Do You Wake Up at 2 am? Is it Depression? Or is it...?Has this happened to you? You go to sleep easily, but 2 am comes around and your eyes pop open. You're totally awake, but you know you need more sleep. You look at
clock and groan - you have to be up at 5 am to get ready for work, and you know you'll be groggy, irritable, and fuzzy-brained if you can't get back to sleep.
Your mind searches for
reason why you can't sleep. You go over your recent fight with your husband, word for word, over and over. Or you agonize over
poor grade you got on that test. You may discover problems you didn't even know you had - not enough time to yourself, too much stress, too little respect from your family or coworkers.
The negative thoughts charge on, and you stay wide awake.
Is it depression? Is it stress? Do you need sleeping pills, or anti-depressants?
Maybe. But before you begin medicating yourself, try this simple experiment. Don't eat any sugar for a week, and don't drink any alcohol after 5 in
afternoon.
You may discover that you can sleep just fine, just by making those simple changes.
If you eat that big piece of chocolate cake or sip that glass of whiskey just before going to bed, your blood stream will be bombarded with
extra sugar. (Yes, I know that alcohol and sugar aren't
same, but they both cause
2 am wake-up problem, for
same reason.)