41M. Last couple months have been rough for my sleep pattern. It’s like a switch flipped, and no matter what I do, I wake up at 3am and just lay there. Around 6 I can fall back asleep and sleep until 8 or 9 sometimes, but generally I have to wake up at 7 for work anyway. I wake up tired and feeling like I could sleep for hours, even though I was wired and awake at 3am. Doesn’t matter what time I go to bed. Eating healthy for a week or binge eating christmas food for a week, doesn’t matter, same thing. 3-6 I’m up.
I’m pretty healthy, save for maybe 5 lb of holiday weight that I gained recently. Use THC/alcohol but only occasionally, maybe a couple times a month.
I believe the answer to your question is hidden in our history and clues appear in old books. Before electricity, nighttime was darker and earlier. Candles were expensive and people generally went to sleep sooner. In old books, you’ll occasionally hear people mention “second sleep”. People would fall asleep earlier, then wake up in the middle of the night. They would eat a snack and go back to sleep in an hour or so. I believe that this sleep habit may be something we are still genetically working out. Next time you wake up around 3am, try eating a snack and doing something productive for an hour or so. See if it’s easier to fall back to sleep afterwards.
@Blaze
Some good advice here. Another tip, Worst thing you can do is grab your phone. It’s over once you start scrolling. If you have to get up, keep the lights dim and try to calm your thoughts. Try meditating in bed.
I have this too—for the past year. Sustained release melatonin works occasionally but is not reliable for me, especially after the brand I liked got discontinued. Do you have caffeine during the day?
Torrance said:
I have this too—for the past year. Sustained release melatonin works occasionally but is not reliable for me, especially after the brand I liked got discontinued. Do you have caffeine during the day?
I do have caffeine, historically I have too much, but because of this I’ve cut back and made sure to only have it in the morning and that hasn’t seemed to help. Probably would be smart to crank it down more, but that’s hard because most days I need it to function in the morning due to the sleep problems…
In Chinese medicine this time of night reflects Lung issues. Lung encompasses dryness issues or excess phlegm and emotions like sadness, grief, melancholy.
You could dry adding a humidifier at night when you sleep to help moisten the lungs.
See if there’s any strong emotions that have been buried.
Eating more foods that help boost lung energy (white fleshy foods)
Pears
Honey
Garlic
Onion
Apples
If you have too much phlegm try avoiding things like dairy, oranges, sweets for a while.
Just a different angle to look at it. From an acupuncturist perspective.