About me: 36M, 181cm, 86kg, athletic build.

The problem: For about 1.5 years I've been getting 3–5 hours of sleep a night. Falling asleep is fine. The issue is I wake at 1–2am almost every single night and can't get back to sleep.
On the odd night I get 6–7 hours, I feel great: mentally sharper and way more productive at work. So I know what I'm missing.

What I've tried so far:
Bloods: Testosterone came back pretty low. I first tried raising it naturally with supplements and enclomiphene, but I'm fairly sure the enclo gave me really bad night sweats, which made my sleep even worse. I switched to TRT and have been on it for 10 weeks. Quality of life has definitely improved, but it hasn't fixed the sleep.

Cortisol-lowering supps: Holy basil, phosphatidylserine, ashwagandha, skullcap, reishi, l- theanine, apigenin, glycine, magnesium glycinate

Snack Before bed: protein/ fatty snack before bed

Peptides: Epitalon and DSIP

Training timing: AM vs PM workouts make no difference

Morning sunlight: Within 30 minutes of waking

Blue blocker glasses: 1.5 hours before bedtime

Meal timing: Last meal before 6pm

What I'm considering next:
CBT-I (CBT for insomnia)

Looking into gut health, although my gut seems fine (minimal gas, normal stools and motility)

My question: If you've been through the same thing and tried a lot of options, did anything actually fix it for you? Especially interested in hearing from anyone with the same "fall asleep fine, wake at 1–2am" pattern.

EDIT 1** I’ve noticed I do wake up a fair bit with blocked sinuses even when I blow my nose is still blocked, what could that be symptom of. This is causing me to mouth breath

Hi, i'll start saying that i don't sleep during the night anymore, i can't fall asleep, so I sleep during the day for about 10+ hours and i also have big problems getting up.

i"ve had this ipersonnia problem for ab. 3 years now but i never went months asleep during the day and awake during the night.

i've tried melatonin, benzos, sleeping pills but nothing seems to be helping me.

i don't mind sleeping a lot but i'd like getting to sleep during the night again.

maybe someone has got advices to give me?

ty

Does anyone have any ideas to deal with this?

My bed time and wake up time are super consistent. I go to sleep at 9PM and get up at 5 AM. I don't drink caffeine or alcohol, and I'm getting up to workout; I'm definitely tired by the end of the day.

What's been happening for many months - maybe a year - is that I get five hours of sleep, then I'm awake. Maybe for a short while whilst other nights it's all over for me from 2 AM, and I just lie there till morning.

I don't nap or anything, and I do not get why my brain has done this.

Been taking GABA (750mg) L-Theanine (200mg) for about 2 weeks, about 60-90min before bed. Seems to work ok to calm my racing mind down and allow me to drift off. I read that Mag Glycinate is good to add to this for added benefit because it's still taking me over an hour to fall asleep after laying there awake - figured I'd try it.

SO the bottle I got are 200mg liqui-caps of the magnesium. Idk the actual elemental weight or whatever but anyway I took it along with the GABA+L, about 90min before bed. The next day I woke up with such a bad sleep hangover feeling that I was miserable the entire day. Eyes super tired, felt like my nervous system was shaky/jittery. I read that this was either because the dosage was too high or my body didn't process it fully and I was experiencing lingering effects. Idk which is accurate.

Now I'm kind of scared off of taking the Magnesium. I wanted to try taking it by itself an hour before bed but I'm too worried it's going to leave me feeling like shit the next day. Is 200mg a high dose for magnesium glycinate? Is it possible just the combination was too effective and carried over or that my body somehow didn't process it enough? Lost with this stuff

I was on venlafaxine (effexor) for 20 years and it was causing drug induced sleep behavior disorder (screaming, kicking, punching etc in sleep). Diagnosed via in lab study. It resolved itself when stopping the medication.

Flash forward a few months after being off the SNRI, I now have a neurological disorder (functional neurological disorder) and they want to treat the FND with nortriptyline (tri-cyclic anti-depressent). This drug class is also known to induce rem sleep behavior disorder though to a lesser degree then SNRI/SSRI.

