Posted by alexandra_k on September 16, 2006, at 19:10:43
In reply to Re: I need to get sleepy at night, posted by Deneb on September 16, 2006, at 16:41:47
> I tried to stay up all night
Hmm. Have you done that before? How has that worked out for you? I know that if I stay up all night (or try and sleep 4am or later) it really wipes me out for the next day. My mood also has a tendancy to swing out of control. I don't reccomend sleep deprivation...
> I got sleepy at around 5 and then slept until 2 pm.
Yeah. And then... It will be that much harder to get to sleep that following night... I mean after sleeping till 2pm you surely aren't going to want to get to sleep at half past ten.
> My two alarms didn't work. I just got up, turned them off and went back to sleep. :-(After how many hours sleep?
> I'm thinking of taking melatonin to reset my sleep cycle.I don't know what that is... Some kind of sleep medication?
> That's it, I'm going to buy some melatonin. I'm going to stay up all night tonight and then take some melatonin at 10:30 PM so I can hopefully fall asleep at 11 PM.That doesn't sound like such a good idea to me...
> I'm pretty sure I have delayed sleep phase syndrome.People who have a hard time with emotion dysregulation... Often have a hard time with regulating other things too... Such as regulating sleeping and sometimes eating and things like that... They can be linked.
> I've tried going to sleep earlier
You can't sleep if you don't need sleep.
What is your regular sleep cycle (when left to your own devices?)Set an alarm clock one hour earlier than your usual waking time. One hour earlier should be manageable. You might feel a bit sleepy for a couple of days but NO NAPPING OR SLEEPING OR JUST CLOSING YOUR EYES FOR FIVE MINUTES DURING THE DAY. If you do that then you won't be able to get to sleep because you won't be tired at night. After a couple of days you should be getting off to sleep a little earlier. Perhaps. The next week try for one hour earlier again.
Purposely not going to sleep... Can be sorta dangerous moodwise. It is for me anyway.
Missing nights of sleep... Is just going to get you cycling through dangerous moods with lack of sleep and trying to wake yourself after seriously inadequate sleep etc...
I don't think any good will come of that strategy.
I'm extremely wary of sleeping medications. When I was in hospital they didn't like my strategy of going to sleep around 3am and I didn't like their strategy of saying you couldn't smoke after 10.30pm. So I took some sleeping meds. Handed out like candy in the psych ward. I got to sleep alright. They worked great for about a week.
But... It is a different kind of sleep. A very heavy deep sleep with not much REM (dreaming). Some people say they don't dream but most people do it is just that they don't remember them. You have a long heavy sleep on sleep meds and you typically don't feel refreshed. Not that I ever feel refreshed in the morning... But I felt a lot heavier and gluggier with the sleep meds.
After a time... I couldn't sleep without them. Literally... When I came off them it was one week of hell. I was on them for 5 years before I found I was having... The same sleep problem I've got now.
If you can organise an external committment that you know you will make then that can help you get up. E.g., see your p-doc at 10am. Arrange tutorials for 10am.
If you can't organise external committments then gradually set your alarm for earlier in the morning.
You aren't going to be able to sleep at night until your body is ready to sleep. If you don't get up until 10 or 11 or 12 your body simply isn't going to be ready to go to sleep at 10.30 at night.
Depriving yourself of sleep on purpose... Is only likely to lead to more grief. And that... Is my take on sleep meds too.
Another option...
Is to organise your life around your sleep pattern.
I kinda do that. I aim to be at work in time for morning tea. That is 10.30 until 11. I'm kinda ashamed to admit... That I fairly regularly roll in around 11. I Don't sleep until around 3am, however. I find my best study time is in the evenings. If I start work at 6pm I can work fairly solidly (with cigarette and yeah okay coffee breaks) until 3am. If you really think about it... That is a pretty great working day hours wise. And productivity wise it is brilliant.
Then I can stuff around at work all day until I go home...
The trouble with that strategy is socialising... So what I need to do is figure out a schedule so that I can socialise maybe 2 or 3 nights a week... But that is all. That way I figure I can pull a pretty good working week according to my natural sleep schedule
:-)
Yay.
Oh yay for no classes :-)
poster:alexandra_k
thread:686448
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060911/msgs/686640.html