Early morning awakening, is often known as terminal insomnia or sleep maintenance insomnia. “I wake up at 3 a.m. and I can’t get back to sleep and it’s driving me crazy!”. Most of us had similar experiences. It is named terminal insomnia not because it causes death, but because it occurs toward the conclusion. Maybe your mind begins racing, maybe you start worrying about all you need to do or don’t need to do, or maybe you just can’t sleep again. At least not until it’s nearly time to get up, at which point you’re weary and irritable and can’t operate as well as you’d want.
The actual issue with this fatal insomnia is that it happens again and over and over again the next night. Then you’re plain exhausted, and you start to become frustrated and furious over your inability to sleep. That makes matters worse because when you wake up and find it’s 3 a.m., you feel angry, which makes it even more difficult to sleep.
According to the experts, this is frequent but annoying. This early morning awakening is also associated with depression, both as a cause and as a symptom of depression.
A summary of the sleep cycle
The average adult requires seven to nine hours of sleep every night, and your sleep cycles through three stages: light sleep, deep sleep, and REM sleep (when you dream). Now, the majority of your deep sleep occurs early in the night, while your lighter sleep and REM sleep occur closer to dawn. As a result, small things will be more likely to wake you up and keep you awake.
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Biological Factors
So biological elements are the first thing that might induce early morning sleeplessness. Genes, gender, age, and hormones are examples of these. As a result, some people are lighter sleepers genetically, while others are more inclined to wake up early. Some people are night owls who sleep better in the morning. This is referred to as your chronotype.
While you cannot change your DNA, understanding your chronotype might help you accept it. Suppose our forefathers lived in a tiny hamlet, and imagine the settlement needs some individuals to keep watch all night. So some would be on duty at 9 p.m., some at midnight, and you’d be the 4 a.m. crew. But you’d never fall asleep while on duty. You are practically no fun after 9 p.m., yet you can do almost anything before 5 a.m. So you go to bed early because that’s how you work.
The second biological component is age. Sleeping becomes increasingly harder as you get older. You become weary earlier in the evening and sleep more lightly than you did when you were younger. Staying active during the day, taking exercise, and putting off going to bed can all assist with terminal insomnia.
Now comes sleep maintenance. Insomnia is far more frequent in women than in males, especially in women approaching middle age. Hormones affect your capacity to sleep as you age. Even if you are not yet menopausal, estrogen and progesterone levels gradually fall as you age. Hot flashes, periods, nocturnal sweats, and a lot of urination. If you wish to try to control it, you can work with your doctor.
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Conditioning
Conditioning is another important component of insomnia. So, because sleep is something that your brain links with a pattern or an environment, we might unintentionally teach our brain to sleep poorly by developing undesirable habits. Sleep hygiene is the remedy to this. You go to bed at the same time every night, you don’t use your bed for anything other than sleep and sex, and you don’t watch screens in bed; instead, you read a book.
Essentially, you want to link sleepy time with your bed rather than wake time with your bed. When it’s difficult to sleep, it’s critical not to identify early morning hours with being up. So, if you wake up too early, avoid doing anything interesting, upsetting, or stimulating, since this will convey the message to your brain that it is expected to be awake at that time of night.
Set some ground rules for this. If I wake up before five o’clock, I can read a book, write on paper, or do scripture study, but I don’t do anything too stimulating before that time since it teaches my brain to be more alert the next night at that time. So, you want to program your brain to believe that the bed is for sleeping and that early mornings are also for sleeping.
Make your bedroom a relaxing haven. Work in your bed or your bedroom. All of these factors can help train your brain to sleep better.
Behavior
Behaviors that disrupt your sleep. As you become older, you become less active during the day, both socially and physically. But, because many of us young people are Netflix addicts, it’s critical to attempt to get in more physical exercise, especially in the morning, and then to do other active activities throughout the day.
And CBTI is a treatment for insomnia that has been shown in studies to be as effective as or more successful than drugs, although it does require some effort. The main concept is to practice excellent sleep hygiene and not go to bed as early, but here’s the key: you don’t stay awake in bed for longer than 10 minutes. So, if you can’t sleep, get out of bed for 10 minutes and do something dull, like reading a book, and then try again for 10 minutes. And you just keep repeating that loop till you fall asleep.
Don’t force yourself to sleep, but in the long run, you can retrain your brain to recognize when it’s time to sleep. This also stops you from inadvertently programming your brain to believe that the bed is where you lay down and feel irritated about not being able to sleep.
Some medications, such as antidepressants, beta-blockers, corticosteroids, and allergy treatments such as pseudoephedrine, as well as substances such as coffee, alcohol, and nicotine, can interfere with sleep. Eating late at night might also disrupt sleep.
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Stress
When you reduce your overall stress, your sleep will improve. Exercise can assist with this, as does writing down all of your anxieties before night. Exercise and thankfulness are also beneficial. It may also be quite beneficial to establish stronger work limits. Turn off your work email and your phone’s “do not disturb” option.
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Your surroundings might influence your sleep
When it becomes dark outside, when it cools down, and when your core temperature decreases, your brain is programmed to sleep. Let’s start with the temperature. Set the temperature in your room to 68 degrees Fahrenheit or lower. A cooling pillow or a cooling mat might also help you chill down. However, having a warm bath opens your capillaries, causing your core temperature to decrease when you get out, which can also help you fall asleep.
The light that enters your eyes tells your brain whether you should be sleeping or awake. Daylight savings time and working in artificially lighted workplaces may wreak havoc on that. Begin by creating a dim or gloomy environment in your room. In the evening, limit your exposure to light.
It’s also beneficial to receive enough early morning light exposure, so try to get outdoors and see the sun. Another option is to use light therapy for 12 hours in the opposite direction when you can’t sleep. If you can’t sleep at 3 a.m., try it at 3 p.m.
Consult your doctor if you still experience difficulties sleeping. Sleep apnea, hypothyroidism, an enlarged prostate, gastric reflux, arthritis, restless leg syndrome, neuropathy, and depression are among medical diseases that might cause sleep issues. As you attempt to address issues, you may be able to enhance your sleep.