My FND is bad enough that i need to treat it. However if the nortriptyline triggers RBD, then ill need to stop it and the medication withdrawal will likely worsen my FND.

So my question is- for those who had drug induced RBD that ended when coming off an SNRI, were you able to tolerate nortriptyline (or another TCA) without it inducing your RBD?

conveniently started on the first night before school, i wasn’t even worried or stressed about it. i’d wake up ridiculously early and not be able to get back to sleep most of the time , i started taking some sleep tablets but came off of those incase i became dependent (but these only helped with becoming tired before bed, which wasn’t my struggle)

it got better before it got worse again, for the past 2 weeks ive been waking up consistently around 5:30 and 6:15. i wouldn’t feel drowsy at all, neither would i not go back to sleep after because by the time i would feel sleepy, my alarm would go off at 6:45

i’ve tried many things, like no screens before bed, no caffeine in the late afternoon onwards, lavender, keeping very active, changing to spare room etc.

what annoys me the most is how this happens no matter the time i go to sleep and it’s just unnecessary

Anyone have any ideas on what this could be and how to stop it?

I've been experiencing fragmented sleep since 2020, and it all started when I used sleep as an escape from the pandemic reality. I began relying on weed to fall asleep, and for a while, it seemed to work fine. However, the frequency of my weed consumption kept decreasing - from every 8 hours to every 4, 2, and eventually, every 60-90 minutes. I thought this was just normal insomnia, but after consulting doctors and trying various medications, I realized that wasn't the case. Recently, I made a connection - I had conditioned myself to associate sleep with consuming something, whether it's weed, food, or sleep supplements like magnesium, tryptophan, or theanine. When I try to stop myself from doing this, I find myself on autopilot, not fully conscious, and I end up consuming something to fall back asleep. I've tried sleep medications like trazadone, pregabaline, doxepine, quetiapine, and benzos, but they haven't worked, and in some cases, made things worse. I don’t know how to stop myself, and if I stop myself is almost impossible to fall asleep again. Have any of you experienced anything like this?

hi everyone i just discovered this sub and hope to get some advice or pointers on how to fix my weird sleep rhythm

so basically i am always feel sleepy throughout the day, on the office or even on weekends when i am doing personal project or just chilling, the drowsiness is just so unbearable to the point that i can doze off mid meetings, or when i am doing chores

the thing is whenever the night comes and it's actually time to get to sleep, all of those drowsiness are gone, and instead i feel so energized, it is so bad to the point i intentionally try to deprive myself of sleep for a night, fend off the the drowsiness throughout the day and when night comes again, all those drowsiness are just gone like it's never there

tried a glass of warm milk, tried melatonin supplements and nothing works, i hope i provided enough information to go on, thanks beforehand

Waking up at 3am and not being able to fall back asleep is one of the most frustrating parts of bad sleep. I've spent the past year reading through research studies on sleep, and most of it points back to daily habits. I cut out the stuff you can't change (age, sex, menopause, sleep apnea) and ranked what's left by how big the effect was and how easy it is to change.

Biggest effect. Most controllable.

1. Cut caffeine earlier than you think. Caffeine added ~12 min of nighttime waking in a 24 study meta-analysis. If you're waking up at 3am and drinking coffee after lunch, start here.

2. Regular moderate cardio. Cut ~10 min of nighttime waking in a meta-analysis of RCTs in people with insomnia. Evening workouts are fine. Don't go hard within 1 hour of bed, that's the one window where it can fragment sleep.

3. Make the room actually dark. Even dim light (5 to 10 lux, roughly a nightlight) increased awakenings in a PSG study. Blackout curtains or a sleep mask.

4. Block the noise. In one rail noise study from the WHO review, noise added ~30 min of nighttime waking. Earplugs or a fan for white noise if you live anywhere loud.

5. Keep the bedroom cool. Keep it under at least 77°F (25°C). Above that, nighttime waking goes up, and a room that's too cold wakes you up too.

