Insomnia? or a weird bodyclock?

Well I've been to bed and slept for a full half hour, but up again for a walk. One leg and one arm leaping about uncontrollably and now I have hiccoughs. Hoh Hum .

I see there is frost on the car, first this autumn. A clear, moon and starlit night. I'll need to be up before 10am to collect DGD from nursery school, give her lunch, take her to gymnastics, bring her back and then maybe collect DGS from school at 3 depending when DD gets back from a funeral in Kirkcaldy. That's the nearest I can get to a yawn. Not calling this morning yet so I'll say goodnight and try back to bed again.

Help!!!

[Bold Liz] haven't got the hang of these symbols yet.....

Hope your cold goes away soon "Liz". Housework doesn't appeal..Fancy that! I'll try to nod off. Comforting to know someone else is out there at this hour

Well I guess I'll get up and do the washing and ironing .What else is there to do other than have a [ brew], eat chocolate and hope it doesn't get on the bed covers. ....

Morning Kate. That sounds like a good text, seems like your DGS enjoys chocolate too. I was woken up by my cold and now can't switch off again. Busy day tomorrow (today) preparing for DGD birthday so must try to get some sleep or I shall be a limp rag. Hope you manage to doze off again too.

Morning sleepless ones .Here we go again. Anyone out there to share a cuppa with?Head won't stop thinking and I've already eaten a whole block of chocolate. DiL still friendly and we had a longer text conversation last night plus a photo of DGS making a chocolate cake (making? well picking all the chocolate off the top ). DH snoring away. Doc's later today. BP too high .

I'm thrilled to read these posts now I know I'm normal. Like most of you I used to sleep like a log but for the past 5+ years i'v had trouble sleeping. What works best for me is no matter how tired I am inever go to bed before 11.30 then at least I will sleep till about 4.30 ish. I look back with great nostalgia to the days when I could sleep for 8 10 hours and still struggle to get out of bed. I just accept it now. Although I do worry a little when every now and again some new research says bad sleepers die earlier or are more prone to get certain diseases. But mostly I'm too tired to get too worked up about it!

I often wake in the night. Reading helps me also. I usually manage half an hour and then ready to nod off.

No second sleep for me tonight/day....have builders coming to look at gutters, and I suppose I have to tidy up the pots that have blown all round the garden - but not yet!

I notice a pattern to my night waking, especially if there is something on my mind that I'm not really aware of..
Wake, go to loo, feel sleepy enough to go back to sleep. Put the light out - and immediately am wide awake. No obvious cause, but after several more visits to the loo (whether I drink or not!) I find that my mind has fixed on what's troubling me.
Often then I can read for a bit and then sleep again. Or maybe not.

I tried a second sleep to no avail. Am now creeping about the house as we've got visitors.
If I wake up my sister in law she'll start talking and won't stop till midnight. ....

Yes I've heard of that. Seems it was a common idea in Samuel Pepys' day.

I often think of it for comfort when insomnia hits.

Off for my second sleep now (hopefully).

I usually manage 4 hours proper sleep from when I turn out the light but then like Grateful, watch the hours go by slowly on the alarm clock. I've tried not having it in the room but then worry about what time it is!

Has anyone read about the theory that our body clocks are set to have two sleeps in the night, with a break in the middle. There are references to it being a common thing, in some literature.

Just registering that I am awake

I felt pleased just now when I checked my alarm clock to see I'd made it through to 5 am.

My head just won't switch off and I've been awake since 4am. Nuisance. Guess it's learned behaviour or refusal to relax?

I sleep quite well, but maybe once a week I wake up and that's it. Like now. I am so sorry for those of you who are like this all the time, and especially those who work! I used to be up round about now, ready to hit the road at six...at least going back to bed is an option now!

Thank goodness for my tablet PC I say

storynanny it's interesting that you mention being able to sleep deeply between 5am and 10am, as I have found they are the best times for me too, along with 5pm - 10pm! Sadly I can only indulge in that during school holidays, and then only on the days when I'm not GC minding or doing respite for a pupil, so maybe once or twice.
As for the 6 hours sleep, I think I worded that wrong...I'm in bed for 6 hours, asleep for some of it, but wake a lot, cursing the alarm clock when I see it's only an hour since I last looked.
Last night was a prime example, went to bed at 10pm, been to the loo 3 times, changed channel on telly twice (have tried without TV but can't bear the silence), watched 3,4 and 5am go by, and finally gave up at 6am.
Hey Ho!

Gratefulgran, I would be beside myself with joy if I had 6 hours sleep in a night!

PS I realise in my case it must be a menopausal thing. Maybe it will pass, like things passed when one went through puberty and eventually gets back to "normal" or maybe that is wishful thinking

I can join this club. The day after I hit 50 i stopped sleeping. I used to be able to sleep like a log for at least 8 hours. But suddenly that stopped and I only ever sleep a maximum of 2 hours in a row at night. Often I cant drop off to sleep until 3am and then am awake at 5. Ive tried absolutely everything under the sun in the last 7 years bar going to a sleep clinic or being hypnotised.
I dont know how I got through the working day with 30 6 year olds on a couple of hours sleep.
Its slightly easier now im semi retired as I do find I can actually sleep quite deeply for about 3 or 4 hours between about 5 am and 10 am so ive had to adapt my lifestyle to fit!
Apart from hormonal treatment which I cant take due to severe migraine problems ( according to my doctor its not a good thing to take HRT with migraine problems due to stroke risk) i dont think there is an answer and Ive eventually come round to the idea that I will just have to live with it and go with the flow.
Annoying so my partner can sleep for England and is in a deep sleep within 2 minutes of getting into bed.

Most nights I sleep 2-3 hours and feel lousy all the time. Then for no reason I will sleep 5 hours for a couple of nights, and I get excited, thinking I've cracked the problem, then it's back to the old no sleep again. I've had heart surgery this summer, and I'm sure I would have recovered much quicker if I'd been able to sleep.
BAnanas - I watched David Tennant the other night, and it was horrible and scary. At the end, I thought to myself there's very little on telly for me. I HATE watching violence and crime.

BAnanas that is also the only time I am guaranteed to sleep like a log...when there is something on that I really want to watch....never get to the end
The other time is during one of my beloved Grand Prixs (thank god for Sky+), my excuse being I am so caught up in it all, I have passed out from exhaustive concentration lol

I used to sleep the sleep of the dead, hit the pillows and then 8 hours later it was morning time. Then the menopause hit and now it's horizontal hokey cokey, limbs heat up, flop them out until they get too cold, then back in again, seems this "in out in out" goes on all night for me. My husband tells me I do sleep because apparently I also make strange noises now, something else new it's all good! I have also become pillow obsessed I often wake up stiffed necked have tried just one only, memory foam type currently on goose feather at the moment can't say it makes a lot of difference. I know when I do sleep, usually when I particularly want to see something on TV, I slept through a very good, allegedly I don't know cos I'd nodded off, David Tenant drama on Tuesday, will have to get it up on IPlayer now.

I only sleep about 6 hours a night. I try to be in bed around 10pm on weekdays and get up around 6am. Between those hours I probably wake up a couple of times and lay awake for about half an hour. Although I get up at 6am I'm awake from about 5.15 to 5.30.