Is it a normal part of aging to awaken at 2:45 in the morning? What the heck am I supposed to do (at 3 a.m.) if I can't go back to sleep?

Our body produces Melatonin (the sleeping medicine).this is done every 45 min. ideal one should go to bed before 10 PM. lights all blue light should be off by 9 pm. there are few cells near both eyes which notice the darkness and then allow your body to produce Melatonin. If you miss this time, then you need to wait for another 45 min. At 2 am -3 am the brain starts preparing your body to wake up by asking the liver to produce glucose from glycogen. this is for every one. If you set up your room dark and close your eyes may be use white noise, then you may go back to sleep. you may have to wait till the next 45 min to get the dose of melatonin injected. It is natural. no need to get frusterated.

Should I buy melatonin?

Tiger,
Here is just a downright c r a z y. answer for you, believe it or not. It was not my idea.
But some believers think that we are awakened (2-3 a.m.) in order to pray for someone. Maybe they are far away. Who/what comes to mind when you first awake?
Pray for them, what else do you have to do at that hour anyway?

Tiger, if I find myself awake in the very wee hours of the morning, I turn on the TV and look for something boring to watch, like C-SPAN :P

I think not being able to sleep comes from Menopause. I have nights I sleep until I wake up to go to the bathroom. I find if I have had maybe 5 hrs of sleep its harder to get back to sleep. Less, I can usually go back. Closer to sun up the less likely I will be able to go back to sleep. I usually take a couple of Advils. I have where my legs ache sometimes.

I have had insomnia my whole life, now I take sleep aids a road I wish I never took.

But here is what I use to do. Get out of bed, the longer you stay in bed the more frustrated you become. I would read a book, write, clean my house, and sometimes clean a friends house when she was sleeping (she lived down the street from me), watch tv, or baked. Now, if I should wake up in the middle of the night I just spend that time with the lord because I usually fall back to sleep within an hour. Meditation works really good or it did for me at one point.

There is a lot of stuff about how we have two sleeps per night. Prayer books were published in the 1600 and 1700 hundreds for use during the waking period. If you are on a farm like us, you may notice that the animals move around and feed at about 2am as well.

I don’t worry about being awake, and I lie comfortably and tell myself the plots of books I know well. Sometimes I put on a soft and boring CD, or run through my relaxation CD in my head. ‘Lie down on a firm but comfortable surface; cover yourself with a sheet or a blanket’ - I know it off by heart. Resting is not as good as sleep, but it is a lot better than worrying about not being asleep. I am fortunate in having a spare bedroom to retreat to if I am wakeful and restless.

Many people (including me) are prone to sleep ‘habits’, so once you wake at a couple of times at a particular hour, you keep doing it. Sleep drugs are good to break the ‘habit’, but easily addictive so not good long term. Try to enjoy being comfortable - many people aren't.

I wake early every morning also. I read or play games on my phone. I think it has something to do with the aging cycle. There are a lot of over the counter sleep aids that help.

I guess so..LOL I am only 51 and I always wake up between 3 and 5...I enjoy my morning time to have my coffee, relax, contemplate, see the sunrise, go for my morning paper, and to write letters...Yes, when I can't sleep though, and still "want to", I use two teabags of Chamomile Tea to one mug of hot water...that knocks me out for the night. Safe and soothing.

I began sleeping a whole lot less when my late wife began her 6 year journey with vascular dementia in 2008. I was her sole caregiver during that time. Our son lives in Wisconsin, we lived in Suwanee, Georgia, and that's all there was to that. I was a homebuilder and land developer, so early hours weren't new to me. What was new was finding my wife, who was a very independent and successful person, completely needy for 24/7/365. So, I would give her her sleep meds at 10PM, have a couple of hours to do laundry, clean the house, make lists for everything, review her symptoms and behaviors that day and put them in a journal for review by her doctors, organize medical supplies for the next day's use, prepare meals in advance, etc., and (hopefully) go to bed by 1AM. I slept with my left hand touching her, so that, if she moved, I would awaken instantly, which I did a lot. At 5AM, she always awoke immediately, so I gave her a bath, and fed her. By the time that she went Home, on Thanksgiving Day, 2014. My brain was hard wired so that I could function with 3 hours' sleep a day. I remarried in April, 2016. My new bride broke her hip on September 20 of this year, has developed severe emphysema, congestive heart failure, and is on in-home hospice care. For me, my abbreviated sleep habits integrate with my present situation very well. After things run their course, I do look forward to a more leisurely life that will, hopefully, bring seasons of longer sleep. I look at it as a blessing of being retired: I get to sleep when I darn well please. I agree with another respondent to your inquiry: find a productive use that you enjoy for that early AM period of wakefulness. I am typing this at 6:30AM, after staying awake all night, because my wife was having some issues. I will relax by fiddling around with my fishing gear, look into some Bible passages to come up with a sermon outline for Sunday night, eat ham and eggs and sliced tomatoes for breakfast, then sleep from 9AM until 1PM, while our daughter watches her Mom. Then, I'll prepare lunch and dinner. Weaving the unfolding new patterns of our physiology and psychology as life progresses is so much easier than the angst of fighting the natural flow.

