• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Type 2 Diabetics wake up at 3:00 am ?

Most or a lot of diabetics wake up at 3:am, including myself. I wonder why. Any suggestions to go back to bed ?. My thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I find if I over eat and my sugars are higher than normal, I could be awake most of the night. If my sugars are normal I get a much better sleep.
 
Article from the sleep foundation may be an answer for some

 
Most or a lot of diabetics wake up at 3:am, including myself. I wonder why. Any suggestions to go back to bed ?. My thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I don't know much about it. I don't wake up at that time.
 
I wake up also at 3 am every night without fail. Very strange and I don’t know why. I find it hard to get back to sleep .
 

Thank for your help and response!

There is a lot of info available on this topic on this post, and a lot of people have somewhat similar issues too. I am learning a lot. My thanks to all members.
 
Last edited:
Most or a lot of diabetics wake up at 3:am, including myself. I wonder why. Any suggestions to go back to bed ?. My thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Hi Omar here’s the thing with me. I wake up between 3 and 4 almost always and though I can get back to sleep whenever I have worn a CGM (holidays) it shows my BG starts to rise soon after and by the time I actually get up at 0800 my FBG is high while my daytime numbers remain good. So I could keep my meter by my bed and record FBG when I first wake but I don’t really want to do that if I am not getting up. Last night unusually I slept through to 6am and my FBG at 0800 was significantly better than usual. As. Long as my A1c tests remain good I really shouldn’t dwell on FBG on rising. This diabetes lark keeps throwing up curved balls.
 

Hi PenguinMum, sometimes I wake up at 3 or 4 am, and my fasting 0800 hours are completed and I test my FBG. Sometimes I go back to bed, sleep for a couple of hours and then test. One way or the other my FBG and my A1c is in non diabetic range.
Thanks a lot for your help.
 
I used to wake around then. I quit drinking a few months ago and now normally sleep right though - unless my young kids have other ideas!
I quit drinking a few months ago and unless my Libre wakes me I sleep through the night .
 
Hi@LivingLightly.
I wake up at night to pee, sometimes twice a night and sometimes I sleep till 5-6 am. I am pre for about 14 years (no meds). Seems like it’s connected to my diabetes. Thanks for your help .
Pre diabetes for 14 years gee you obviously no your food lifestyle
 
I've had type 2 for 30 years now and my control has been good since going low to medium carb 6 years ago. Sleep has always been a bit of an issue for me so waking every night isn't unusual, what is, is that its almost the same time every night and the difficulty in going back to sleep. Once my brain switches on I can't turn it off again.
 
This happens to me off and on - I know through my local low carb group that it also happens to folks who are not diabetic . For some of us, me included, it's linked to a sharp drop in BG followed by an equally sharp rise which seems (in my case anyway) to be the start of dawn phenomenon. It also goes along with nightmares and heavy (really heavy) sweating.

I can't explain the reason for the sudden fall (although I'd guess my liver is up to something) - and there seems to be little or nothing in the literature about it. If anyone has found anything, please link it here. Before widespread CGM use (and in particular Abbott's free CGM trial) I don't see how I could have detected it. By the time you wake up properly and test, the fall is over and BGs are climbing.

My A1c has been around 36 for over four years and I rarely get a fingerprick reading anywhere above 6 these days. Until the CGM trial, I had no reason to think it was linked to BG in any way. I tend to think whatever it is has an impact on BG, rather than my BG itself being the cause.

I'm attaching a CGM graph from a non-diabetic individual that shows the 3am BG fall very well.
 

Attachments

  • qx33jcdnd9x81.jpg
    96.3 KB · Views: 89

I was diagnosed pre about 14 years ago. Maybe I was pre diabetic before that. Today I got my A1c 5.3 mg/dL. Same 5.3 for the 3rd time, same in non diabetic range. My control has been good since I am going low carb.

Sleep has been a bit of an issue for me too. It’s getting a little better now. I get up twice a night to empty my bladder. I also wake up at almost the same time every night.
 

I found mixed HRT worked for me. Now dr took it away I’m awake most nights.
 

Somewhat I have the same issue. I sleep 3 to 5 hrs on average. It has a lot to do with my life style, living arrangements. At least 2 times a night I have to get up to empty my bladder. Night sleep is very important and I don’t think sleep is a major issue for me. I focus more on how to control my BG w/o meds. Good luck to everyone!
 
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…