Posted by F43 on September 04, 2009 at 09:19:23:

In Reply to: Not feeling so brave today posted by velsor on September 04, 2009 at 06:43:11:

It's possible to have both. There's a few of us here who have mainly sleep onset insomnia but occasionally develop transient early morning awakening. It's very frustrating. Insomnia can be a devious animal.

I haven't figured out why my early morning awakening appears from time to time--there's no clear pattern. But, I do find that if I increase my exercise from whatever I'm currently doing, it usually resolves quickly. The other technique I use it to have some food with protein and fat (a piece of cheese, a glass of soy milk) when I do wake up in the AM. That usually conks me right out.

Don't despair. You body is responding to some stressor. Did you change your routine recently? I'm sure whatever is going on, this will probably not become an established pattern. Just let it happen and tell yourself it will eventually resolve. Try getting a little more exercise during the day, or, increasing a relaxing activity in the evening. (I am a strong advocate of intervening with the body to resolve insomnia. But still, we don't have much control over our body's processes, so at some point, we have to accept that our body will do what it wants to do.)

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