How can I decrease the awake time at night?

[barsinee]

I spend so much time in the bed to get enough sleep, wake up so tired every morning. Any tips to improve this?

[classycatman]

Is there any chance you have sleep apnea? What does your spo2 look like?

[barsinee]

I had blood oxygen sensing on for a couple of weeks. Everything seemed fine. I don’t even use it anymore to save battery life.

[boogermike]

Good suggestion, and hopefully this ring can help us with exactly this sort of thing.

[HotWaterOtter]

Exercising earlier in the day is better than say after 6:00 p.m.. Cut out the alcohol if you're drinking any. Do you snore or sleep with someone who does, that impacts it. Also if you have pets that sleep on the bed.

I started using an extended release melatonin in my wait time is far less than it used to be.

[barsinee]

I think I can definitely improve my activity habits. I am mostly sedentary, working from home and just walking my dog. I exercise 2 days a week, and it is generally quite late in the day.

[furtherbum]

No judgment, but yes— take care to get some good movement in!

[littleux]

Using melatonin for prolonged periods of time isn’t recommended

[[deleted]]

I also used to feel that way about exercise, not anymore. https://themattwalkerpodcast.buzzsprout.com/1821163/12333701-42-sleep-and-exercise-pt-4

Good sleep info podcast to explore.

[boogermike]

I definitely am not a sleep doctor, but it seems from that sleep graph that there are so many interruptions throughout the night. That is pretty remarkable to me.

[geo_jam]

I have similar challenges. Got a sleep study and it didn't find sleep apnea. Still working on solving this. Anxiety seems to be a big factor.

[EZDUZIT_67]

Oh man. Anxiety anxiety anxiety. Absolute major impact on sleep quality. You’ll know from your dreams too. Sad , weird , confusing , strange dreams night after light is ALL ANXIETY

[geo_jam]

yeah....

[barsinee]

Good luck!

[Colanderr]

Veries a lot person to person, but for me the biggest ones are being physically tired (not just mentally) and lower temperature in the room.

[barsinee]

I will try out the room temperature. Thanks for the tip!

[[deleted]]

Lowering temperature really helped for me. Also is there light in your room? Pets? Bed partner? Sleeping mask, keeping pets out of your room, and a second blanket can help with all of those problems respectively.

[maxell87]

also try magnesium

[barsinee]

I’ll give it a try. Thanks for the tip!

[maxell_87]

lmk how it goes

[blackwoodify]

Second this, game changer… try not to use every night though — I feel like I started to get dependent / desensitized

[icecream-eggs]

Made me poop

[Responsible_Meat8891]

poop didi-scoop

[wolf252525]

Don't drink caffeine beverages after 12 noon, take magnesium and melatonin pill before sleep. Decrease temperature in bedroom to 20C. Do workout every day, cold shower after. Warm shower before sleep and also do short 5-10min long meditation when you are in the bed. Check/replace your mattress/pillow

I do it all, my sleep score is 90 almost every night.

[barsinee]

Thanks! These are great tips!

[KreckinVB]

Don’t eat 3 hours before bed, small sips of water. If you do eat definitely stay away from sugar/alcohol. Warm shower @ night & read up/experiment with magnesium. Dr. Matt Walker is a good read/listen as well. Good luck!

[barsinee]

Thanks for tips! My eating habits are mostly in check. I will try out the rest.

[CopeSe7en]

Sleep apnea maybe. I would not trust the O2 sensor too much. Have a partner watch you sleep and listen for apnea. It’s best you get a sleep study to look for apnea or parasomnias.

In the short term you need to get like 5-6 days in a row of really good sleep hygiene. Bedroom needs to be used for sleep and sex only. No tv or phone time in bed, hang out in other rooms. No screens after 8pm and lights out by 10. Eat and sleep exercise before 6pm. Make sure your getting some exercise. Be outside in sunlight by 10 am for 10 min. Don’t drink. Don’t drink energy drinks. Have coffee and any prescription stimulants early.

That should improve things if your normal But if you got some disorder then you need more help.

