Waking up too early on work days

[RNrhythm, BSN, RN]

On work days, I wake up 45 minutes or more before my alarm goes off. This only happens on work days. I would rather sleep until closer to my alarm setting! If I go to bed earlier to recoup this lost sleep time, I just wake up even earlier. I sleep very well, otherwise. How can I stop over-anticipating my alarm clock?

[TheMoonisMyLantern, ADN, LPN, RN]

I go through cycles of this. For a while I'll sleep right up to the last second, hit the snooze as many times as I can afford and still have to drag myself out of bed.

Then there are other times where I wake up 30min-1hr of having my alarm go off with no way of going back to sleep.

You have my empathy, it sucks, and I don't know of any practical solutions and even though we're not supposed to give medical advice and this isn't intended as such, but sometimes a little Melatonin can knock that anxious edge off and allow for a few more Zzz's.