I keep waking up at night. Help?

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I've always been a person who wakes up quite early in the mornings (I've never really understood how people can sleep until 10am or 2pm etc) but I don't think I had any real troubles sleeping when I was younger. I do now though. For the past 7 months or so it's been worse than ever. I pretty much go to bed (and usually fall asleep quite quickly) but then I wake up at least one time each night. I usually wake up sometime between 2-3am. Sometimes I'm just awake for a little while, sometimes I'm awake for hours but I'm always tired when I wake up in the morning. I don't really remember what it feels like to wake up not being tired. August was a bit better but now the sleeping problems are back. Now I don't necessarily wake up between 2-3am, I wake up sometime between 1am and 4am. It's now 3.57am and I've been awake for about 30 minutes. I've got a headache and I'm really tired of not being able to sleep through the night without waking up.

I think my sleeping problems might have to do with anxiety and/or depression (or something else). I've always been a very anxious person but the last year has been even worse. So there's probably some sort of connection there. Anyway, do you have these kinds of troubles when it comes to sleep as well? If so, what do you do? How do you handle it? What's the best thing to do when waking up at night?

Thanks.

Yeah, depression does cause sleep disturbances. If you suspect it, go get treatment.

I do tend to wake up at night, but I go to sleep quickly afterward. I used to be more wakeful at night when I was younger.

Try a hot bath with lavender oil or have a glass of hot milk, although I reckon you've heard this before.

Sounds to me like you are developing Sleep Apnea. This can be a life threatening condition. I, and many others have it, but there are treatments for it. You will need to talk to your doctor about it, and he/she will probably schedule you for an overnight stay at a sleep study clinic, so that your sleep pattern can be tested while you sleep. I had two of these, and it wasn't a problem. The rooms are quiet. There was a TV in the room I was in, and they let you watch for a little while before you go to sleep, as many people unwind in the evening by watching TV. You could bring a book if you prefer, though.

Please do get it checked out. In sleep apnea, the soft palate at the back of your throat collapses too much when you are asleep, cutting off your air supply. This leads to headaches, sometimes dizziness, constant tiredness, poor sleep, and snoring. Eventually your oxygen starved body manages (usually) to gasp and clear the air way, but it keeps collapsing and gasping repeatedly during the course of the night. The lack of oxygen and the effect on your blood pressure put great stress on the heart, lungs, and brain. It can lead to heart failure and/or strokes. So talk to your doctor about it.

Do you sleep in a varm room?. I have problems sleeping if there is warm. i open my window for like 5-10 min before bed, so its nice a cool. then its just the right temperature when i sleep.

Sometimes im amazed how people can sleep in rooms that are like 25-30celcius.

i prefer around 15-18c.

if i wake up a night, it usually just to go to the bathroom and i get some water to drink and then back to sleep, best to avoid starting to go around turning on light and such, that just makes it harder to sleep again in my experience.

But its definitely something you should go to the doctor with, sleep is very very important. and not being able to sleep is pretty much madness.

I even had a bad pillow once that caused me to wake up at night, it just just way to flat and crappy, now i got one that doesnt decompress so its entire flat, its made in the inside of some sort of latex i believe. for me its the most silly things that can disturb my sleep.

If you slept better in August and were less depressed it may be Seasonal Affective Disorder which is literally a deficiency of Vitamin D. Get some and take it orally.

Do you drink? If I have a glass of wine in the evening I inevitably wake up at 3am and have trouble getting back to sleep. Alcohol makes me sleepy but it makes the sleep less deep. Granted, I also have a cat who runs laps and meows in the wee hours, so I never sleep a full night.

I have an off the wall possibility, but I think it has credibility in my own life so I'll suggest it to you. Pernicious Anemia. It comes from either a lack of vitamin B-12 or a lack of Folic Acid. It can cause bad headaches and a lack of energy as well as a sense of confusion. It's more common in women than men, but I know that when I have the bad headaches and lack of energy I take some folic acid and B12 and it makes me feel better (and I am a male).

It's now 3.19am and I'm awake yet again. Been awake for an hour. Tired of this. Is this what's called "middle insomnia"?

I've decided to keep a sleep diary where I'll write down when I go to bed, when I wake up in the middle of the night, what my thoughts are when I wake up etc. To see if there are any patterns. Is that a good idea? Do you reckon it could help?

A sleep diary might help if there are specific worries that are waking you. If you talk to your GP about possible depression definitely bring up your sleeping problems as sleep disturbances can both be caused by depression and be worsened by depression. I have always had trouble sleeping and I generally wake up 2-3 times a night and stay up for at minimum 30 minutes. To help me fall back asleep I get up, go to the bathroom, and get a drink of water even if I do not feel like I need it. If I am am worried about something I either do something about it (either writing a reminder, setting my alarm earlier, filing out a form, whatever I can do to fix the problem if possible). I visualize a peaceful environment and try to live there in my mind until I feel tired again. Certain times of the month masturbating helps.

Currently I am on meds for sleep as nothing else was working (and I have trouble with both sides of sleeping problems -getting to sleep and staying asleep). They help but I would not recommend them unless you are comfortable with them and have tried other things as they also leave me tired in the morning and more likely to sleep very late. On the subject of alcohol, it can help someone get to sleep but it does not help with staying asleep.

There are many worrying problems that could cause this, listed by other posters. They should be investigated.

However, there is also the chance that this is not a problem- that the only problem is the stress you get from thinking this is a problem. It could be merely biphasic sleep, which is how sleep always used to be:

http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/110 ... -myth.html

The idea that we should sleep without waking for 8 hours is a very recent idea. And for many people it may be wrong and causing them to stress about "insomnia" which is actually just a normal sleep pattern that has fallen oyt of cultural favor.