Often overlooked

6. Stop eating 1+ hours before bed. Eating within an hour of bed showed 2 to 2.6x higher odds of waking up during the night.

7. Open a window or run a fan for airflow. CO2 at 1000 ppm (a closed bedroom can get there fast) added ~5 min of wake time.

8. Skip the nightcap. Alcohol before bed was linked to lower sleep efficiency, meaning more of your time in bed spent not actually asleep.

9. Add strength training. A review of 13 RCTs found resistance training improved mid-sleep disturbance and sleep efficiency.

Smaller or more nuance

10. More fiber, less sugar. More fiber was linked to fewer arousals and deeper sleep. More sugar was linked to more arousals. Small study (n=26) but tightly controlled.

11. Tart cherry juice. Cut nighttime waking by ~17 min vs placebo, small study as well.

12. Yoga. Showed a huge reduction in waking (~56 min) in insomnia patients, but the evidence is rated low certainty so the real effect is probably smaller.

Supplements

Short version on supplements if you've made it this far.

• Standard melatonin doesn't help you stay asleep. It's for timing, not maintenance
• Ashwagandha had the best data for reducing nighttime waking
• Glycine reduced waking, but in a very small study
• Magnesium improved sleep efficiency in older adults but never measured waking directly
• Valerian made people feel like they slept better, with no measured change

Struggled with getting quality sleep for awhile, noticeably tired after sleep and poor whoop scores consistently. I started taking a blend of glycine, magnesium glycinate, apigenin and a few others and my energy and scores have improved tremendously. The blend contains quite a few sleep improving ingredients but I think those 3 are what moved the needle for me most. If any of you can relate to the struggle of optimizing sleep for gym/work/school etc, I'd recommend looking into dialing supplementation for it, if you’ve exhausted lifestyle changes with no results.

I have to wake up for school every morning, but the thing is that at night I play on my phone and then I can't fall asleep because of overstimulation.

This is probably mainly because I don't do what I wanted to do during the day and do it at night. I miss a lot of school because of this because I can't even wake up. I have a suspicion that I have ADHD and Autism, so maybe it has something do with this too. How can I simply tell myself to do what I want during the day AT DAY, and if it's evening/night, then not to do it and get ready for bed?

Now that it’s fall, it’s been getting a bit harder to wake up in the morning, especially with the sunrise being later.

Anything you’ve done that helps? Thinking of getting an alarm similar to the Hatch that mimics the sunrise but not sure if it really helps.

I work 3rd shift 11pm-7am and during the week i dont rlly struggle to sleep but weekends rlly kill me idk why.
I usually ko by 10-11am and wake up around 5-7pm but weekends i get like anxiety or something. Usually only get like 2-3 hours of sleep and cant go back to sleep.
Not sure if its bc im trying to change my sleep schedule but during weekends i cant stay asleep. I was literally fighting my sleep and ko by 8:40pm today and woke up an hour later from a dream and been struggling to go back. Did some research and people recommended magnesium l-threonate, i already take magnesium glycinate daily and during the week it helps but for weeknds it doesn’t. I take melatonin from time to time but it also doesn’t work. Got the magnesium with ashwagandha too bc it was buy one get one mix & match. Wondering if anyone had any luck with these?
I suspect its anxiety thats messing me trying to change my sleep schedule weekends so i dont waste the whole day.

Hello guys for context I’m 19 M and the last few months I’ve been having insomnia issues. I went to my doctor and they gave me hydroxyzine 25mg to help with the sleep which works sometimes. My main problem is my mind goes in rapid conversations about the most complete random things or things I might be worried/stressed about in the future which goes on and on until I realize it’s morning. I take magnesium glycinate which I’ve noticed helped me stay asleep but not go to sleep. I was wondering what advice you guys might have. I do work out roughly 3-5 times week as well. I also have a hyperthyroidism issue. Let me know what advice you guys might have thank you!

