Insomnia! Do you give in and start your day?

[Lovelyflowerpetal]

I’m a terrible sleeper most of the time. DD rolled in at 2:30am, forgot her key. As soon as my eyes open my brain thinks it’s time to get up.

Sat in the conservatory with a cup of tea, exhausted but not enough to sleep…..yet

i wanted a productive day today but I know I’ll be too tired and doom scroll on the sofa until inevitably I have to have a nap, leading to wasted day then another sleepless night.

I wish when I was like this I would actually get some cleaning done to help my future person out instead of being on mumsnet or buying random stuff on Amazon.

what do you do when you can’t sleep?

I try and stay in bed. I say I won’t go on the internet but that ends up falling!

I sit and surf the internet…if I get up the dogs will wake up and bark so I’m sitting doom
scrolling while DH snoozes away.

I try to stay in bed but my stupid body thinks it is breakfast time so I end up having to make some toast or my stomach is growling.

I try and stay quiet and still because once I’ve woken the dog, he will want to go outside. Occasionally I manage to nod off again. I often give up and go online quietly. Black clouds visit me though - it’s a bad time of day for depressive thoughts. I’m ok generally during the day but get anxious about everything from family stuff to global resilience at 3am.

Much the same as you OP. Woke up to go to the loo at 3ish. Still laid awake at 4am, tried to wait it out but to no avail. I have managed to put a wash on Economy 7. Perhaps there'll be time for another, and a tumble dry as well.
8am will hit me like a ton of bricks and my body will tell me it's time for sleep.

I have tried forcing myself to stay in bed - but it's just the same - no sleep till it's time to get up.

Depends on the day of the week and what time it is. If it's the weekend I give in and get up if its after 5 (like today). If its during the week I'll persist. Have you ever tried reading a book during the night with a low light? It's the main thing that sends me back to sleep...

Atlaspine sorry you are having a tough time. I do the same. I have a disabled child so my mind goes to dark places in the night. Who would look after them when I die type of things. It’s always worse at night when it is quiet

Mavericksnoopy I actually will try that thank you. I have been googling books in the night actually that I fancy reading. I’ll try one of those lights.
I actually don’t mind if I wake from 5 as I do like mornings, anything before and I’m a zombie the rest of the day.

I usually get up. If I stay in bed then my thoughts start running amok and EVERYTHING'S worse at 3am. I get up and occupy myself with something (usually work) and pay the price later!

Pre kids I would get up have some Weetabix and a drink then get back into bed and read, I would eventually drop off! Now with 2 young kids, I just lie in bed and don't move in fear of waking them up as well 🤣🤣

Listen to podcasts for an hour. If that doesn’t send me back to sleep, I have coffee in bed until DS gets up around 6. The cat normally joins me during my coffee time.

i wish I'd seen your thread earlier!

I was awake at 4 again this morning.

it was light & the birds were all clearly happy to be alive!!

I actually don't mind at this time of year.

I do try to go back to sleep & I do try to stay off the Internet, but have been MNing since about half four🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️

im too exhausted at 4 to have any enthusiasm to 'start my day' but MNing for hours isn't a good start to my day, that's for sure!!

During the week I have to be up by 6, and at abut 5.55 I could go back to sleep, so I look forward to the weekend where I could, except I can't!

I just wish I felt how I used to! Full
of life & happy to jump out of bed & start the day!!

as a kid my Dad would be frustrated that he had to get me out of bed for school, but at the weekend I'd be up very very early, playing . (& despite trying not to, disturbing his sleep!!). I couldn't understand why he didn't want to be up early at the weekend to enjoy the WHOLE day 🤣

have a good day my early birders 🌸

I have a friend who definitely used to just get up and get chores done. I try to stay in bed. I find audio books helpful as i can still rest my eyes and i might fall asleep but if i don't i have something to do - not sleeping is boring.

I stay laying down with a boring podcast playing until I doze off again. Getting up or going online would mean no sleep again that night. I tend to wake at 1.30, 4.39 and 5.30 these days.

Reading with interest! I've been awake since 3.39am....very precise I know but I'm under the sleep centre so have to note down times I'm up and not getting back to sleep. So far I've done 2 loads of washing and got them on the line so that's something. Alas, 10am will be my wall and I'll have to push through, I've tried podcasts, lying in bed, a nice warm milk but nowt works hence the sleep clinic! I do have a medical issue (cyst growing on the pineal gland) that makes my sleep cycle a bit wonky but it's really no fun is it?! Solidarity to you all. My 12 Yr old is currently snoring away....she's reached that age where they can sleep till midday... I'm a bit jealous!

Drinking tea won't help

I’m planning to try and have a sneaky nap later after the usual round of kids activities…2 coffees and I’m awake (of sorts!)

My recent find for getting back to sleep is Desert Island Discs podcasts! Just enough to listen to and stop any thinking/overthinking, but not so much that you’re working on thinking, it’s basically white noise. There are hundreds and I very rarely hear one all the way through

Try not to look at the clock as you'll just think about how long you've been awake and how long you've got till you have to get up. They say you should always get up and do something but I tend to just lie there, do some deep breathing and tensing & relaxing parts of my body. Rescue Remedy Night works too

I actually managed to get a couple of hours in the end thankfully. Woke up with a start panicking my DD hadn’t woken for work with her late night last night! She is bright eyed and bushy tailed, oh to be young again and manage on little sleep!

I hope you all can get a bit of rest, hopefully in the sunshine

I stay in bed and just chill then get up at 6 when the little one's medication is due, once meds are done I crack on with the day. I don't get a nap and go to bed just after midnight (meds and turning the small person in bed means it's the earliest I go to bed) I think it's being going on so long now I just because accustomed to poor sleep.

You have my empathy, it sucks.

I usually put nothing much happens podcast on or a sleep story
Or I'll get up and potter for a bit then try to sleep again, sometimes it sort of resets me