waking up between 4-6am every day

Ask a Therapist Is This Normal?
1

After I’ve been diagnosed with IBS, I’ve noticed myself waking randomly between 4-6am every day including weekends.

Because of my temp job, I usually have to wake at 6am during weekdays and I’m able to fell asleep around 10+ near 11pm naturally after meditation/mindfulness. Which sounds normal right? But the problem is I don’t wake at 6am feeling energised.I will wake up suddenly feeling hot/heart thumping/ibs acting up and anxiety will slowly creeps in (mind racing, hands shaking) sometimes around 4am too.

Youtube had taught me it might be because of high cortisol due to anxiety and should not focus on the waking and leave the room if needed. Which is what I will do. I will leave the room and go to toilet and if close to 6am, I will just start my day. Still, every day I feel exhausted. Some say to not force myself to fall asleep at night but I fell asleep fine?

For someone who can sleep from 2-3am to 10-11am before IBS, this just feels abnormal and uncomfortable to me. I’m not sure if this is even a “right” lifestyle with sleeping early and waking early when I always feels exhausted especially when the amount of hours I sleep is ~5-6hours on some bad days and only 7hours on good days.

I tried sleep meditation, turning off all lights, removing clock, lowering room temperature and even tried taking drowsy anti-histamine but I’ll still wake around 4-6am. Youtube says it’s due to cortisol sensing the day awakening but there’s multiple time when I left my room and it’s pitch black because it’s only 4+am.

I get the idea of not to worry about it because it will then cause more anxiety and more likely to wake up but it’s hard to get out of the loop especially when I noticed usually when my fatigue is high up, it’s easier to trigger my anxiety and sometimes IBS symptoms through the day even though I’m already taking meds every morning for them. So I’m really confuse if me sleeping at 10+pm and waking at 4-6am is “normal” or not :face_with_spiral_eyes:

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Hi @proudsheep3633. That sounds genuinely exhausting, and the loop you’re describing.

To answer your core question directly: no, 5-6 hours is not enough for most people, and waking up with a racing heart, hot flushes, and shaking hands is not just “normal early rising.” Those are physiological stress responses, and they’re worth taking seriously rather than just accepting as your new normal.

The most useful next step would be bringing the full picture. The sleep disruption, the physical symptoms on waking and the fatigue to your doctor if you haven’t already. They may not realise how much it’s all connected. CBT for insomnia (CBT-I) is also worth asking about. It’s more effective than sleep hygiene tips alone for this kind of pattern.