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I'd love to fix my sleep schedule
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Registered User regular
It's 6:17 in the morning where I am, and I still haven't gone to sleep. This has been a progressively greater problem for me in the last six months or so, ever since losing my job in July. I've not been able to find another job (though I'm doing some contract freelance work to build my resume), and so I find that I have no reason to be up in the morning most days. As a result I started sleeping in, and staying up, and now I've completely ruined my cycle. I don't like waking up at 2 or 3 or 4 in the afternoon, but when I don't get to sleep until almost 7 in the morning that's kind of hard to avoid.
I try to go to bed earlier, but I end up just staring at the ceiling, and without some kind of daily obligation I can't be trusted to wake myself up earlier. And hell, even when I DO wake myself up earlier, I can't get myself to sleep at a reasonable hour afterwards anyway, thus perpetuating the cycle. I was up at 10 am yesterday morning. I've been up for 20 hours. I'm exhausted, but I can't bring myself to fucking SLEEP.
This is going to make things difficult for me in the future when I finally FIND a job, so I want to fix it now. Anyone got any advice?
I try to go to bed earlier, but I end up just staring at the ceiling, and without some kind of daily obligation I can't be trusted to wake myself up earlier. And hell, even when I DO wake myself up earlier, I can't get myself to sleep at a reasonable hour afterwards anyway, thus perpetuating the cycle. I was up at 10 am yesterday morning. I've been up for 20 hours. I'm exhausted, but I can't bring myself to fucking SLEEP.
This is going to make things difficult for me in the future when I finally FIND a job, so I want to fix it now. Anyone got any advice?
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This is what my step-father always did (when he was looking for work, or freelancing). Basically you give yourself office hours. For me, I would wake up and make sure I left the house. An hour of walking (was helpful to have a dog to motivate me to do that), or sometimes coffee if that was the kind of habit I could afford. getting up and getting dressed is a big deal, but also just setting a routine in general. You don't have to live strictly by it but setting it up makes for an easier time.
Make your grocery/mail/bank runs always the thing you do when you first get up or something like that.
Skipping a full nights rest like bsjezz suggests before "resetting" your cycle may work.
I did this years ago while unemployed; wound up staying up for 24 hours or something and didn't let myself fall asleep till 10pm. I had to set a hard time to get to sleep going forward, I think I did 1am or so. Woke up at 8 or 9 and went job hunting; worked out ok for me. Found it interesting that my sleep cycle actually went to a sleep during the day thing and felt really natural.
Do you watch T.V. or play on your laptop in your bedroom by chance? If so stop, especially if you do so ON YOUR BED. Your bed should be for sleeping (and extra-curriculars that I won't go into). By doing other things like watch TV or play on a laptop you give yourself stimulus that will keep you awake and also condition yourself to not go to sleep. Stay out of your bedroom as much as you can until it's time to sleep. Also, if it's pitch black, you don't have any visual stimulus and your more likely to stay awake. The only "stimulus" I will allow myself when I lay down is to read a book sometimes.
Try doing some exercise, as simple as taking a walk. Becoming sedentary will make you feel tired, but not allow you to sleep.
Are you depressed. Depression can keep you up and make it hard to drag yourself out of bed in the morning.
If you have a hard time getting up in the morning try opening your blinds so that sunlight comes in. It makes it harder for most people to sleep in. You can also set your alarm in such a way that you have to get out of bed to shut it off. Then you just need the discipline to stay up. Forcing yourself to get up in the morning might suck for a while, but eventually your body will acclimate and you'll find yourself able to get to sleep.
I also do some meditation exercises to help me calm my mind when I lay down. I typically don't finish them anymore because my body knows that this means sleepy time and it just goes to sleep.
I can generally fall asleep within a few minutes of laying down.
("Drink more water" is great advice for a lot of health related issues, I've found. You hear it all the time but never really take it seriously, but the difference in how I feel when I get plenty of water and not enough is night and day.)
See I've tried doing this type of thing before when my sleep schedules get all fucked up; it never seems to work. After staying awake for a really long time and then getting to sleep at a decent hour, I will inevitably sleep for a longer than normal time and not correct the sleep schedule. (I'm not saying this method can't work, just that it never does for me)
What always works for me is forcing myself to wake up early - staying tired the whole day - and then falling asleep when I can (hopefully at a reasonable hour, not too early or too late). Then continue the process day after day until I am going to sleep and waking up when I want. This will involve a bunch of really tired days, but you just have to soldier through it.
