9 ms·

A couple of times a week, I wake up at 3 or 4a & can't go back to sleep for a couple of hours. Does anyone else run into this? What approaches did you take to

• kisielk 13y ago
  Happens to me from time to time. Usually I get up and do stuff. One of two things happens: I find I don't get tired and so I just get a really early start to my day, or else I get really sleepy again an hour or so later and just go back to bed.
• chrisro 13y ago
  Yep. I used to call it "waking insomnia" before I learned about segmented sleep. It's likely a remnant of our ancestor's approach to sleep, which was in two parts--first and second sleep. I'll wake 4-5 hours after first falling asleep with a period of 2-3 hours of wakefulness before I feel sleepy again. Unfortunately I'll begin to feel sleepy again within an hour or about the time I need to wake up for work. Sometimes I can catch an hour or two of sleep, but it's the hardest sleep to wake from and I feel like I'm dragging the rest of the day. I personally just tough the day out, though sometimes I take a sleep aid (usually one 25mg dose of Benadryl) before going to bed as a preventative. New York Times about First and Second Sleep: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/opinion/sunday/rethinking-sleep.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/opinion/sunday/rethinking-... Wikpedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep