what do you do at 4am when u can't sleep

mad_spaniel

I tossed and turned last night , with endless problems weighing on my mind. I wondered what others did to get to sleep

Sambella

I make a cuppa and read something either a book/magazine or browse on my phone for a little bit to push the thoughts aside then try again to sleep. Most times it works but sometimes it doesn't as I then worry about sleeping through the alarm !!

Thankfully it doesn't happen too often. I normally sleep very well.

gettingtheresometime

I read somewhere that if you can't get to sleep then what you should do is get up and do something non stimulating (they recommended not looking at blue light screens) for about 20 minutes then try and go to sleep again.

Majestic1919

Youtube has loads of relaxation and sleep music. Find one that is right for you - one that makes you feel calm and cosy and bookmark it so that you can go straight to it when you need to.

As mentioned above, turn away from the screen (although some of the scenes are very relaxing), close your eyes and drift off.

Ames

Get up and do something, have a glass of water, read, look at the news app on my phone. Anything to 'switch off' whatever's keeping me awake.

I've found that adjusting my sleep pattern to fit my natural clock has helped stop waking up, and adjusting the time I take my various meds.

Apparently the reason for the 4am wake up is a dip in hormones at that time of night. You also get it a lot in psychiatric hospitals I'm told, although I think that's supposed to be 3am.

For a few years I could set my watch by when I woke up, it was 4am on the dot.

melanzana

Often the early waking is low blood sugar. I find that if I have a glass of milk and a biscuit, followed by a fizzy multivitamin that contains magnesium, I'm out like a light.

I'm not diabetic, but if you haven't had anything to eat/drink for hours on end it can sometimes happen!

yvonne13_2

Go to the gym or exercise in the bedroom.

ecgirl07

I have a pillow speaker

https://www.amazon.co.uk/SoundLAB-Pillow-Speaker-Jack-Plug/dp/B002GJ0ES6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1483887128&sr=8-5&keywords=in+pillow+speaker

And stick on something from iplayer radio, dramas or comedies, better listening to this than the worries in my head.

Husband cant hear it over his snoring so i dont think it disturbs others.

Dustyblinds

I would put the tv on and just listen to whatever is on until I doze back off.
When I was young and daft I would tell myself if I wasn't back to sleep within an hour I would get up and do the ironing, worked a treat, I always managed to drop back off.

mumcoll

I have audio books on my tablet and listen through earphones. I rarely hear the end of the chapter. It's like having a story read to you when you were little.

trailingspouse

I've woken up at more-or-less 5am for at least the last 15 years. I don't know why this is - but I know that if I go to bed before 11pm then I'll wake up even earlier!! It used to worry me, but I read an article that suggested that some people just don't need as much sleep and if you're awake and feeling refreshed then you're one of them. I'd rather go to bed later than wake up earlier, so I rarely go to bed before 11, and that works for me.