I think what it boils down to, at least for me, is that it is easier to correct a sleep schedule with under-sleeping (<8hrs) rather than over-sleeping (>8hrs).
Of course, forcing yourself awake when you have nothing you absolutely have to do can be hard. The key is it will take a few days.... just waking up early one day won't fix it, and just like what happened to you over the past couple of days, you can easily still stay up really late again. If you continue to force yourself to wake up early you won't be able to stay up late.
From memory:
-Try to make your sleep habits as regular as possible. Get up and go to bed at the same time whenever possible. You can especially regulate getting up times. It's a struggle the first few days but eventually you wake up before the alarm
-Only use your bed for sleep. If your body associates it with other activities like surfing the net on your lap top or reading it won't switch off when it goes into bed
-No caffeine alcohol 4-6 hours before bed. Caffeine obv keeps you up and alcohol may help to get you to sleep but it disrupts your sleep.
-no napping
-This one is very helpful when you're just laying in bed staring at the cieling: If you don't fall asleep after about half an hour just get up again. Go and do something super mundane, like sorting your bookshelf. Keep the lights dim, don't watch TV or go on the computer. Then when you start feling sleeping try again. I've had to do this twice in a row before but eventually it works.
-I came up with htis on my own. If you are feeling a bit sleepy and it's close to bed time, just roll with it. Go straight to bed. If you're lucky you'll be out like a light.
It's possible that your sleep problems are related to depression or anxiety so you might want to look into that but even if they are the above guidelines will still apply along with treating the other issues.
Good luck
That stopped working for me when I reached senility.
Okay, 30.
Follow all of the excellent advice from Amigu.
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
I also have a very active brain, that makes it difficult for me to fall asleep if I don't have a way to focus my thoughts. Things like getting up to re-arrange my bookshelf would just wake me right back up again, no matter how mundane the task seems.
It's really about the focusing of mental energy away from thinking about falling asleep, so your brain just...falls asleep. Whether you use a documentary, a bubbling rock garden, or a CD of ocean sounds...just something to focus your mental energy on so your brain isn't scattered in a million directions, trying to solve all of the days problems in one fell sweep.
I've used them before when my work had me change my regular time by several hours ...take one about 30 mins before your regular bedtime and it does make you relaxed, a little sleepy. take them for a few days then see if your back to normal.
Melatonin IS a sleep hormone your body normally produces though, which is why I wouldn't really put it in the 'herbal' category, unless you're trying to use it for stress relief or something. I was recommended it myself by the neurologist I saw a number of years ago, who is a sleep specialist. He told me to start at 1 mg, which is less than a lot of tablets in the store, so you may need to cut things in half or something, depending on the concentration. I didn't have AS much of a problem with insomnia as you did, OP, but it definitely does make most people fall asleep more quickly because it makes them sleepy (about half an hour after you take it, as stated... my doctor originally said an hour but it usually works faster for me). As long as you don't keep yourself up after it kicks in (I have definitely accidentally done this), you should be able to fall asleep more easily. Be warned that it can make you have some pretty vivid dreams, and when my dad tried taking it it kind of made him irritable (didn't happen to me though). Also, in my experience, when you wake up after taking it, get up. Even if it's somewhat early. I've noticed that I tend to sleep in longer if I don't get up the first time, but if I do get up at that point I usually have energy the rest of the day.
I don't recall any vivid dreams as a result, I keep some in the cabinet in case i get into that pain in the ass mindset where your brain keeps thinking about the same stupid thing and you cant relax. I recommend them to anyone trying to adjust to a new sleep schedule.
The ones i found at the drugstore were I think 5mg time released tablets.
That could be one difference... mine aren't time-release. I also take mine nightly, at a much lower dose. As for the weird dreams, I did have some kind of unusual, extra-colorful dreams when I started taking it, but they went away after like, a week. No nightmares or anything. Then again, I've always had pretty realistic/intense dreams, and no nightmares since I was a kid. I always read that other people had really crazy dreams from it, at least when they started, though!