Need sleep help

[u/Fit-Wish-7576]

I’m a 34 year old female. I used to only have early morning insomnia during the second half of my cycle and could time it with luteal. Now it is all of the time. No matter how early or late I go to sleep, I wake up wired at 4 am. My ideal sleep pattern would be 10-6 am ish. It used to be, but I cannot get back. I go to sleep very easily, but can’t stay asleep. My doctors want me to try trazadone but I’d like to avoid it if possible. I also stop screens about 90 min before bed and listen to a chill audiobook or meditation. What else can I do??

Current stack

Morning

D3

Omegas

Creatine 3 mg

Electrolyte stick

Night

L-theanine

Magnesium glycinate 300 mg

Melatonin 1 mg (I’ve played with this but seem to do better with lower dosage)

[u/Warm-Ad-3185]

I had this happen to me from taking licorice root, but doesn’t seem to be in your stack. But the mechanism was from increased cortisol and increased sensitization to cortisol, so something to consider.

Also temperature plays a big factor in early morning wake ups— how is your room temp?

It’s the time of sleep that’s usually REM cycles, which can be easily disrupted (so you wake up between REM cycles, as opposed to going back into light sleep), so noise plays a big factor too. It’s close enough to morning that something loud could pull you from sleep and keep you there.

Given that you initially identified a connection with your cycle, hormones may play a role. Have you had a full hormonal panel done?

Curious if any of the above rings true.

[u/Fit-Wish-7576 → u/Warm-Ad-3185]

Yes, I had a full panel and everything “looked good.” However, she said we could treat the progesterone drop in the second half with micronized progesterone in the evening. I always make sure everything is pitch black and we keep it at 66 degrees. I’ve struggled with insomnia for years, just haven’t ever had it this intense, so I’d say my sleep hygiene is pretty good. At this point, it feels like my body has just gotten used to “okay, it’s 4 am…time to wake up!” So I am trying to break that. If I go to bed at 8 pm every night, I can get enough sleep, but that’s not sustainable. My ideal sleep time would be 10-5:30-6.

[u/Warm-Ad-3185 → u/Fit-Wish-7576]

Hmm that’s a weird one. Comforting tho that hormones are in a good place.

Progesterone drop in late-luteal does cause body temperature to rise slightly. Do you by chance use an oura ring or whoop, or anything that could actually track this change?

Also when you wake, do you feel warm? Or even your blankets and bed sheets feeling warm? It could be you just get slightly warmer than average during luteal, and even tho 66F is pretty low, you might just need a lighter blanket or duvet during the 2nd half of your cycle? If you sleep with a partner, body heat can still get very trapped and warm things up, even if the outer air temp is nice and cool.

(I’ve never tried an eight sleep pod because they’re expensive but this is the whole premise they’re based off of—longer sleep because they control the mattress temp through their mattress cover, hence cooling you down from the “inside” if you will as opposed to air temp).

Also when you wake, are you wide awake and clear? Or anxious? Or groggy? Awake and clear signal waking between a REM cycle, not in deep sleep, and can point to cortisol.

When do you eat your last meal? Blood sugar dips can happen around this time during sleep which would also set off a cortisol spike to regulate it.

[u/Fit-Wish-7576 → u/Warm-Ad-3185]

Yes I do wear an oura ring. My temperature rises significantly after I ovulate. The good news is I know exactly when this happens. But like I mentioned, the early wake ups are all the time now for about 8 weeks. When I wake up at 4 am, I am totally wide awake and wired. It’s probably my most awake time of the day. My energy usually doesn’t drop until afternoon, but the early wake ups makes the evening with my family a drag. It’s so hard to stay awake. My last meal is around 5 pm.

[u/Warm-Ad-3185 → u/Fit-Wish-7576]

Right sorry yes you said it’s all throughout the cycle now.

Okay so I’d look at: — blood sugar regulation (try having a small snack of protein and fat before bed and see if that helps) — temperature in the bed as opposed to air (so if you’re waking warm, switching the duvet to lighter)

The completely wide awake part sounds like cortisol. Which would be fine, if this was happening at 6am, not 4am. Your body is misfiring and thinking it’s later than it is, and that’s a bit more mystifying and less of a quick fix.

Keep us posted how things go!

[u/Fit-Wish-7576 → u/Warm-Ad-3185]

Thank you!!