I wake up after 4 hours and can't fall asleep again for the past 6 days

[Oblivion656]

Okay for the past 6 days. I go to bed, I have no trouble falling asleep. But what happens is this, I wake up 4 hours later. Then I can't fall asleep again. If I take no pills, it will take me approximately 2 hours and 33 mins to try and fall asleep again. Then after that I sleep for 4 hours. I only really need 9 hours of sleep or 8 hours of sleep. But I go way past when I want to wake up. Not to mention frustrating for me to sit there for 2 hours and 33 mins to try and fall asleep again.


Problem is now, to remedy the problem I take 12mg of diphenhydramine when I wake up. This usually works, it takes me 1 hour to fall asleep after I only sleep for 4 hours. Friday it worked wonders, because I went to bed at 8 am, woke up at 1:00 pm. Then fell asleep again at 2:00pm, and woke up at 4:30 pm.

But today it worked disastoursly. I went to bed at 9:15 am, woke up at 1:20 pm. It only took about 1 hour and 15 mins to fall asleep. but this time I woke up at 8:30 pm. That is 11 hours of asleep I didn't need. And I felt a bit drugged up aswell. I had my alarm clock set at 5:00 pm. I don't know if I woke up at 5:00 pm, but I kept setting the clock further ahead. Sometimes I don't even wake up when the alarm clock is set.

I don't know what's going on. I never had this problem before. And if I did , it only lasts one day. I should be able to go to bed at 8 am and wake up at 4:00 pm, or 5:00 pm. That's my usual sleep schedule. Sometimes if I do get up 4 hours later, I can fall asleep easily (in the past). But now I can't. I'm not working or anything, I don't have any un-needed stress right now. I use to work the night shift, that's why I'm on this sleep schedule. But it's not the sleep schedule that's the problem. It's every night I go to bed at 7 am or 8 am. And wake up at 1:00 pm or 2:00 pm. Then can't fall asleep again.


Diphenhydramine makes me over sleep. I tried diphenydramine before I go to bed, that seems to work, but it makes me over sleep. And it's a temporary solution. As you probably already know, if you keep using it. It will eventually stop working.

I need some advice, I'm not sure what the problem is. If it's stress then why the heck do I fall asleep so quickly? If it's excitement, then I'm not really excited for anything to happen the next day, anyways, I have no plans. I'm not playing video games all night either. Just relaxing, doing things on my computer, watching TV, etc.

I do exercise and work out, Tues, Thurs, Sat. I exercise in the morning on a eliptical ( I started doing this 2 weeks ago). And then on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday I work out with weights.

This is normal routine for years. So I don't think it factors into it? Is it winter depression? It is cold in my room when I wake up. It is a harsh winter. It is usually 55F when I get up in my room. I turn the heater on when that happens. I don't think this is it either, since I have been going through this the whole winter. Maybe my mind has finally snapped because of the winter. It's still single digits and it's March. I don't know if that's it either. I don't feel depressed either. I do feel pissed off about the weather, but that doesn't mean I'm depressed.

I also sometimes take 2 hour naps some days, but that is also been normal for months for me to do. Not sure if this is a contributing factor.

Any advice, would be appreciated.

[Oblivion656]

Yes, thank you. This has happened before when I tried to work 1st shift, from 3rd shift. It can be a real nightmare. Because I literally lost a job for arriving at work late on the first day. (not a good job, anyways) (not a career path). But it was because I took a sleeping pill and my alarm clock failed to wake me up. I don't want to blame other things, I do blame myself. I'm responsible for my failures. But that's what happened. It didn't happen again after I got another job on first shift. I got two alarm clocks. Then I lost that job too. Which was a career path job. Then I just decided to go back to staying up all night and sleeping in the day again. Obviously this wasn't the same problem because I was adjusting from 3rd shift to 1st shift. I always seem to go back to normal, anyways.

[Paderla Anitha, DNB]

Hi, it happens, changes in weather or temperatures can affect the sleep schedules. There is a circadian rhythm for all living organisms. It is a 24 hour cycle rhythm and the biological clock within that individual adapts to this rhythm. If you observe this rhythm, the transition happens gradually, like the daylight subsides slowly into darkness and the sounds too gradually mellow down into the night. These changes condition us and promote sleep. You have set your rhythm in a particular way which suits your modes of work or environment. Good to see you have overcome your problems. Regards.

[Oblivion656]

Not that anyone cares, but for those who do have a similar problem, this is what happened. Problem slowly went away. Took some Alteril, now I take half a pill. Seems to work good. Even though at the beginning I would wake up 4 hours. I would slowly get back to sleep faster. And the problem went away.

I think it might have been my biological sleeping clock. I was busy on the computer checking on things the previous week it started. That's what I think it was. But I had no idea it would screw it up that bad. That's my theory. If there is anymore problems I may or may not report it here.