Waking, unrelated to CPAP therapy?

67 yo male, healthy, active, and 15 year CPAP user. I believe that the therapy is working well and has for quite some time, my AHI is routinely around one or two only.

I find myself falling asleep immediately and sleeping very well until about 3am or 4 AM, and then wake up wide awake. I am done either awake or getting very poor sleep after that.

I know it may not be therapy related but wondering if anyone else experiences anything similar, and have found any success? I feel my sleep Hygiene is very good, for example, I stick to a regular bedtime, I don’t eat or drink much in the evenings, I stay off the electronics, etc.

Any ideas or feedback?

Welcome to the Sleep Maintenance Insomnia Club. We've been waiting for you to join us!

My wife and I have both experienced this since our 40s, so for 20 years or so. Growing up, I also remember often wondering why my father was often awake and reading books or magazines in the early morning hours.

I typically wake up sometime between 2:30 and 4:30 AM (earlier is preferred), get out of bed, get a drink of water, look out the windows into the darkness surrounding our rural property with the lights off, use the restroom just because I'm up, climb back into bed in the dark, and then read a good book on my e-reader in night mode for an hour or so until I eventually start feeling sleepy again. Then I typically sleep lightly for another two hours or so, depending on the timing of my first waking. About half of the nights my wife is either similarly awake and reading too when I wake, or when I fall back asleep.

In our house we refer to it as "first sleep" and "second sleep". The only solution that has worked for us is to plan our sleep schedules around it. I.e. for 8 hours of desired sleep we need 10 hours of sleep opportunity. That's been a lot easier since we retired 5 years ago. (It was a lot more challenging during my later working years, which involved frequent business travel, conferences, and meetings etc. in an international program management role.)

What Is Sleep Maintenance Insomnia and Why Can’t You Get Back to Sleep?

Awake at 4 a.m.: Treatment of Insomnia With Early Morning Awakenings Among Older Adults

lastmango wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 10, 2026 12:53 pm

Any ideas or feedback?

was this happening before cpap?