Sleeping better but waking up too early

Hi,

I've only been on CPAP for a little over a month. My numbers are consistently low now but I find I wake up every morning at 5:30 am. I can't get back to sleep so consequently I'm not getting enough quality sleep and my feeling of being fatigued, though improved, is not as good as I might hope.

Is this a common experience?

I'm thinking the mask is waking me up so I made some adjustments last night which I posted in a different thread.

Thanks,
Bob

I have the same problem, but when I feel the need I take an afternoon nap (with the machine), though if you're working that could be a problem, plus try going to bed earlier as it can also help, whether or not it makes math sense!

bob007 wrote:Hi,

I've only been on CPAP for a little over a month. My numbers are consistently low now but I find I wake up every morning at 5:30 am. I can't get back to sleep so consequently I'm not getting enough quality sleep and my feeling of being fatigued, though improved, is not as good as I might hope.

Is this a common experience?

I'm thinking the mask is waking me up so I made some adjustments last night which I posted in a different thread.

Thanks,
Bob

That's not at all unusual. In actuality, you're probably getting "quality" sleep (as opposed to being suffocated by sleep apnea), but it's less than you're used to. Hang in there.......it takes some time to get used to this new way of sleeping.
You didn't say what time you were going to bed or how many hours of sleep you're now getting......or whether you were working or retired. Good sleep hygiene is important.

After 10 months or retirement, I'm still on my "work" timeframe and most mornings I'm up BEFORE 5:00 AM. Some things are hard to change.


Den

After 4 months on CPAP, I have tapered off on the amount of time I sleep from 10.5 hours down to 8.5 hours each night. I also get up at 5:30 AM each and every morning without an alarm clock. Of course, I AM retired, but planning to go back into the working world soon, so even though I now wake up at the early hour, I won't trust myself after going to work, so will set my alarm clock.
I will agree with others that going to sleep at close to the same time nightly is having good sleep habits.

Hope this helps,

Rycharde

Hi guys,

Great replies and good questions

I usually get to bed between 10:30pm - 11:00pm, with an occasional 11:30pm, but used to sleep to at least 7:00am or 7:30am. As I said, now I'm up around 5:30am. I'm still working. I take Advair (generic) at night and have found I can't nap, though even when I wasn't on Advair I had difficulty napping. I know I'm feeling a lot better than before I started CPAP but feel if I could get that 1 or 2 more hours in I'd feel great.

Bob

After 6 mos I still go to bed 9-9:30 and most generally can get 6 continuous hours then maybe another 1-2 after I first wake up and that puts me into the 4:30-5:30 time frame. I get tired late afternoon but can get a second wind until I go to bed. Some weekends I may nap an hour or so but that is not regular. I am just facing the facts that I am older and I do not know how much the untreated OSA took from me and have to be happy that what I am getting is better that what I was getting.

Bob007 - This is an Interesting topic.

Waking at 5:30 is normal since my own therapy began working well. But when mask leaks have become a problem, waking up gets harder. Also I think it is quite common to go into a deep and often 'heavy' sleep if one tries to stay in bed once waking normally.

To me getting when I wake up seems to provide the better days.

Perhaps you can train yourself to shift that waking time a little ? - don't know how possible that might be ! - anyone else ever tried adjusting when you wake ?

DSM

I too am finding I wake earlier and usually before my alarm. I go to bed around 10-10:30pm and get a full 8hrs sleep, I'm also finding if I stay in bed after waking that I go into a very deep sleep for about and hour or so.

As was mentioned earlier its all about the quality of your sleep and not so much about how long you sleep.

I've been on cpap for 3 months now and last month I went thru a few weeks of waking up at 5 or 5:30am everyday. I couldn't get back to sleep so I found myself getting up and doing things as I had lots of energy. That only lasted for a few weeks though and now I'm back to sleeping for 10hrs and not feeling like getting up anymore. Not sure what happened there as my numbers are the same.

I'm also new to this, but am also concerned about how long I'm gonna be in getting that energy surge people mention. However, I have had a change in sleep pattern and wonder if and how it is related. I'm retired and widowed so I can sleep as long as I want. One thing I've always enjoyed is being able to drift back asleep after waking, but that is gone now. I wake up and AM awake for the day as my dad used to say...no more drifting again. My mask fits and it was easy for me to adjust, but I don't like this turn of events. I am sleeping fewer hours also.

Pat

I have been using a cpap for about three months, and every night I wake up between 2am and 430 am.
Sometimes I can get back to sleep, but often I am awake until 5am. I have been in the habit of waking up at 6am for the past fifty years, but 2am is just too much.

If you want some help, give us some info...machine and mask type, pressure settings, whether you take any meds (and which), do you eat or drink before bed and/or have you ever had a problem with acid reflux? So many variables to consider.

It took me about 3 months to stop waking at 5 AM, I think it was because for the first time in 30 years I was getting some quality sleep so I would awake because I was used to so little true sleep. After 6 months I am now at 8-9 hours nightly.

I've been doing therapy for 2 1/2 months.

Although I've had many problems, the first day and every day since, I wake up when it gets light outside. This is extremely unusual for me.

Before therapy, I had been sleeping for 10 - 18 hours almost every night. Since therapy, I haven't slept past 8 hours and have done fine with 4 hours, though I do get tired sooner with fewer hours.

This is a brand new paradigm. Once you start actually breathing all night instead of...not breathing, the world is a very different place.