Why You Can't Sleep More Than a Few Hours (2023)

FAQs

Why can't I sleep for more than a few hours at a time? ›

Stress. Poor sleep environment caused by loud noises or light. Too much caffeine. Back pain.

Anxiety, stress, and depression are some of the most common causes of chronic insomnia. Having difficulty sleeping can also make anxiety, stress, and depression symptoms worse. Other common emotional and psychological causes include anger, worry, grief, bipolar disorder, and trauma.

Reasons this might happen include drinking caffeine or alcohol late in the day, a poor sleep environment, a sleep disorder, or another health condition. When you can't get back to sleep quickly, you won't get enough quality sleep to keep you refreshed and healthy.

Some People Have a Superhuman Strength: Only Needing 4 Hours of Sleep. These “short sleepers” don't necessarily do it by choice—they're genetically programmed to require less shut-eye. Short sleepers are people who do well with about half of the shut-eye that the rest of us require to function.

Nocturia is a condition in which you wake up during the night because you have to urinate. Causes can include high fluid intake, sleep disorders and bladder obstruction. Treatment of nocturia includes certain activities, such as restricting fluids and medications that reduce symptoms of overactive bladder.

The inability to fall back asleep after waking up is medically known as sleep-maintenance insomnia. Studies have found that anywhere from 10 to 60 percent of people experience insomnia. Other forms of insomnia can cause: difficulty falling asleep.

Tips to help you stay asleep

Avoid heavy meals, alcohol and stimulants (coffee or smoking) close to bedtime. Exercise daily, but not too close to bedtime.

Insomnia in children can begin at any time, from infancy through adolescence, and in some cases can develop into a long-term problem. Symptoms can include: bedtime refusal and struggles going to bed.

Don't eat or drink alcohol 3 hours before bed. Stop working 2 hours before bed. Get away from your screens 2 hours before bed. Hit the snooze button zero times.

Does melatonin help you stay asleep? ›

Your body likely produces enough melatonin for its general needs. However, evidence suggests that melatonin supplements promote sleep and are safe for short-term use. Melatonin can be used to treat delayed sleep phase and circadian rhythm sleep disorders in the blind and provide some insomnia relief.

Anxiety or depression

Stress can make it hard to get to sleep in the first place (that's called sleep-onset insomnia). But anxiety can also cause you to wake up in the middle of the night and have trouble getting back to sleep (called middle insomnia, or sleep-maintenance insomnia).

The pattern of short sleep usually begins in childhood or adolescence and continues into adulthood. Researchers believe it may develop due to a gene mutation. This mutation may be what enables people to function well on fewer than six hours of sleep each night.

They found a rare mutation in the ADRB1 gene that was being passed through the family. Family members who inherited one copy of this mutant gene had a shortened sleep cycle. The ADRB1 gene codes for the β1-adrenergic receptor.

Elon Musk says he is "fairly nocturnal" and only sleeps about six hours a day. The world's richest man made the comments during an August 5 episode of The Full Send podcast. He said he usually goes to sleep at about 3 a.m. and wakes up after about six hours at 9 a.m. or 9:30 a.m.

Limit your intake of fluids two hours before bedtime

You'll also want to limit alcohol and caffeine, which are bladder stimulants, throughout the day. If you're struggling with nighttime urination, cut back to just one alcoholic beverage, or none at all, and decrease your current caffeine intake.

Best times to check. You don't have to look in the toilet bowl every time you urinate to keep tabs on your health. Clayman recommends you check twice a day — first thing in the morning and right before bed. Morning is when your urine will be most concentrated.

Nighttime urination is likely excessive if you get up to use the bathroom twice a night or more. During sleep time, your body produces less urine that is more concentrated. This means that most people don't need to wake up during the night to urinate and can sleep uninterrupted for 6 to 8 hours.

If you wake up at 3 a.m. or another time and can't fall right back asleep, it may be for several reasons. These include lighter sleep cycles, stress, or underlying health conditions. Your 3 a.m. awakenings may occur infrequently and be nothing serious, but regular nights like this could be a sign of insomnia.

What are the bad side effects of melatonin? ›

Middle insomnia describes a difficulty maintaining sleep after initial sleep onset. For these individuals, sleep is fragmented with frequent awakenings at night. Middle insomnia is commonly associated with neurological syndromes (e.g., RLS), pain syndromes, or depression.

Most likely, you're still tired after eight hours of sleep because of these three factors: (1) you don't know your sleep need, (2) you're not taking into account your sleep efficiency, and (3) you carry sleep debt.

It's not always clear what triggers insomnia, but it's often associated with: stress and anxiety. a poor sleeping environment – such as an uncomfortable bed, or a bedroom that's too light, noisy, hot or cold. lifestyle factors – such as jet lag, shift work, or drinking alcohol or caffeine before going to bed.

Treating insomnia typically involves sleep-inducing medication, cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-i), or a combination of both of these measures. Positive lifestyle changes may alleviate symptoms for some people, as well.

Examples of conditions linked with insomnia include chronic pain, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), overactive thyroid, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

The hours a child spends sleeping gradually diminishes to about 11 hours by the time they reach the age of four, and continues to decline until the adolescent years, when a teenager requires only nine hours of sleep. Children and teens generally spend more time in a deep sleep than adults.

“Acute insomnia, whether you are given a medication for it—that is, a sedative to help you sleep—or not, does go away in weeks to months, usually less than three months,” said Dr. Rosen, even if you do nothing.”

In general, though, people should aim to fall asleep a few hours after dark and wake up within the first hours of sunlight in the morning, where possible. General guidelines indicate that the average adult needs about 7–9 hours of sleep each night.