After tending my DH 24/7 for 2 years, I no longer sleep straight through and have discovered a mid-day nap to help.

What also helps is now instead of taking my Ashwagandha at 4pm, I take it at bedtime and I sleep very well for about 6 hours. When I add in my morning nap, I am getting the full 8 hours, just not all at once.

We're all here because of the huge elephant in our livingrooms ... dimentia of a loved one. This and its fallout are in my thoughts 24/7. What's next? What will the next phone call being? etc. etc. When I do wake early for whatever reason, there it is! It, and my own problems. If ever there was a time to successfully compartmentalize your issues, an unwelcomed 2am awakening is it!

Prayer, thinking of a boring song, or as a last resort it's 5mg Ambien under my tongue (rapid infusion) because I *need* to be up and sharp for work the next day. Unfortuatly after years of this I believe I'm developing a tolerance to this drug; soon I will actually try accupuncture (has anyone else had success with this procedure?)

I just can't stop my thoughts.

Found what really works for me.:-) After prayers etc, have a talking -not music! CD on low, that will do it. Especially a Pastors sermon.:-)OOPS Will go to sleep and have good dreams. Wake up during the night? repeat above with covers tucked around your shoulders. ZZZZ

Tiger55, when I was diagnosed with clinical depression 20 years ago, one of the questions the doctor asked was whether I was waking at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning. Apparently there is a connection. I went on to take an antidepressant med for six months and engaged in talk therapy, on and off, for three years. Really helped!

If this doesn't fit you, try googling the phrase "sleep hygiene" for lots of good tips, some already mentioned here.

I would be sleeping through the night these days if not for my dog, age 15, who seems to have signs of doggie dementia, bless her heart.

Good luck as you figure this out!

Yes, that is a drag waking up so early. I don't know why that happens, could be physical or mental. Maybe you can get a prescription for some kind of antidepressant. Or maybe ativan might help when you can't sleep. Just .05mg.

You might check with other neighbors. It may be something in your neighborhood.

Even our cats wanted to go out at 330-4 and would wake us up.

My dad takes Melatonin and that has helped him. For myself - I'm 61 and have been back at the gym for 10 years. Working out used to amp me up and all it does now is tire me out. No problems sleeping here.

Our ancestors lived with no light but a fire. The long nights of winter were too long and they would wake up in the dark for an hour or two, tell stories, replenish the fire (probably also have sex while the kids were asleep). Realizing that waking up is natural may help you. If you're old enough to be retired AND not having to care for someone, this can be a great time to get the mail sorted and filed or some other task you have been putting off... then return to sleep after two hours with a sense of accomplishment. You have to find your own solution that works with your life style. So sorry if you have to get up early to get to work or school. (Note: A sleep specialist can change your life because some people are waking up due to a breathing issue that can be corrected. One cue to this: do you snore? If you do, get the test; the test is weird but it works and can change your life.)

I read this in the AARP magazine once, and it works for me. Think of a word (preferably a long one) that begins with each letter of the alphabet, but begin with Z and go backwards. Sometimes I try to think of only vowels, or cities in the world.... whatever I can come up with. It's a tedious process and certainly allows my mind to focus on something besides worries... and it works for me! I usually never get as far as A before I fall to sleep (or back to sleep). I also practice breathing deep and slow while coming up with words.

I am a lifelong insomniac, maybe due to a head injury when I was a child. For 10 years I required Ambien every night in order to sleep, tried many times to kick that habit until finally I did through force of will and a friend who was a good listener and let me just yatter about my insomnia for a while. I slept well with no pharmaceutical assistance for two years, then the stress of this year set me back again.

Now I am finding that a hit of good quality pot is enough to put me to sleep quickly, and a few capsules of Valerian, cheap and easy to find over the counter, keeps me asleep all night. Medical cannabis is now legal in 33 U.S. states. I don't know where you live but if you can access some, look for a strain of Indica...that's the sleepy one :)

Peace and hugs to you as I know this is such a hard struggle!

