Damn - Waking up at 3:30 to 4:00 am

For the last couple of months, I've been waking up nearly every day at around 3:30 or 4 am and immediately start thinking about work challenges. So, I move to the couch in the tv room and try to take my mind off of things and maybe catch another hour of sleep. The economy is making work very challenging and stress is high, but man, I need a little more sleep!

No point to this rant, really, just an early morning, sleep-deprived rambling rant :cross:

Don't know how badly its affecting you, but about Feb of 2008, work stress culminated in a series of panic attacks for me. I had moderate to severe anxiety 24/7 for months, occasional panic attacks, and for about 9 months I couldn't have a drop of alcohol without experiencing high anxiety.

Tried meds - BAD IDEA. Took 2 doses and quit.

People react to stress in different ways, and maybe you'll never experience this stuff, but if you do, it can be beat.

It helps to focus on the worst possible scenarios. Speaking as the sole breadwinner for my family who has just been laid off, you're job is not the most important thing in life. You are probably not one step away from homelessness.

I drank a lot of chamomile tea, you might try that. Don't drink much during the day, though, I found that it made me kind of spacey and forgetful.

People don't understand how serious anxiety is for the sufferer. If you are having it, find someone who's been there to talk to about it.

Excercise to burn off that nervous energy and stress might help.

+1 on exercise. It's something us homebrewers should be making an extra effort in anyway

welcome to my world been this way for 5 years .Cant take Ambian or other meds like it SWMBO would find me in the basemant or Garage at 4 or 5 in the morning and I had nomemoryofit the next day. So what I do is keep a bottle of Simply sleep on the nightstand I chew the tablet and a swig of water. Your mouth will go numb but I fall back asleep within 20 minutes .

I've had early morning disease for decades. It was handy when I was working a regular job, because I would just go to work early and deal with problems from the East Coast and Europe. Not useful these days.

No, exercise doesn't help.