Sick of waking up at 4am

[Cheeseontoast32]

It doesn't happen every night but when it does I'm knackered for the rest of the day.
Happened again last night. Woke up around 3/4am bursting for the toilet. Went but then couldn't get back to sleep for over an hour, had to be up at 7 for work. Pressed snooze for 20 minutes to make up for it.
But have felt shattered all day. I don't drink that much before bedtime and I'm not extremely stressed. But sick of it happening, I sometimes just take sleeping tablets but can't take them every night as you become used to them quickly.
Does this happen to anyone else, and did you find a solution?

I try to get 7.5 hours of sleep but when this happens I'm ending up with 6/6.5 hours of broken sleep which isn't enough

Dark room and eye masks help

other than that I take a magnesium tablet as soon as I’m awake and that helps me drop straight off / at least within 15 mins

yup - it’s cortisol. Melatonin has totally cured it for me (1.5mg). Sleep
straight through now!

I do wear an eye mask, plus ear plugs.
Magnesium tablets sound a good idea I'll check them out, thanks

Can you get melatonin prescribed?

Wow!! I could have wrote this post myself, so glad it's not just me.
Even if I cut off liquids at 8 and go to the toilet before bed I will wake up between 3/4 for sometimes even longer than an hour! Was just after 6 when I got asleep a few days ago and my alarm went off at 7 and I was so tired., felt like I was in a very deep sleep.
Wish I knew what to tell you to do to fix it... following with interest! X

Have a look at other symptoms of diabetes.

I never wake for the toilet when my bloods are under control, but do if they're not.

I do have a very high in sugar diet which I know is not good. It's a constant battle. I don't appear to have any other symptoms of it though

31, so i hope it isn't that just yet !

Watching carefully as I am the same.

I’ve fixed this very problem by doing the following: no caffeine at all ever (tea, coffee, choc); take magnesium before bed; take one melatonin pill before bed ( I order them online from a US company). Then if I wake up to go to the loo at 3 or 4 am — I usually do — I take 5 drops of Jan De Vries night essence. If I do all of this I generally fall back to sleep. If I don’t…. I don’t. It sounds complicated but it works and now that I am in the routine it does not feel onerous. Oh and no big meals in the evening and don’t eat after 7 pm.

And blackout blinds and curtains are important too.

I’m probably older than you (60+) and getting out of bed twice a night is entirely usual for me - I’ve just made a pre-sleep cup of tea and I don’t even think about the consequences.
Trick is get up, go, no lights on, straight back to bed. Think “hurray I don’t have to get up yet” and straight back to sleep.
I am always up by 7am during the week but no problems.

im similar if im bed at eg 11pm/12am then wake at eg 4-5 and get up rather than at eg 6, i feel more zzzzzz than if eg 11pm-6am

have you tried a double / triple wee before bed?

Have you ever had your vitamin d level checked? Something to do with melatonin and circadian rhythms. I don't get through the night if I've missed a few doses - and by doses I mean higher than you'll get in a multi vitamin., you can go up to 4,000 IU per day safely.

I find I can sleep right through if I avoid caffeine after 4pm.

I use the NHS feeling good app www.feelinggood.app. There is the original 12 tracks but you can also get additional sleep specific tracks. There is a relatively small cost which I feel is worth it or you can get it free with a referral code.

Do the initial 4 tracks as suggested then use the sleep tracks as required. I find I fall asleep before the track is completed.

Waking to pee at that time only happened to me when I was pregnant

@Yutes Me too!! Waking to pee at 4am was my first symptom in both pregnancies.