Sleep schedule wacked

[thedeparted]

Over my break I've fallen into the habit of sleeping past noon and staying up past 4am. I can't get back on track. I wake up at 8 am and then just fall asleep. Or I take a nap at noon and sleep to four. How do you guys get yourself back onto a normal sleep cycle?

 

[Quiksilver]

force yourself to stay awake during the day then force yourself to sleep at 10pm.

 

[darkstarrr]

man you're telling me. i completely switched day and night as my father likes to put it. i have been waking up around noon but then going back to sleep until about 4-6pm. its 630am here right now. i think what i am going to do is like what quicksilver said and to just force myself to stay up all day and then crash out around 9-10pm tonight.

 

[Warrior74]

Here are some tips I read from a good ebook. I tried to find it but I can't locate it.

1. Wake up with the sun. Keep your blinds open or open your windows first thing in the morning to let the sun in. This programs your brain when to wake up.

2. Do not where sunglasses unless its high noon and bright out. If you get as much sun as possible it continues to program your brain.

3. Get outside several times a day for sunlight. More programming.

4. Watch the sunset. Again it program your brain that evening is coming.

5. Cut all caffine and sugar a few hours before bed time.

6. Only use your bed for sleeping and sex. You want to mentally anchor your brain to think of the bed for those two functions only. No tv watching or reading books in bed.

7. If you cannot sleep. Get up. Don't stay in the bed tossing and turning. When you get sleepy again, get back in bed. Again, this is anchoring your bed to sleep.

8. Drink lots of water, get plenty of exercise. When you body functions normally it falls into its proper patterns.

It's more to it than that, but that's all I can recall at the moment. Hope it helps. Good luck.

 

[Quiksilver]

Warrior made some good points, but you don't need to worry about most of them too much. Force yourself to stay awake till about 8 pm and you'll sleep till 4am or so. Then it's easy to tweak yourself back to normal hours by stating up a bit later each night.

 

[Effington]

There are a lot of tips, and I've been there, done this many times. When you have a lot of free time, the trick is to stay occupied so you don't take afternoon naps. Start setting your alarm to normal hours, and after awhile you will get back to normal. The problems I had arose due to those afternoon naps, it makes it so you can stay up forever.

 

[thedeparted]

All good info. Warrior esp. I think I'm gonna start going outside for a walk first thing in morning every morning. Sunlight and fresh air is a good thing. Probably more women out there than in my bedroom, too ;-)

 

[mrRuckus]

This isn't totally in spirit of the thread, but i'm referring to warrior's number 7.

I read in a sleep book once that if you are having trouble sleeping at night, then definitely don't lay in bed. Instead, go sit on the couch or whatever in the cold. No blanket or anything. Just sit there for like 15 minutes in the dark and shiver. No tv or lights or anything.

Waking up in the middle of the night should be unpleasant to your body. And then getting back into your nice warm bed will be a great treat. This is programming your brain for the long term.

Most people reward their body for waking up or not being able to fall asleep. They go play on the computer or watch tv or stay snuggled under the covers. They read a book or get some milk/tea/whatever... all these things are REWARDING your body for staying or waking up. They're all entertainment! Entertainment releases dopamine and all those other feel good chemicals...

I know one of the first things i do when i'm bored is start to nod off.