I keep waking up at 5AM!

I am starting to go to sleep earlier with my CPAP. I want to get more sleep. The only problem is I keep waking up at 5AM. I feel rested but I want to get more sleep.

I don't know if you have other issues or not, but when I started cpap therapy, I was getting quality sleep... thus .. I needed less than before cpap therapy.

Sheriff

Sheriff Buford wrote:I don't know if you have other issues or not, but when I started cpap therapy, I was getting quality sleep... thus .. I needed less than before cpap therapy.

Sheriff

That might be it. Perhaps I am getting the sleep I need. I do feel more clear headed. I just hope to make up for the sleep I lost over the years and feel better, think better, and look better.

Question: Did you snore as a child? I know several cpap users who could peel the paint off the walls with their snoring as kids (including myself). You may just have always needed more sleep because you weren't ever getting quality sleep. If you try going to sleep later, you may find that you wake up feeling refreshed with less sleep.

The whole idea of making up lost sleep is somewhat erroneous. Yes, you can probably make up lost sleep from a few days back. The idea that you'll make up months or years of lost sleep is wishful thinking.

If you still wake up at 5 am (I'm about 5:45) perhaps find a hobby you can do in the dark. I use the early morning hours to meditate and text with my elderly mother who is up even before me.

That has happened to me as well. But as others have pointed out, it may well be that the quality of the sleep that I am getting is so excellent relative to what it was prior to starting CPAP last February, that it simply doesn't matter. I feel great, I don't have that former mid-afternoon slump. It is not quantity, it is quality.

AnotherMe wrote: ....I just hope to make up for the sleep I lost over the years and feel better, think better, and look better.

AnotherMe, a couple of comments. First, I don't believe you said how much sleep you are actually getting. Typically, a reasonably healthy adult needs about 7 hours of sleep per night.

Second, as someone who was separated from my wife during two wars, I know the old saying, "You can get caught up on missed sleep and missed sex in two or three days" is pretty much on target. They are not like a savings account, to be spent from and then replenished. What you missed last week, last month, last year is lost forever. It is history.

Manage your time so you'll have about 7 hours for sleep every night. I'd recommend not beginning with watching tv in bed, or reading a book. Plan so you get used to going to bed to sleep. Don't worry about it, just enjoy it. This is one thing you can control. There are a lot of other things over which you have little or no control. Worry about them.

Sweet dreams!

Coincidentally that's just about the time your body (and most other people's bodies) stop producing melatonin. Should you take a booster dose of melatonin in the middle of the night to carry you thru... again, another good question and fairly easy to test for.

Sometimes a minority of individuals need only six or seven hours. It's not uncommon, as somebody else mentioned. Is there a link or not to melatonin? I'm not qualified to say but maybe someone with some med creds or someone who can do online peer group research can chime in

I can usually make it till 5:30 unless I get to bed very late. I was sick for a few weeks and spent my nights coughing. Right after that I slept about ten hours a night, some straight through, for about a week. Now I am back to 5:30-6:00. It's a bit boring when I look out to the dark of night but it gets lighter every day. When I wake to sun I love it. Go for a walk as soon as you can see, its a great way to start the day!