who else can't fall or has trouble falling back to sleep after an early wakeup

Who else wake early and then have trouble or can't go back to sleep? I woke up at 3 AM because my nightguard was bothering me (some nights it does, other nights it doesn't) and couldn't go back to sleep. I guess at least I fell into a restless sleep from midnight to 3 AM after getting up to use the restroom. I felt like I wouldn't but finally did. Anyone else up at an ungodly hour tonight/morning (I guess)?

Been up at 2-3am most nights for about 3 weeks. I go to bed at midnight if I go any earlier I just lay there awake. I did wake at 3am today then fell asleep for an hour at 8am. Been lying in bed for a couple of hours. Today is going to be long. Just a note I am manic though lol

Right now 4am feels early. Of course, being in California I'm sort of on the trailing edge of the world. Everybody else is getting up to start the day, or already has done. (Hello Miss Laura. Hello Raging Vortex.)

I have a very difficult time going back to sleep. The older I get the more I have to get up for the bathroom and I rarely go back to sleep if I haven't taken something for sleep.

On my current med mix, with 600 mg Seroquel XR, I usually do manage to fall asleep, but before it or when the mania is more significant, I do have 1 or 3 am wake ups. When really manic, I have no desire to go back to sleep. I'm usually charged up and do something. However, I do sometimes go through phases when I wake up around 1 or 3 am and have racing thoughts, but am oddly physically tired. During those times I usually eat a yogurt and that helps, or if not, I put on my sound machine to rainfall, fire, or ocean

I'll have to try the yogurt. I already eat it daily because I get chronic yeast infections. Even if I forget the yogurt 4 or 5 days, I'll usually end right back up with a yeast infection. The yogurt is much cheaper and saves a lot of discomfort.

There are a handful of foods known to help with insomnia. There is a list at the following site. Maybe salmon isn't what most people want to eat late at night, but other foods are nice late night snacks. Actually, the article says even eating certain fish at dinner time helps. Other lists also include foods like eggs, oatmeal/muesli, cherries, milk, and others. I've also enjoyed a small bowl of low sugar granola with milk.
Top 10 Foods That Help You Sleep - American Sleep Association

I struggle with this. I fall asleep and then awaken, usually for 2-4 hours, in the early AM. Have just tried Ambien and it makes me too dazed and too irritable all day long. Trazodone is next on the list to re-try.
Chronic insomnia can be very frustrating.


WC

Sleep ??? Not sure what that is half my nights. the other half I wake seemingly every 1-2 hours.

Nightmares make it hard to go to sleep knowing they will come and they wake me nightly.

Typically I lay in bed with my racing mind but I must stay horizontal for minimum 6 hours to let my physical body rest.

I've always had sleep troubles, as far back as I can remember. In addition, my mom tells me I was a poor sleeper as a baby & toddler and never napped, woke at the slightest sound. My poor mom, we lived in an apartment duplex very close to a running, often used train track with a intersection where the train would always blow its horn while my parents were building our house and while I was a toddler and my middle sister a baby.

I remember being so jealous of my middle sister. Around the time I was 4, my mom had us both sleeping in a double bed. We'd talk a bit at night, and then she would go right to sleep. It was never that easy for me, and my sleep problems only got worse from there. In high school, I had lots of nights on 2 hours sleep, maybe; in college, skipping up to 3 days sleeping (not sure if that was the bipolar, the anorexia, or both). Everyone who diagnosed me with major depression claimed it was lack of nutrients from the eating disorder, but I wonder now if it was a part of bipolar, especially since I'd hardly sleep in high school and then overachieve (class valedictorian).

I think my sleep anxiety is rooted in c-PTSD. It often did not feel safe to sleep when I was a child. I still have difficulty settling down to sleep, even when very exhausted. (I did a little better when I'd had my service dog; she has passed on. )
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WC

I have been getting up before 5 when my alarm is at 5:30. It's annoying, especially if I got to bed late the night before. I don't like losing 2 hours sleep out of 6 or 7!

I have found that unisom (doxcylinate type) does wonders.

I have been going to bed at 2 or 2:30 AM and getting up at 6 or 7 AM. I seem to average a little over four hours a night. Once I wake up, I cannot go back to sleep,