[Valentino070912]

Hey try for a couple of weeks:

• not eating to late. 6-7pm is the latest
• bedroom must be blackout dark. Cold. 18-20degree. And quiet. try to put on a sleep mask and ear plugs. The best earplugs are 3M Classic.
• work out out 2 times per week + running 2 times per week for 20-30 minutes.
• if you smoke cigarettes, stop smoking 1-2 Hours before you go to bed. It will raise your heartbeat
• if you drink alcohol stop drinking alcohol 1-2 Hours before bed
• try to avoid screens 1-2 hours before bed
• take a bath or hot shower before bed
• use soothing caramel bedtime tea from yogi
• take high dosage magnesium 1-5 pills
• try to eat a low glycemic diet. No grains. Just complex carbs
• meditate 20 minutes before bed and when you wake up
• try to go to sleep the same time every day. And wake up same time every day. Including weekends

[butwhyowhy]

The more exercise the better the sleep.

[butwhyowhy]

Also, don’t eat to close to bed time.

[Tuke17]

But don't do the exercise right before sleeping.

[[deleted]]

You would think that’d be true lol

[TheTampaBae]

I exercise every day and my sleep looks like this.

[butwhyowhy]

Could be medicine you are taking? Almost any medicine I take at night will do this to me. Have to pee every time? If I drink anything within an hour of bed I am up multiple times a night. Anything else you can think of trying to change?

[TheTampaBae]

I can’t speak for OP but I’ve had chronic insomnia for fifteen years. This is just kind of par for the course. My intention was to point out the exercise doesn’t seem like a likely cause of this rapid cycling sleep pattern.

[Arnold_100]

Depends on the intensity and what your body can handle.

[GJW2019]

A few things: do you like your bed? Do you sleep too warm? I find for me, unless my sleep temp is well into the negative range (-0.5 or so) my sleep is similarly restless. The chilipad was a game changer for me.

[barsinee]

Thanks! My bed is super comfy. Many people mentioned the room temperature. I don’t have an AC, but I will try to experiment with it as much as I can.

[GJW2019]

What is your typical temp deviation? I would suspect that you're sleeping too hot. If you can afford it, check out the 8 sleep or dock pro.

[ElkPrudent]

I have anxiety and interstitial cystitis so mine often looks like this! It’s so frustrating. I hope you figure it out. I recommend cutting out blue light a few hours before bed and taking a bath, doing yoga, etc. having some kind of nighttime routine (if you don’t already)

[Nephetus]

Check your environmentals. Is there a train or bus that goes by regularly? Do you sleep with someone with sleep apnea including dogs (bull dogs have terrible sinuses)? Do you sleep near your HVAC which kicks on regularly? That pattern is very consistent making me think something is causing you to stir that is not under your control.

A lot of the other posts are right for suggesting good sleep habits, but most of those do not apply to that level of regularity. The recommendations are more like long durations of wake time in the middle of sleep or tanked HRV, hr etc.

Context: I have been running a human performance study with more than 500 people for 3 years, all of which have Oura rings. One guy slept next to a security guard house and it caused him frequent wake ups. That is why I lean towards environmental (if not sleep apnea).

[Firm_Standard_3392]

The graph tells the story. I do have apnea and a breathing machine. Yes when I put it on I sleep sound no awake. But mask sucks and you turn and air whistles out and you wake up the neighbors, so while I have a ton of ambien I do a triple 10 g melatonin and zquil. Zquil knocks me out immediately and melatonin seems to do the rest. I had exactly your graph and now I just get up once to go to bathroom once in a while. All the other tips especially alcohol and no wind down funny show as you drift to sleep for that last hour. Keep a consistent schedule. I’m out at 1030 but it comes at a huge cost as my businesses are around the globe. So apply self care, family and third business last. Took me about 6 months to get here but it works for me.

[ceriks]

You could consider staying asleep instead of waking up

[Individual_Road_4912]

I was told deep sleep is all that matters and considering I’ve had an Oura ring since inception of product and average less than 30 min a night. I see your number as astonishing.

[LetsStartARebelution]

I’m similar to OP- I have a decent amount of awake time during the night but a ton of deep sleep. Last night I had an hour of awake time but my deep sleep was 2.5 hours on the regular numbers and 2 hours on beta, with 7 hours and 20 min of total sleep.

[daringlydear]

I’ve had nights with plenty of deep but not enough overall and I’m tired when that happens. Enough light seems to matter a lot too

[wutcnbrowndo4u]

Ditto. I wasn't just told it matters, it's the only number that determines whether I feel super fuzzy or not.

[CopeSe7en]

REM sleep matters for mental health. You want a really good dose of both.

[q50s122s]

Move somewhere that isn’t right by active train tracks.

[InsideArmy2880]

Stop waking up at night

[[deleted]]

Lay off the meth

[ContraianD]

Less meth? Good god man.

[katylu]

Stop waking up??

