Hour of the wolf

[MiM]

"The hour between night and dawn. The hour when most people die, when sleep is deepest, when nightmares are most real. It is the hour when the sleepless are haunted by their deepest fears, when ghost and demons are most powerful, the hour of the wolf is also the hour when most children are born."
-From Ingmar Bergman's Film HOUR OF THE WOLF
(urbandictionary)

I believe that idiom might not be much used in English, but I believe almost anyone who has ever struggled with late night insomnia will understand it instinctively.

"When the sleepless are haunted by their deepest fears". It would be interesting to know more about why everything feels so utterly hopeless and difficult during that specific time (for me it's approximately 3-4 in the morning). Yes that's when our metabolism is at its slowest and the night at its darkest, but how does all that translate into such utter darkness of the mind?

Nowadays, my best way of fighting that specific wolf is the body scan. Not that I always succeed, but if I can get enough grip of myself, so that I can turn over on my back and start concentrating "right big toe-right foot-right ankle-breathe,breathe,breathe-yes I have those thoughts, feelings and fears, they are ok to have- breathe-right big toe..." and start that over as many times as it breaks down, I will usually have calmed myself down enough to fall asleep again by the time I reach the pelvis - and that is a real blessing.

What about you? Do you sometimes lay awake at the Devils hour with a howling wolf clawing at your heart? And if you do, have you found any remedies you would like to share?

[Peter]

It's all chemicals *wink*. The major contributors are serotonin (the feel good hormone), and melatonin (a sleep hormone). In the evening serotonin cascades into melatonin; the more serotonin made during the day the more melatonin at night (the better you'll sleep). During the night the serotonin levels keep dropping, so in the morning it is at its lowest (we feel our worst). Then, in the morning the reverse happens: melatonin cascades into serotonin, and we start feeling better.

What I do if I wake up in the middle of the night? I try a very short while to fall asleep again, doing the four stages of mindfulness breathing or something. If it doesn't work pretty quickly, I stop fighting it, and get up, and try to enjoy it; watch my favorite television program or something and get something to eat and drink that I like. Then after a while I might feel drowsy, and I go to bed again; usually I fall asleep right away.

Peter

[MiM]

Ah - of course! Thank you, that does explain it nicely. I didn't know that serotonin was depleted by melatonin production. That also explains why those wakeful nights can get so much worse when alcohol is involved, as alcohol already messes up the serotonin system.

A quick google told me that melatonin isn't turned back to serotonin in the morning. Once the melatonin is used, the molecule is spent, and the body has to build up new serotonin every day.

[fabiG]

I can definitely relate to this problem. When I'm not feeling well, I usually wake up at 4 in the morning (it's incredible how often it is exact 4 o'clock) and then the night is over, because my thoughts are coming to my mind like a cascade. Since practicing mindfulness I try to accept the way it is because normally if you WANT to sleep, you will NOT sleep. And so far my sleep has improved much, I still wake up now, however, now I am able to fall asleep pretty quickly. But it is definitely the time where the mind is at its most irrational

[Happyogababe]

I am regularly disturbed in the night (by snoring) and early morning. Last night was particularly difficult and was around 2am. Initially I struggled to focus on body scan (as the snoring was loud) but little by little I gained a bit of calm and focus and eventually (when the snoring eased off a little) I fell asleep.

I am utterly exhausted today. The feeling that I noted strongest during the disturbance was that of helplessness, I just didn't know what to do. I was so tired and was in a lovely deep sleep before I was awakened. The sofa kept coming to mind but I always end up in horrible pain if I spend the night there.

I definitely had the sensation of the 'hour of the wolf' even though it was earlier than the wolf time.

Thanks for posting this, it helps to know that I'm not alone in the early hours

[fabiG]

I think this is one of the problems that everybody has. It happened to me this night as well, thinking about something which shortly disturbed me. I fell to sleep again very shortly and now I can't even remember what I was thinking the night....almost funny, just shows you how strange this is

[Happyogababe]

I actually slept very (very) well last night. What a change that was.