INSOMNIA: Waking up up several times every night.

Hey there,

I am 22 and male, no underlying medical conditions and very healthy, if I may say so myself haha.

I've often had some form of mild insomnia (be it falling asleep or staying asleep), but for the last 1 or 2 years I've been waking up 2-4 times pretty much every night. I notice that almost every time I seem to be waking up after 90 min (approx. 1 sleep cycle) or 3 hours (approx. 2 sleep cycles). I understand, that one typically enters a brief "wake" phase after each cycle, so maybe I awake after a sleep cycle more than I should? Because, whenever I wake up, I tend to go to the toilet to urinate. It has become a persistent habit: sometimes I do indeed need to go to the toilet, but sometimes I simply go because I associate waking up at night with going to the toilet.

Been to a urologist, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong concerning my prostate, although my bladder muscles seems to be quite "strong". But I do think my problem is a sleep issue, not a urinary issue. I only consume caffeine (green tea) early in the morning and don't drink much water in the hours before bed.

I practice good sleep hygiene (little screen time and only with blue light filter, dark and cool bedroom, spend as little non-sleeping time in my bed as possible etc.) and have started supplementing melatonin (0.5mg - 1.0mg) + some herbal sleeping/relaxation aids. I have also started meditating approx. 20 min before bed to de-stress. But all these measures only slightly help. Some weeks are fine, while others are not good.

I assume that stress is the underlying cause of my problem, but I don't know how else to de-stress...? I have noticed that when I actually feel slightly stressed before bed, I will end up awakening several times at night. BUT, even when I am quite relaxed before bed, I will still often awake at night, and almost always after 90 min or 3 hours (see above).

Atm i go to bed between 9 and 10 pm and wake between 5 and 6 am. Falling asleep mostly isn't a problem (takes 15-30min) and I really don't think there is an issue with my circadian rhythm, since I avoid lights in the evening and try to get sunlight in the morning. I also eat dinner around 5-7pm, so not very late.

SO, if you made it this far (thank you!!) and have experienced something similar, or have an idea what could help, I would be super happy to discuss with you.

Thanks!

AK

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