I've learned that most of our digestion occurs during rest and sleep. I've noticed that when I have trouble sleeping, or interrupted sleep, my tummy feels like it's having a workout. Since stomach acid usually decreases with age, I sleep better when I take a hydrochloric acid (HCL) supplement with or after my last meal. It also helps me when I eat my heavier meals in the morning or late afternoon, and eat lightly toward the end of the day. I try to finish eating by 5 or 6 PM. That seems to help.

I have found that if I get excited to have time to myself and use it to watch extended tv, I pay for it the next day with a grumpy bad outlook.
Also get frustrated when a calm mood flows over as the sun arises. It's like my body saying "the sun is up, the world is ok, you can sleep now." LOL
Also I find that a few moments after I awaken at 3 a.m. it's my stomach screaming about being empty. I simply can not sleep if I am hungry, in spite of so much advise to not eat after dinner.

I feel your pain, I’m 48 and this has been an issue with me for years. I’d love to take “sleeping pills” but I’m afraid of them. I take melatonin around 9:30- 10pm and I also play cds of nature sounds very softly. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

I cannot sleep in a room that is not dark, esp if the light comes from a TV.

DH WON'T sleep in a room w/o the TV on.

Guess who won that battle? I sleep downstairs and will as long as he chooses to have that 42" monster in the bedroom. Also, he is VERY deaf and has the TV turned up VERY loud and so the noise comes through the ceiling--OK. let's just say it's beyond annoying and thoughtless. (Too many nights in hotels have set this pattern up for him)

I take melatonin, and sometimes a 25-50 mg of seroquel--but I have to go right to bed. NO TV for me, and if I read, I read books NOT on my Kindle. I still wake up 4-5 times a night and I know that's terrible sleep health---but it's just me.

A LOT of what awakens me is the noise from the TV upstairs--DH will NOT move the TV next door to the den, refuses and it's not worth the arguing. He can sleep anywhere, through anything and thinks I should too.

Earplugs, eyemask, white noise machine-----and all alone.

How did we become our parents????

It is normal for someone who is older than 50 has trouble staying in sleep. I’m 51 years old, and since I am in my menopause, I sometimes I wake up between 3 and 5 am due my arthritis. I used to sleep all the way through the nights. I also don’t take long naps. I take power napping. My mom used to take melatonin supplements. I don’t know if it helped her because she had sundowners, and she kept getting up at night.

https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/guide/aging-affects-sleep#2-5

I do not have any trouble with waking at night (sometimes my hours get jumbled up, as in if I have a tedious/busy day dealing with mom or other nasty issues, I sometimes have trouble staying awake, so nap late afternoon or early evening and then am up until 2 or so, depends on when the nap happened and for how long.) My sleep is like being switched off for the night! I can wake in the same position I fell asleep in! A little noise (cat retching for instance) can wake me up easily, but getting back to sleep or bigger noises are usually no problem - sometimes I will resort to a book, but usually lose my place when I quickly drift off! When I was much younger, in college, noise from the apartment upstairs would interfere with study, so I would fall asleep and then be up in the wee hours when it was quiet to study! The problem with this is that it can become a habit. If this is your body's new routine, it can be hard to break, but it can be done! I certainly had to readjust once out of school.

Tiger55 - you mentioned "I had a fan during the summertime, which was great 'white noise'. " Someone I worked with eons ago got so used to the fan that she used it every night all year round. Perhaps you could try using it even though you don't need a fan so much in winter?

If none of the suggestions made here by others work for you, perhaps a sleep test would be in order. If you live alone, there's no way really to know if you have snoring or breathing issues, so you may have to investigate that. Otherwise, just find ways to relax, focus on something else other than "I can't get to sleep!" and see what works for you! Clearly there are others who share your woes, so you know you are not alone, but you do need to find resolution, whether changing habits or exploring a medical cause.

I use to have insomnia bad and woke up at 4 am every night. I'm a naturalist so I researched and found out that magnesium helps with anxiety and relaxation, so I started taking Remag Brand Liquid Magnesium in a shot of apple juice every night and 98% of the time Im sleeping like a baby through the night. Also have your Thyroid checked. Sometimes issues with it can cause sleep disturbances. Melatonin is good to try too, but from a reputable health food store. No junk from Walmart. Go the natural route! ;-) Good Luck!

Don't take those all-so-tempting mid-day naps.
Don't 'doze' on the couch while watching TV in the evening.
Be sure to get some kind of exercise daily for a minimum of 30 minutes.
Don't drink or eat after 7pm.
Set your alarm for 7 hours to 7 hours 30 minutes.
Take a OTC magnesium pill 20 minutes before you go to bed.
Open a window for cooler fresher air.
Less activity requires less sleep, a good solid active day allows us to sleep better and longer.

And if all that fails, get up and have a peanut butter sandwich with many other boomers in the country! ;-)

Watch tv or listen to radio, or read a book.