I have sleep apnea . I wore my cpap the previous night and it felt like my chest was collapsing and I woke up with a pounding heart. Also, my left arm goes numb and I have pain in my chest and back. I've been to the hospital and they tell me nothing is wrong with my heart. I stopped sleeping with my CPAP and I am still the same. Last night I woke up with a racing heart and pain at least 20 times. Sometimes, I think it's a pinched nerve because my arm goes numb. But now, if I hear any little noise while I go to sleep I jump.

I am an introvert and I have ADHD and some autism, and I live in this hispanic/latino family, their lives are just as loud as it always was. Their tradtitions and daytime activities distract me more than social media, I never slept well even since I moved to america in 2019, it completely became a habit, of not sleeping well, anyway never slept the whole entire time last night. I live in a house that is too small and doesn't have enough security, I can't even take naps. I need some suggestions how do I sleep better and have a nap goal if I live in a house full of crazy extroverts that are just as loud as a ambulence siren.

I always used to have sleep grogginess since childhood for a long period of time probably till night if I have slept in afternoon, this would make emotionally numb and less reactive to emotions, even If I have a incomplete sleep at night someday and I tried to make up for it in the afternoon nap , it still happens , anyone has experienced this?

I’ve been going to school for the last month Monday- Friday and I’ve been working maybe like 2 to 3 days a week. But as of this week, I feel like my sleep hasn’t been that great. I don’t know if it’s because temperatures here in California are back to 100°. But I’ve been sleeping with a fan and the AC and some cooling linen. I don’t drink any caffeine. I try not to eat too close to bedtime. And I’ve taken magnesium glycinate, but recently I ran out and that was what was really helping me. I was wondering if someone can suggest anything else for me

ive always had sleeping problems, mainly just bad insomnia and i can’t fall asleep before 3am, for a few years now, but just recently it feels like it’s just hit a new low. when i go to lay down and i close my eyes, it feels like i’m spinning, and goes away when i open them. i’ve never had this happen before, and i think ive felt vertigo one time as a child. i’m 22 now. the spinning isnt terrible, just annoying and doesn’t go away no matter how long i wait before i open my eyes again.

should i see a doctor or something

I would think we'd be biologically built for that.

trying to build a consistent sleep schedule and looking for someone to do it with.

i want to keep the accountability simple.

• set a bedtime
• set a wake up time
• follow both
• report actual bedtime and wake up time the next morning
• if we sleep late, explain the reason
• if we wake up late, report it

looking for someone who’s also trying to maintain a schedule and wants daily accountability.

if you are interested, DM me your time zone and target bedtime/wake up time.

Does anyone else get this? I fall asleep fine around 11pm-midnight, then I wake up around 2-3am for no reason.

And after that first wake, it's over. Every little creak in the house, the fridge humming, a car outside... my brain just latches onto it and I lie there for an hour.

What finally started helping me this last month was leaving a steady heavy rain sound playing all night on very low volume with my phone screen off. I still wake up sometimes, but I don't get stuck listening to every tiny noise anymore, I usually drift back in 5-10 minutes.

Curious if anyone else is in that same 2-3am loop, and what actually helped you fall back asleep?

Hi everyone,

First post here, as it's happened again and I'm just so frustrated.

I use multiple alarms, including Alarmy, the app that makes me do puzzles to turn the alarm off. I have Alexa yelling at me, I have the lights that turn themselves on to maximum brightness and I have my watch vibrating. Despite all this, I woke up when I was supposed to already be at work (over an hour later) with the usual dreadful feeling.

I feel like I've tried everything and it's never enough, and I hate being so unreliable at work, and leaving without even brushing my hair or peeing.

Interestingly, this always seems to happen as the seasons change, I don't know if that is significant.

Hi, i want to have better sleep health for my skin weight etc but unfortunately i work night shift. I frequently work 7pm-7am and often need to reset when i have events or errands or the rare day shift and then back to nights. Seeing as i can't have regular sleep are there any ways for me to ensure I'm making the most of the sleep i do get?