Keep waking up at 4am! Can't get back to sleep.

[NormaSnorks]

I'm putting this in Menopause because I expect it's hormone-related.

I'm 58. Been on HRT for over 5 years. Everything seemed well-managed. But over the last few months I've started waking up in the early hours (3.30/4.00 am) and sometimes it takes me over an hour before I get back to sleep.
I'm shattered!

When I wake up I get up and go to the loo, but I don't think this is WHY I'm waking up. I use Vagifem which helps on the bladder front.
I don't think it's hot flushes either.

It's just like I sleep really deeply for 4 hours, then ping, I'm wide awake, then tossing and turning.

Any ideas, suggestions?

I also listen to the Nothing Much Happens podcast, if I can't sleep. Works like a dream for me, I rarely get to the end of the first story. Her voice is very soporific.

Everyone "wakes" at 4am. It's a normal part of our sleep pattern. The tricky bit is not getting stressed about it! It's a pita, but all of the above pp's may help.

No I don't wear ear buds, I have the podcast on speaker with my phone on my bedside table so it's next to my head, volume set at just loud enough to hear so it's not intrusive. The podcast only lasts 30 mins and I'm asleep way before it ends.

Valerian tea or tablets used to help me but I got out of the habit. I think it’s also possible that chronic stress stays in the body even if the issues/incidents have passed and you just physically stay on high alert and especially at night when there are fewer other distractions.

Also wonder if insomnia might be a genetic predisposition because my close female relatives are or were exactly the same