Do you wake up in the middle of the night?

Question

Is it possible to sleep all night without waking up? It seems like I always wake up after sleeping 4 hours, then I have to struggle to get back to sleep. I think it's because of my former roommate, who used to set his alarm at 5a.m. to go to work. My brain is probably wired to wake up around that time now. How do I fix this problem, and has anyone else experienced this?

I used to go to bed around 1 am, but now, even if I go to bed early, I will still wake up 4 hours later. If this is the cause of conditioning thanks to my former roommate's schedule, how do un-condition myself? It's been 2 months since my roommate moved out and I still have this problem.

Answer 1

4 hours? Does that mean you go to bed at 1 AM and wake up at 5 or that no matter what time you go to bed you wake 4 hours later? There is a BIG difference. If you routinely go to bed at 1 AM and simply arise 4 hours later, then yes, I think it likely you got conditioned by the alarm to wake at that time. I spent 21 years in the Navy, mostly all in submarines. In subs, the crew works an 18 hour day instead of 24 hours, broken up into 3 6 hour watch periods. 1 6 hour period is spent "on watch" running equipment, and that sort of thing. And then 12 hours off watch, part of which is routine maintenance work which needs to be done, but can not be accomplished while on watch, and the rest of the time doing studies for advancement and qualification and part in your bunk. After 3 months deployed, a week to resupply and another 3 months and then, when I came back home, I would be in this 18 hour routine, and it would take a couple of weeks to get back to a normal 24 hour day. So, yes, you could be conditioned to wake based on an odd routine. It may also be a completely unrelated issue. For example, a friend of mine would routinely, almost every night, awaken abruptly with a cramp somewhere in hus muscles. The cramp was what would wake him. It turned out to be a lack of potassium which caused the cramping. Adding bananas to his diet (previously, he rarely ate any fruits of any kind)did whaat he needed. And also, lay off the coffee and other things which contain caffiene and sugar after lunch. After lunch, stick with water or diet soda without caffiene. If something simple, like stopping the coffee earlier in the day is not helpful, then the next stop is your family doctor to see if there might be something going on which causes this which you are not yet aware, is the actual cause, like my friend's lack of potassium, an indirect cause. Learn meditation techniques to reduce the activity level of your mind. I find that when I wake sometimes at night, my mind is simply active, and I found in the past that if I concentrated on slowing my thoughts, concentrating on relaxing my body starting at the tips of my toes and slowly working my way up my body, I fell back asleep relatively easily. One last thing, noises. While at sea in a submarine, two different types of noise would immediately cause me to wake, an unusual noise, or worse, a usual noise which changed or stopped. Could some noise or a normal noise stopping be the cause? Just something to think about...

Answer 2

One thing that has helped us tremendously is a white noise machine. My kids and I each have one; I like the one from from Hammacher Schlemmer, the Sleep sound generator. It has made a huge difference for us, in that we don't hear outside noise that might be enough to wake a light sleeper.

Are you drinking alcohol? Alcohol can make you pass out to sleep but if you drink too much, you're guaranteed to be wide awake in 4 hours or so.

Do you eat a good snack before bedtime? Nothing heavy, but something that will last through the night..a protein with a little healthy fat? Peanut butter on a couple crackers, cubes of cheese with crackers or celery, cream cheese on whole wheat crackers, and handful of nuts.

Good luck. Waking up and being unable to fall back asleep, especially when you have to get up in the morning is a bummer.

Answer 3

I usually don't, but my husband often does. He has had 2 back surgeries, and if he sleeps through the night, that is a miracle. Plus we have 2 Siberian Huskies that both sleep in the house at night. One of them must have the bladder of a camel, because unless there is an earthquake or some other major disturbance, she sleeps through the night. Our other husky is rather neurotic, and every little noise she hears, she has to go outside and check it out. Maybe try some Tylenol P.M.. It works pretty well as long as you have about 7-8 to devote to sleep. Otherwise, you may wake up feeling rather groggy. Best of luck to you.

Answer 4

It is called sleep insomnia, I have it too. I would suggest that you don't drink any caffine 6-8 hours before you sleep and it will get better don't worry. Your mind produces a chemical called seritonin which causes you to become sleepy. You brain can only do this when there is darkness, so I would also try some dimmed lights in the evening and see if that helps.

Answer 5

I usually wake up in the middle of the night and stay awake for a few minutes. It's as if my body is waking me up and letting me be alert for a few minutes. I once woke up one night and I thought I heard someone walking through the house, but it was the rain! The glorious rain that my city hadn't seen for weeks was pouring down!

And most of the time, if you are awakened from your sleep at a certain time in the early morning, your body gets accustomed to waking up that early. So then no one has to wake you up!

Answer 6

Do you have a good bed, because if your bed is not very good, then you are probably tossing and turning trying to get comfortable, which is waking you up. I bought a new bed not too long ago, and the only reason I wake up during the night now is because of my new puppy. Look into it. Comfy beds are so nice.

Answer 7

I can't even remember the last time I slept through the night and I also wake up around 5a.m. everyday for no reason, I've givin up so I just start my day then.

Answer 8

i wake up in the middle of the night too! but i also have a little dog who sometimes has to go potty. but even he doesnt wake up i always do. i was wondering if ne body else slept the whole nite too!

Answer 9

i used to sleep all night until a few months ago when i started waking up every few hours on my own, and i haven't gotten a whole night's sleep since. i haven't come up with any good way to solve it though, sorry :(

Answer 10

Try playing soft music in the back ground when you are sleeping that worked for me when I had that problem also make sure that you aren't drinking to much and needing to go pee in the night ! good luck and good night !