Has anyone successfully stopped waking in the middle of the night and figured out how to go back to sleep?

[justanotherneighinparadise]

Last night my four year old woke me. He happily went back to sleep in his own bed when I took him but I was then wide awake. Laid there tossing and turning for hours.

I often wake myself up without any help around 4am and do the same thing. I find it worse if I get out of bed to distract myself so I won’t look at the phone or anything. I wear an eye mask so i don’t think it’s the sun coming up but I suspect it was that in the past.

I’m 45 and used to sleep well until I had children. Nowadays I hit the sack between 10pm and 11pm and probably get 6-7 hours interrupted sleep per night.

Don’t drink, on a strict low carb diet. Average weight. No medication. Grrrr.

I started taking supplements to ease peri menopause symptoms and I think it's magnesium that helps with sleep. Definitely saw an improvement and then I also started taking 2 x piriton at bed time they don't knock me out but think I'm a bit drowsier on them.

Always been a crap sleeper but peri has been horrific!

I have a mantra I say in my head over and over to stop my mind racing. It generally helps.

I can definitely start taking magnesium.

Buddhist technique- lay on one side, take 20 slow, deep breaths. Make your outward breath longer than your in breath. Then turn to other side, do the same. Repeat as necessary. You'll be asleep in no time at all.

Alternatively, download insight timer app or calm app, they have lots of free relaxation exercises you can listen to before you go to sleep- they are incredibly relaxing.

Oh, also 5HTP supplements from holland and barrett - 5HTP is a pre-curser to melatonin, the sleep hormone.

Just make sure you check with doc if you are already on meds as they can interfere with anti depressant meds

I tend to wake about 20 - 30 mins after dropping off because DH snores like a gun going off. Then I'll be awake for 2 or 3 hours, trying to get off again.

I've found Boots sleep easy tablets help me to not wake at the slightest noise, but the downside is I still feel dozy the next morning.

Watching because I have this sometimes.
I was always told if your up in the night do something useful like cooking or cleaning.
Means when your tired later you haven't got that to do.
My family often come down in the morning to find I've rearranged the lounge or made 3 different cakes.
Sorry not useful for helping you get back to sleep but a good tip anyway.

I'm only in my twenties but always been a crap sleeper and it's definitely been generally worse since pregnancy even though my 2 yr old is a great sleeper and has always been a better sleeper than most of her peers even as a tiny baby. My sleep sounds quite similar to yours generally, I tend to get around 6-7 hrs of broken sleep a night, I wake frequently.

I find ear plugs tends to give me a better night sleep as DH's snoring sometimes wakes me and DD sometimes wakes in the night and chats to herself or she talks in her sleep and the noise through the monitor wakes me as I'm a light sleeper. But I had to get an ear syringed about a year ago and ear plugs are bad for impacting your ear wax so I don't use them much. I have to use them when it's hot and the windows are open though as otherwise the noise from people outside and the traffic keeps me up and wakes me.

I find diazepam the most helpful but I take that very rarely and only when desperate. Otherwise chloramphenimine makes me drowsy so I'm probably going to try that sometime too if I have another run of terrible nights. I am coping on this poor sleep though tbh I'm finding I have sooo much more energy on the same sleep just by not having to do my 1hr each way commute to work by WFH. It's actually amazing the impact it has had on me.

@Lowprofilename

I use audiobooks. Couldn't sleep last night, put an audiobook on and I was out like a light.

Even on nights that I don't just fall asleep, I end up better rested, because I'm lying down with my eyes shut, rather than thinking about how I'm awake.

I completely agree with that.

I watched a sleep documentary some time ago that said it was better to get up and do something then try and go back to bed to sleep again. So your bed was only for being asleep in. Personally I don’t find that effective. That ensures I’m definitely awake for two hours instead of potentially tossing and turning for one hour.

I like the idea of an audiobook but don’t like fiddling with my phone to put it on. That process seems to light up my brain even more.

DH is in a separate bedroom 😂

I actually listen to dull stuff on TV to get to sleep most nights with a timer on. I find it very hard to drift off etc. That way I then to get 5-6 unbroken hours which is preferable to be awake 2-3 hours in the night.

I sleep midnight to 5/6 then usually drift off again and get up between 7&8

This is a massive improvement on the pre magnesium and pre piriton regime.

There's an app/website that might help, called sleepio.

I wear ear plugs. Stops DP or random house noises waking me up.

I do wear ear plugs too. That definitely helps. But there’s this witching hour where I wake up and that’s that. It seems to be around the time the sun comes up. My body is just so tuned to it even though I’ve got an eye mask on. It’s not always that time though so I can’t say it’s definitely light.

I’m just not groggy though. I can remember sleepily having a wee and collapsing back into bed after, then straight to sleep. Now I’m just basically awake at 3-4am as though it’s 7am 🤦🏻‍♀️

Not eating in the evenings has helped me.

Depends what you eat. Something with magnesium in, such as marmite, can help you sleep.

You say you wear an eye mask but what about black out curtains / blinds? My room is now pitch black and that helps.

I can’t say my room is pitch black but it’s pretty good.i also agree about eating. I’m doing more carb and I’m not sure that helps as it gives me a lot of energy. Fasting also makes me wide awake. There’s something about carbs that knocks you out but I don’t really want to go back to how I was eating.

I read my kindle paperwhite lying down and I often think :"I'm quite tired now, so I'll rest my eyes" and fall asleep with the kindle still in my hand as its so light

My room is pitch black draught excluder on the door, the works!

I have a clock projector on the ceiling so I don't get up during the night thinking it's morning 🙈

HRT helped me.

Are you physically tiring yourself out enough during the day? I know it’s hard with lockdown but I find I sleep better if I go for a 30 minute run about 6 ish (not too late as the endorphins keep you awake if you exercise too close to bed time).

I do also keep a drowsy anti histamine on hand. If I’m still feeling wide awake at 10 ish then I’ll take one. I use phenergan 25mg. I take one about two evenings a week.

I find meal planning seems to send me to sleep if I wake in the night. Normally it's a bit hit and miss in our house so I try to think about the week ahead, and only manage ideas for the next day or two and I'm fast asleep again.

I ha e this, but I can most resolve it by not sleeping too early or getting up too late.

If I wake up in the middle of the night and am completely wide awake and feeling refreshed then I'll go down stairs for an hour or 2. I tend to get a couple of jobs done then have some tea and toast and read for a while before going back to bed.

If I'm not so alert then I put the headphones in my phone, stick a podcast on and put on the timer. I'm always asleep before the timer kicks in.