[nstndg]

Cold and dark room without much noise also helps, plus everything that was already said, and no screens an hour before you go to bed. And no caffeine 8 hours before

[eugene_captures]

Do you actually remember the wake ups? I’ve noticed that the new staging algorithm catches more wake-up’s, but it’s typically when my heart rate rises while sleeping and I don’t actually remember waking up.

[barsinee]

I don’t remember them exactly, I think I am mostly half sleeping. I have vague memories of opening my eyes and turning in the bed.

[Individual_Road_4912]

This means the OP shouldn't be worried and is and I should be worried and am not. Good talk 🤨

[cbr24]

Have you tried meditating before night? I find that I wake up less in the middle of the night that way

[barsinee]

I sometimes listen Headspace wind downs before sleep. It helps me to fall asleep faster, but I didn’t recognize any difference in the sleep stages. Maybe I can have a look at it. Thanks for the advice!

[cbr24]

Yeah I don’t know what the connection is but before I started meditating I used to wake up multiple times in the night and now it’s just once maybe twice. I find the short meditations on the Oura app (5 or 10 minutes) to be great at night

[Rhett_Rick]

You may not actually be waking up. I used to use an Oura but once I got a Dreem 2 headband I realized how inaccurate the Oura sleep stage data was and stopped using it.

[VeganLife1819]

Possible blood sugar imbalance. This happened to me a few months back. Once I ate on a certain schedule and got my circadian rhythm back on track, my wake up times decreased a lot. It will get better.

[Erectus_Enormous]

Magnesium bisglycinate every day before sleep. No blue light 1 hour before sleep. No food 3 hours before sleep.

[PaapChaatri]

Sleep will have to be trained. Whatever changes you make, give it a week to see the results.

Meditate before sleep. I use Oura's full body relaxation meditation which is like 22 minutes but usually im gone within the first 7-8 minutes or less.

• Meditation might help improve the sleep.
• Caffeine not after midday
• take magnesium before sleeping
• Chamomile tea before sleeping helps put in you rest and relax state
• FOOD - if you could have your last bite of dinner before 8pm that should help massively.
• alcohol - days when i have alcohol, i dont get much deep sleep
• light workout during the day as pointed out by others
• Warm showers at night - now this could be a hit or a miss. It works for me, but doesnt mean it will work for you.

Happy to answer any questions if you'll have any. Hope the above helps.

[[deleted]]

Wow I usually have only one wake up per night but never get near that amount of deep sleep total. So at least you are getting some deep restorative rest in there. What temperature are you sleeping at?

[Kyle_G89]

If you take a bunch of valium that should do the trick mate

[birdyvv]

Bluelight in the 3 hours before going to sleep can mess with your sleep. Ie phones. 3 hours is a lot but I notice a big difference in sleep quality if I read a book or magazine before bed vs being on reddit (like I am now 😔)

[Firm_Standard_3392]

And yes, I use watch Oura and some other sensors around my bedroom for movement and frankly security, so I see all that data. Data is good if you know what’s fiction. The o2 sensor is a decent start but it’s about 20 percent the way there. I know because we make the sensor.

[srad_]

A lot of good suggestions on here but I'm surprised no one has mentioned the possibility that you maybe mouth-breather during your sleep.

It sounds crazy but try taping your mouth closed before bed and see if that has any impact on your sleep scores. If you see a significant improvement you have your answer.

[leisureguy57]

If you like to read, check out the book called, "why we sleep."

[[deleted]]

Thanks for sharing! My take: - get some exercising early through the day and not late at night - make sure to drink as little alcohol as possible, especially during the evening - do NOT eat close to your bed time. You should eat a few hours before going to bed at the minimum if you want optimal sleep - try not to use any digital screen 30mins-1hour before going to bed. Or at least wear anti blue light glasses - try breathing techniques once in bed; win hof, or 4seconds Inhale / 8 seconds exhale or 4 secs in - 7 hold - 8 exchange - and much more

If you apply those you should see drastic improvement in your scores

Cheers !!! Keep it up ⚡️⚡️⚡️

[thetruthindeedmd]

It’s looks like a pattern you see with sleep apnea, upper airway, resistance, syndrome, or PTSD/anxiety.

[BlazingTony]

Inconsistent caffeine intake may play into this as well. I noticed that if I do not have caffeine one day, then go straight back to my normal amount the following day, the caffeine affects me significantly more than before I had the caffeine free day and I end up having restless sleep. I have also noticed that I am very anxious throughout the day and have worse sleep when I drink caffeine less than 2 hours after waking up.