How do I break the cycle?
Posted , 2 users are following.
Hi, all,
I know this question has probably been asked over and over again, but I just have to ask, perhaps for want of a fresh perspective. For the past three weeks I have been waking up around 4 or 5 no matter when I go to sleep. I have no problem falling asleep at night, probably due to exhaustion, but when I wake up in the dead of night or very early morning I can only fall back to sleep with Valium, 5 mg.
I've been using Valium ocassionaly for about 2 years now, but it was in a pattern of every now and then, as needed, and sometimes not a single pill for weeks. Then, when Valium put my sleep back on track , I wouldn't need it until the next time my sleep got a little funky.
Now , for the last three weeks I have to use it every night if I want to get enough sleep. Every night I wake up at that time, no matter what, workday,weekend...
Why does my brain now constantly wake in this ungodly hour? I know how the inner clock can get used to that after a few nights, but how do you break that cycle?
I don't nap, I drink only 1 cup of coffee in the morning, I use ear plugs to try to stop the noise from outside, the room is dark... all that usual stuff.
Anyway, thanks for reading,if you have any tips please share.
Edgar
0 likes, 2 replies
alanatcroydon edgar30813
Posted
You don't say how old your are. If in the 70s (as I am), early awakening is not unusual. I would hesitate about taking any sleeping pill or valium at that hour of the morning as I feel it will make you drowsy mid morning until the stuff wears off
Why not get up at 05.00 and get some early morning exercise; I do, and go swimming
edgar30813 alanatcroydon
Posted
Thank you for the reply.
I'm 30. I've had intermittent trouble sleeping since my teens, but never as persistently as this.
I have two reasons not to get up when this happens. First, I don't want to upset my wife's sleep, let at least one of us sleep well.
The second reason is, of course, work. I have to get up around 7, 7:30 for work, no time for exercise. As for after work, I know exercise can help when you have a problem falling asleep at night, but I don't know if it helps in my kind of problem any? I suppose I could give exercise a shot, but I doubt it. As a teacher, I walk up and down constantly durimg lectures (I'm not the kind to sit and talk), and I walk a lot daily.
I must mention that I have MS, and this condition is known to affect sleep in many patients, but I didn't have this persistant a problem until now, so I doubt this is the reason , either.
Ome more thing, I must admit my sleep has deteriorated visibly since I moved to a new apartment about a year ago. I would wake up at 5:30 , 6 a couple of nights a week, but now it's happening every night, and I don't know what to do.