What is the best time limit for sleeping? ›

You can figure out the best bedtime for your schedule based on when you have to wake up in the morning and counting backward by 7 hours (the recommended minimum per night for adults). For example, if you need to be up by 6 a.m., you should consider winding down before 11 p.m.

Biphasic sleep is a sleep pattern in which a person splits their sleep into two main segments per day. They may sleep longer at night, and then take a nap during the day. Or, they may split their nighttime sleep up into two segments. Biphasic sleep is also referred to as segmented or bimodal sleep.

You Might Increase Your Risk for Some Health Issues

Even though melatonin is a hormone, not a supplement, it still has side effects and medical interactions, notes Dr. Weiss. "For example, some people might experience side effects after taking melatonin, including drowsiness, stomach aches or dizziness," says Dr.

Do not use melatonin if you are pregnant or breastfeeding or have an autoimmune disorder, a seizure disorder or depression. Talk to your health care provider if you have diabetes or high blood pressure.

Other supplements including magnesium, valerian root, tart cherry, L-theanine, lavender essential oil, and GABA are worth considering as alternatives to melatonin.

One study of older adults with insomnia found that magnesium supplementation at a dose of 500 milligrams daily for eight weeks helped them fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, reduced nighttime awakenings, and increased their levels of naturally circulating melatonin.

People whose sleep is disrupted by waking up at 3 a.m. can try following healthy sleep tips to sleep through the night more consistently. Avoid caffeine and alcohol: Both caffeine and alcohol are associated with disrupted sleep, especially when they are consumed later in the day.

Insomnia, the inability to get to sleep or sleep well at night, can be caused by stress, jet lag, a health condition, the medications you take, or even the amount of coffee you drink. Insomnia can also be caused by other sleep disorders or mood disorders such as anxiety and depression.

Stress. Poor sleep environment caused by loud noises or light. Too much caffeine. Back pain.

Sleep deprivation is when a person doesn't get enough sleep. This can be a short-term issue, affecting one or a few nights, or it can be a chronic concern that lasts weeks or even months. Sleep deprivation can happen for countless reasons, many of them harmless, but it's also a key symptom of certain health conditions.

Why am I wide awake after 4 hours of sleep? ›

Finding yourself wide awake after a few hours of sleep, or waking often during the night is called "parasomnia" or "sleep maintenance insomnia," and it's much more common than people think.

Generally, high achievers tend to sleep less, Brager tells CNET. "If you look at US presidents, successful CEOs and military leaders, many report sleeping little but feeling fine and don't need stimulants to stay awake," she says. "Daily sleep needs fall along the bell curve like most physiological processes in nature.

Sleep deprivation makes us moody and irritable, and impairs brain functions such as memory and decision-making. It also negatively impacts the rest of the body – it impairs the functioning of the immune system, for example, making us more susceptible to infection.

A mutation in the gene DEC2 allows for some people to be natural short sleepers. It's every over-achiever's dream: a gene mutation that allows them to function normally with just four to six hours of sleep a night instead of the normal eight.

On the other hand, we have some people, like Oprah Winfrey (8 hours), Serena Williams (7 hours), and Bill Gates (7 hours) who definitely stick to the expert's advice of getting between 7–9 hours' sleep.

Bill Gates

Now, the billionaire Microsoft co-founder gets at least seven hours of shut-eye, and wrote that all people need that much, “even if you've convinced yourself otherwise.”

10 HOURS OF SLEEP AND ONE-SECOND NAPS

It's common knowledge that sleep is good for your brain – and Einstein took this advice more seriously than most. He reportedly slept for at least 10 hours per day – nearly one and a half times as much as the average American today (6.8 hours).

Go to sleep at the same time each night, and get up at the same time each morning, even on the weekends. Don't take naps after 3 p.m, and don't nap longer than 20 minutes. Stay away from caffeine and alcohol late in the day. Avoid nicotine completely.

Wondering why you can't sleep even though you're tired? It's probably due to poor sleep hygiene, circadian misalignment, and/or medical conditions like insomnia.

If you're tired but can't sleep, it may be a sign that your circadian rhythm is off. However, being tired all day and awake at night can also be caused by poor napping habits, anxiety, depression, caffeine consumption, blue light from devices, sleep disorders, and even diet.

Can not sleep more than 6 hours? ›

Short sleeper syndrome (SSS) is a sleep condition characterized by sleeping for fewer than six hours each night. Most adults need seven or more hours of sleep each night to feel rested in the morning. Those with SSS, however, can function normally throughout the day despite less sleep.

If you wake up at 3 a.m. or another time and can't fall right back asleep, it may be for several reasons. These include lighter sleep cycles, stress, or underlying health conditions. Your 3 a.m. awakenings may occur infrequently and be nothing serious, but regular nights like this could be a sign of insomnia.

Being unable to stay asleep is a type of insomnia, too. It's referred to as maintenance insomnia, sleep maintenance insomnia, and, sometimes, middle-of-the-night insomnia. Most people experience some type of insomnia on occasion, usually because of stress.

Examples of conditions linked with insomnia include chronic pain, cancer, diabetes, heart disease, asthma, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), overactive thyroid, Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease. Sleep-related disorders.

An ongoing lack of sleep has been closely associated with hypertension, heart attacks and strokes, obesity, diabetes, depression and anxiety, decreased brain function, memory loss, weakened immune system, lower fertility rates and psychiatric disorders.

It depends on the cause of the sleep deprivation. If it is due to unrelenting insomnia, seek care at the doctor's office or Urgent Care. If you are seizing or hallucinating, get to the ER.

In otherwise healthy adults, short-term consequences of sleep disruption include increased stress responsivity, somatic pain, reduced quality of life, emotional distress and mood disorders, and cognitive, memory, and performance deficits.