Over the last week I've been waking up at 3am and then find it really difficult to get back to sleep. Can anyone suggest a relaxing technique that will help?

Cheers.

I get this periodically, normally when I am stressed (even though I don't realise it) My therapy is to change my routine completely. I go to bed later than normal, turn the alarm clock away from view, shut the critters out so they can't trample over me when they realise I am awake. If that fails then I will get up and have a cup of tea, watch tv for half an hour or read, it normally does the trick. Don't over stimulate your brain though as it will have the opposite effect.

You really need to get to the root cause of why you are waking up though. Are you hot or cold, have worries on your mind, not tired enough? The more you worry about waking up the more it will happen so try to relax about it although at 3am that can be hard especially if you have to be up early.

Yeah because I have to get up early to beat the m25 traffic the stress levels increase,as I lie there thinking about getting up/missing the alarm!!
I do tend to go bed early - I'll try 30 mins later tonight to see whether that helps?
Thanks

I have exactly the same problem when I have to catch the train to London for work.

I find that doing something the evening before helps me not fester on the thought of having to get up early / miss the train and going to bed slightly later helps.

Reading before I go to sleep always makes it easier to drift off too.

Telling yourself that it really doesn't matter does help too!

Going to bed 30 mins later really helped.
Had a great sleep and feel really good this morning :) Thanks everso!!

Really glad you had a good nights sleep. Long may it continue.

I would suggest going to bed when you are actually tired and not when you thinks its time.

Im quite good at not sleeping :-)

If I can't sleep, I put my pillow at the bottom and sleep at the other end of the bed.
I've done this for years and it works everytime for me.
Try it and let me know if it works for you too.
:))))

If I can't get to sleep because my mind is racing I try to think of something everyday and boring like the drive to work. Try to picture every part of it as clearly as possible like what cars you normally pass parked in the street, where the roadsigns are, etc. I find this helps me drift off pretty quickly. If your mind drifts off to the thing you are worrying about, drag it back to the journey and continue.

PS I guess the swapping pillow trick only works if you have the bed to yourself? I don't think you would fall asleep next to some blokes sweaty feet!!

Maybe thats what knocks me out. LOL!!!

For the past week, ive been going to bed tired, laying awake for several hours, getting up, going on pc for a few more hrs, then in the wee hrs finally tired and brain almost shutting down, fall asleep..


Its driving me mad now

Try the upside down sleeping, see if it works.

OOO no,,, and smell the other halfs feet

Lavender oil works everytime for me.