming back, it's a disorder that requires attention. One night will not hurt you, and could be caused by something as simple as a stressful day, screen time before bed, or an overactive mind that's sorting stuff out subconsciously. Sometimes you're just excited to start the next day. Insomnia has even been a symptom for some women during their menstrual cycle. It all depends. Insomnia may be occurring for you because of something else without being the main issue.

I have had nights like this before. It scared me at first, but went away after the third night.

Some simple at home remedies easily found online (meditation, new habits, exercise, etc) if your problem persists. But like I said- one night will not hurt you! It does not mean you have a disorder/serious insomnia. And for something like this, avoid taking over the counter drugs or vitamins for a quick fix. They can be dangerous!

 

[G0DFlesh_88]

besides being wide awake, do you also have a headache/migrane and or feel like you cant breathe or your heart is faster that usual? Could be health related (high blood pressure, energy drink caffeine...)

Maybe its just a change in your sleeping schedule that needs to be readjusted back to normal. I know when I want to wake up early for work sometimes my body just wakes up like a hour earlier lol
Honestly worrying about it can also cause stress and you'll think about it and that will keep you awake as well.

EDIT: Try watching some Bob Ross at night lol

 

[hamster]

Ya i wake up usually at 3-4am every time no matter what time i sleep. I think i know the reasons why but havent really done anything about it. I used to take melatonin and it helped for a bit but i stopped. Idk what to say for help but ppl already seem to have good advice so

 

[Blood Eclipse]

Same here. No matter how active I am during the day, once I put my head on the pillow (on those days I can't fall asleep) my body will refuse to. It's really frustrating, since lack of sleep affects the way you function: mood, your ability to recall information, your energy levels, your thoughts, ect. Running on an empty tank the next day is not pretty.

I try drinking warm herbal tea, taking a warm shower and playing the sound of rain to help me fall asleep and not focus on my thoughts.
Does it help?
Sometimes.

 

[MrMister5555]

I drank too much viet coffee Sunday and couldn't sleep, so I stayed up since I had a small morning job and finally slept at 3 pm yesterday and woke up at 9:30. :/ I usually have a hard time sleeping at night anyways. I have to be dead exhausted to fall asleep. Otherwise I just lay there.

 

[dizzy bone]

If I wake up at 5am for whatever reason, I usually just stay awake at that point. Although if it was any earlier like 3am or something I try to force myself to sleep a bit longer, even if i’m just lying down and not actually sleeping. If I wake up earlier than my normal internal clock’s time, usually it’s because I have something bothering me on my mind. I keep my mind off it by doing house work or exercising in the morning. If I don’t have anything to do that day, sometimes my chores tire me out and I can nap for a bit. From my personal experience, taking medication to sleep made it worse for me, especially after I became reliant on it. So I try not to take sleeping pills unless it’s absolutely necessary.

 

[KnoxUK]

I had this problem before. You have it where you wake up 30- 5 minutes before your alarm? You'd rather keep the habit, it means your body clock has scheduled itself at a good time.

If you start oversleeping you'd feel really rough and tired throughout the day, that's because you had to much sleep.

 

[Nicole.]

If you start oversleeping you'd feel really rough and tired throughout the day, that's because you had to much sleep.

I defo agree! Last year, I got into a horrendous cycle of oversleeping through the day and not only did it make me feel rough, I found that my days felt shorter and never really got much done especially because I felt even more tired and sluggish.

Oddly enough, I'm now the complete opposite. I end up waking up super early in the mornings (no alarm), not being able to get back to sleep and then feeling ready to crash towards the evenings. It's like something flicks a switch in my brain and I'm suddenly wide awake and I just have to get out of bed because I have this rush of adrenaline and that's before my coffee. But, I function better that way as I seem to get more done and be more productive.

 

[Sanaki]

I overslept for a bit and ruined my sleep schedule to the point where my body won't allow me to sleep more than 4 hours at a time. I wake up insanely early, and then crash at 8pm until 1-2 am and end up not being able to sleep anymore and ruining my sleep schedule even more. Splitting your sleep to twice a day just seems super unhealthy. I'm also an avid coffee drinker so it doesn't exactly help, but it's awful.

 

[dedenne]

if i cant get back to sleep i tend to read a bit of a book. i get to sleep easier after that but honestly everybody has different ways of falling back to sleep just find what works for u

 

[Dim]

So I've had some days recently where I've woken up early, I usually wake up around 5:50. Like, lately I've been waking up around 4 or 5. But today I woke up at 2:00, and couldn't get back to sleep. I've been awake for 3 hours, and decided to see if anyone knows what I can do to help myself with this, being that Google didn't help, just told me that I probably have insomnia.
So, does anyone know what I can do to help this problem?

Are you on any kind of medication?

 

[Giddy]

I think I use to get this, whenever I wen to bed early, and then boom its only just midnight.

Maybe, one thing you could do is just snuggle in blankets, covers, the warmth might help you drift off to sleep. I also second reading as well if it makes you drop off to sleep. Like if your eyes cant handle reading, but pick something light, not too long. Not too much action otherwise you;d wanna keep reading. Just something short and sweet.

Maybe listening to very low calming music could help. I've once done it where I got a video sound of just the calming rain falling and I actually fell asleep to that.
For me, since I write, I sort of imagine certain scenes in my head before sleeping and that sometimes helps if you focus on one thing enough for your self to drift off.