What to do when you wake up at 3 a.m

  • Thread starter Thread starter Exoplanets
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Oh man I miss three am shopping at Walmart. All the walmarts in our area have decided the criminal element was too much and all close at midnight now… used to love to people watch and get all my shopping done sans kids.
 
lokisuperfan said:
Lie awake and listen. This hour of night is most often when God speaks to people and grants them answers to prayers. Maybe he’s just trying to get through to you.
Click to expand...
Yes, I always think there is something I need to hear or pray about when I wake up at 3 am.
 
If I’m Up at three and havent slept, I’d consider adoration but if my goal is to go back to sleep I’ll try something in house.
 
No reason to be nervous. The rosary is the most popular prayer devotion in the Church. However, it is a private prayer, and while questions often are asked about how one says it, the responses (often sounding very official) are simply from tradition with a small “t”.

Falling asleep while saying the rosary is no offense to God or to Mary. Saying one decade instead of five is no offense. Starting to say the rosary and getting distracted, or being called away by work, family etc. is no offense, and one has no obligation whatsoever to complete that rosary.
 
mrsdizzyd said:
A rosary would also probably work, but I’d be too nervous about falling asleep in the middle of it.
Click to expand...
A cute legend has it that if you fall asleep praying the Rosary, your guardian angel completes it for you 🙂

I’m in the Vigils/Matins/Office of Readings mindset. But I usually do that at 5:30 am anyway. If I do get up at 3, a quick trip to the loo and a glass of milk usually get me back to sleep for another couple of hours until 5:30 when I get up for Vigils (Office of Readings)
 
Get up and do the laundry, wash the dishes, pack the kids school lunch. Pay the bills. Whatever you would do during the daytime when you were up, that is what you can do now. I find that when I do that, after a couple of hours I’m ready to go back to bed and get an hour of sleep or so. It is so much better than laying in bed trying to go back to sleep.

Edit. Just read the thread and realized you’re only 15. But you get the idea. Just got up like it’s a normal time of the day and do normal stuff. Eventually you’ll be ready to go back to bed.
 
Last edited:
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

Watch Classic Pokémon Episodes from the Kanto Region! 🤓

Only On Pokémon TV​

 
Last edited:
Could I ask for a source to back up this claim? Just curious.
 
I wake up 5-7 times every night which gets a bit annoying but I’ve gotten use to it lol. Usually I pray the St. Michael the Archangel prayer a bunch of times when I wake up because I get a bit nervous/paranoid in the middle of the night and I’m 20YO lol.

Either that and/or I come onto this forum to read and answer some questions!
 
I used to live half a block from a 24 hour donut shop. Getting up and hanging out with police, drinking coffee, eating a donut or two was cool at 3 a.m.
 
otjm said:
Falling asleep while saying the rosary is no offense to God or to Mary.
Click to expand...
Thank for your reminder. I know. I just prefer to say the rosary in its entirety when I do. Nervous was probably the wrong choice of word.
OraLabora said:
A cute legend has it that if you fall asleep praying the Rosary, your guardian angel completes it for you 🙂
Click to expand...
That is a nice thought. I’ll have to remember that. Thank you for sharing.
 
I believe a saint actually said (Faustia maybe?) that if you fall asleep praying a Rosary, Mary finishes it for you.

When I was young like 6YO, I fell asleep praying a Hail Mary while on the couch and my parents told me the next day when they woke me up and I went to bed (which I had no recollection of because I was basically asleep still) they said I was mumbling the end of the Hail Mary prayer which I fell asleep during haha
 
Last edited:
God’s up and probably would enjoy your company. 🙂

I have had several nights of Three A.M. wakings. I learned that was a pretty wonderful time to pray for others. Including those people I wasn’t so fond of. Really. Including one joker who cut me off in traffic.

I sometimes would come here to CAF and pray for the prayer intentions if I needed some direction in who to pray for, and sometimes I’d put on the local 24 hours news because someone definitely needs prayer even if I will never meet them. Car accident, shooting, fire, etc.

Surprisingly I would still get tired and go back to sleep for a couple of hours before our day here began. If I watched movies, I’d often just have a sleepless night.

You could also just treat it like the break between first and second sleep as most of our pre-electrical ancestors did. Prayer was one use of that time!

edit to add: For a few years we had a little apartment near a 24 hour Adoration Chapel. When my dh and I were separated for work for several months, I would drive the half mile there and spend some quality time with Our Lord.
 
Last edited:
Pray. If I can get through the 23rd Psalm without falling asleep, I turn on the TV and watch an old show.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top