I Keep Waking up at 3am EVERY Single night and can't fall back asleep!

Forgot to mention, I'm supposed to wake up at 5:15 am and go for my morning run around 5:45 am. (Florida weather sucks balls right now, 80 degree dew point?!?)

I'm only getting 5 hours of sleep this way! If I could sleep till 5:15 I would getting 7 hours of sleep I need. I'll check back when I get back from my run, might as well get up now...

How old are you? When I got to 30 this happened to me oddly. Your tone gives me the impression you are younger though.

I think it is actually pretty common as you age. I don't have any great solution for you. It comes and goes with me. If I can stay up later for awhile it helps remedy the problem, but generally if I'm waking up that early I'm starting to fall asleep around 8-9... Like an old man.

Your nervous system is over stimulated. Consider your diet. You can be over trained without having an elevated resting HR. I'd take a week off, relax, start feeling good. And consider your diet. No junk, no sugar etc. Eat more vegetables and fruit. I, too, sometimes awaken at 3am, mainly in the Texas summer, when, like you, I run early because of the heat.This is a base period for me, when I run a lot, easy and steady. I think this takes a toll. And I don't hydrate enough, which also takes a toll.

You need to retrain your circadian clock...

The worst thing to do is to set/stimulate your inner clock at 3 am by exposing yourself to light from your computer screen! Get up, get a sip of water and then rest in bed until you fall back asleep.

Use #GazaHolocaust

I'd suggest you try taking one cap of melatonin and one capsule of valerian root at bedtime and see if that will carry you through the night. If it doesn't try taking melatonin only when you wake up at 3am. Melatonin at 3am might make you a bit more sleepy when you wake up, but it shouldn't affect your running.

They work different ways, which is why I'd suggest taking both at bedtime but only melatonin at 3am. It'll take about 30 minutes for it to work.

These are both pretty mild. You might also try Sleepytime tea at bedtime. It's mostly camomile tea, as I recall. You might also have a glass of chocolate milk when you wake up at 3am.

You might want to keep the melatonin and a bottle of water at bedside so you don't have to get up to take it. Getting up is just going to wake you up even more.

Need_sleep wrote:

No I don't need to pee, I actually wake up thirsty...

It's possible that it is the thirst that wakes you up. This happens to me sometimes, typically when increasing training volume. I always keep a bottle of water by my bed. If I wake up and am thirsty chugging some water can be the difference between falling right back to sleep or lying there awake for the next hour.

I don't like chugging water before bed in case it leads to that dreaded 3am hobble to the loo. When you are a runner getting out of bed once per day is more than enough.

Aging wrote:

How old are you? When I got to 30 this happened to me oddly. Your tone gives me the impression you are younger though.

I think it is actually pretty common as you age. I don't have any great solution for you. It comes and goes with me. If I can stay up later for awhile it helps remedy the problem, but generally if I'm waking up that early I'm starting to fall asleep around 8-9... Like an old man.

Need_sleep wrote:

I'm an 18 year old male..

That's normal. Back in the day, everyone used to get up and chill out for an hour or two in the middle of the night. Just read a book, get something to drink, go to the bathroom. Don't look at a bright blue light like a computer screen, cause that'll keep you up.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16964783

I've been feeling really good on my runs lately, there's no way it's from overtraining. I ran 7 easy miles this morning and my average HR was perfect. (I'm following HADD'S Approach)

And I've had this issue for like the past 2-3 years...Even during periods when I went weeks without running I still had this problem so I know for sure it has nothing to do with my running in any way.

January of 2013 (I was a 17 year old Junior) I was unable to sleep one night, so I just decided to stay up all night and all day hoping to "reset" or retrain my circadian clock.

I wanted to be able to sleep from 9 PM to 6 AM to wake up to go to school (8-9 Hours of sleep) and maybe by staying up I'd be so tired that I would HAVE to sleep through the night right??

Well far from it my friend...

Everything went as planned, I got really sleepy a couple of times but I made it through the day despite heavy brain fog (I literally felt like I was in a bubble!) and crashed around 8:45-9 PM. did I sleep through the night?? Nope...

Woke up at 12:30 am...fell back to sleep

Woke up again around 2 am... fell back to sleep

Woke up YET AGAIN at 4 am... couldn't fall back asleep

Seriously?? You'd think you'd be so tired you'd crash but...fail.

I'm like clockwork...If I fall asleep at 12 am, I wake up at 5 am. If I go to sleep at 11 I wake up at 4. If I go to sleep at 10 I wake up at 3..and so on. I just CAN'T sleep more than 5 hours at a time and because of that I get sleepy in the afternoons and even at 10 am and I feel it'll affect me once I start college classes and I really want this fixed before classes start (don't want to fall asleep in class or studying at home!)

I'll try the water bottle trick and see if that helps me go back to sleep. The sleeping pills will be my last resort. I never have full energy through the day since I can't sleep through the night and it sucks.(Actually feeling kinda sleepy as I type this right now!)

I

Are you working?

What do you do all day?

Cut out caffeine entirely. I will get up at 3 am if I have any caffeine during the day, especially after lunch time. Also cut out booze, sweets/desert and sugars at dinner time. Too much sugar before bed can interrupt your sleep when your body is working hard to process the sugars while you sleep.

Why can't you get back to sleep? Can you be more specific about what's keeping you awake?

I.e., do you start stressing out about anything? Have racing thoughts? Are you facing any new stresses in your life right now?

An 18 year old should be getting around 9 hours of sleep per night. Probably more if training as much as you. At age 18 I was running like 12 miles a week and still slept 9 per night.

A few months ago I read an article saying that what you're experiencing was actually once a very normal sleep pattern for humans. The article was about "Two Sleeps" and said that people commonly woke up after a few hours of sleep and stayed awake for maybe a couple of hours or even more before falling back asleep. They would use this time to do things rather than lie there agonizing about needing to get back to sleep. Maybe you should get out for your runs when you wake up at 3:00 or so and then try to sleep for a bit afterward.

Ho Hum wrote:

That's normal. Back in the day, everyone used to get up and chill out for an hour or two in the middle of the night. Just read a book, get something to drink, go to the bathroom. Don't look at a bright blue light like a computer screen, cause that'll keep you up.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16964783

This. It's absolutely natural. Just don't worry about it and you will fall asleep again eventually.

mako wrote:

Ho Hum wrote:

That's normal. Back in the day, everyone used to get up and chill out for an hour or two in the middle of the night. Just read a book, get something to drink, go to the bathroom. Don't look at a bright blue light like a computer screen, cause that'll keep you up.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16964783

This. It's absolutely natural. Just don't worry about it and you will fall asleep again eventually.

Thank you for the replies, but problem is I still can't fall sleep. If I wake up at 3 am and don't fall asleep I'm only getting 5 hours of sleep! I need more than that. I was sleepy all day yesterday, I took a nap from 10 am to 1 PM

This is a clear sign of you fighting with your true sexuality. Be honest with your self and relax. It will be painful at first, but you will love and receive love. And, gradually, your family will accept you.

Need_sleep, have you tried this yet? Melatonin is produced naturally by the body to help induce sleep. Darkness triggers the body's natural production of melatonin, but if you aren't producing enough melatonin, it's hard to stay asleep. It will have no effect on your running. It has no effect if you have to get up early.

Valerian root capsules and chamomile tea are natural sleep aids. One capsule is not going to leave you groggy when you wake up.

You can get melatonin, valerian root capsules, and chamomile tea at most supermarkets, GNC, WalMart, pharmacies, etc.

It won't work for you if you don't try it.

Choke that chicken and then drift off into blissful sleep.