Post: #1

(I'm not sure if this thread should go here or in Lifestyle, mods please move it wherever necessary)

Basically, my sleep schedule is fucked up. I'm currently a college student and my classes are a joke/are extremely late, so I've developed a habit of going to bed around 2 or 3 A.M and waking up around 2 P.M. Yesterday I went to bed at 3 A.M, fell asleep at 6 A.M ( for whatever reason) and woke up at 11 A.M. Needless to say, I don't feel good having a sleep schedule like this. It's unnatural, prevents me from enjoying the morning, and is overall bad for my health.

What are some ways I can quickly fix it? Ideally I would fall asleep around 10/11 and wake up around 7/8 in the morning. I am about to graduate and will start working a 9-5 in the Fall. I'm going to be completely fucked if I'm falling asleep at 6 A.M only to have to wake up at 7:30.

Should I take some kind of melatonin supplements? I have to change my sleep schedule by about four hours, which sounds pretty difficult. Also, for whatever reason, I've always fallen asleep late. Even in High School, when I had to wake up at 7 in the morning, I'd only ever fall asleep around 2 A.M.

Post: #2

start by eliminating caffeine and moderating alcohol and drug use.

get black out window shades or tape up tin foil on your bedroom windows.

get a fan or a source of white noise.

you can try melatonin but start small - it affects everyone differently and you have to fix these other obstacles first.

Post: #3

Set a cut off time for caffeine 7 or more hours from bed. Move it back 15 minutes every other day.

Set a bedtime. Move it back 15 minutes a day or so.

Get a sleeping mask if you can't do blackout shades.

Get orange color glasses if you stay up late working on a computer. Blue light fucks with your circadian rhythm (it mimics the sun so your body thinks it's morning or day).

Post: #4

You're going to have to develop a new habit of going to bed at 10 or 11 and then waking up at 7 or 8. It won't be an immediate change, your body will have to adjust.

Melatonin never really worked for me. Are you working out at all? Physically tire your body out with a good workout (but don't overdue it or it can raise your cortisol levels and have an opposite effect). Also I recommend taking a ZMA supplement at night. That usually puts me to sleep.

Other than that and the things Hypno suggested, you just need to give your body time to adjust. At least you're jumping on the problem before you start working in the Fall. So start today.

Post: #5

I really suggest just a ton of hard exercise. Or heavy manual labour.

Pretty much youre going to have to go to bed, lay there, and then wait. I know this will suck.

I've been blessed, I'm out in 2-3 minutes from the time I close my eyes. But I understand for others it isn't so easy.

Post: #6

This topic has been covered extensively on the forum:

The TLOZ Program for Better Sleep and Better Health
/thread-46677.html

Bright Light Therapy for Regularizing Sleep and Reducing Depression and Anxiety
/thread-39799.html

The Sleep Hygiene Thread
/thread-47939.html

I suggest you read through and follow the recommendations in the Bright Light Therapy thread. If anything is going to get you back on a natural and healthy sleep schedule, relatively quickly, it is Bright Light Therapy.

Post: #7

Bright light helps if you're able to drag yourself up to look at it. And if you did that you could just continue dragging yourself out to your local cafe and drink whatever caffeinated sugar rocket fuel they offer.

The one thing that works guaranteed for me (and everyone else) is having a commitment in the morning (simplest is a work commitment). Also sleeping somewhere such that the sun will strike your face in the morning is perfect -- the only problem is all the outdoor light pollution at night discourages you from keeping the curtains open. You can buy special light-dimmer alarms that turn on a powerful lamp slowly at the "alarm time" in the morning, and those are quite effective.

Post: #8

I'm a freelancer, so I know where your coming from OP. After experimenting with a few things here is what worked for me.

1) Blackout curtains. Make sure its so dark you can't even see your hands in front of you. Eliminate anything that produces any light. Like a clock, night light, etc.

2) ear plugs

3) IF you DO notice a light get a night mask

4) I just tried experimenting with chamomile tea 30min before I want to get to bed. It gets me sleepy but I haven't gotten good quality of sleep since I have to wake up in the middle of the night to piss because of the tea so might eliminate this.

Post: #9

Set your phone to vibrate or silent. Meditate or read a book. Practice mindfulness. Don't eat within 3-4 hours of your sleeping time.

Post: #10

Good comments so far. Bright light therapy rocks.

I would add to download the Relaxio app on android. I tried different white noise apps and this one is my favorite, because you have so many noises to choose from and you can mix them as you wish, adapting the volume of each. For example I'm now using white noise 50%, fireplace noise 100%, sound of train 30%. You can mix it up with rain/wind/ocean sounds whatever. Very nice to sleep, specially if you connect to a good loudspeaker.


It's true that having a reason to wake up is the best option. In my case, it's the gym. I could go later, but then it's crowded. I like to be there at 6 am when they open and it's empty. The added benefit is that it really energizes you for the rest of the day. Plus you are free to do other stuff during the day, because you got the gym out of the way.

So every time I don't feel like getting out of bed, I remind myself that every 5 minutes I hit the snooze is 5 minutes some other guy has to take the only squat rack in the gym.

Post: #11

There's no shortcuts, you just have to flip off the lights and try to sleep when your desired bed time rolls around. As for fixing it from its current state, try staying up for 24 hours and going to bed at the decided time. Always deals with jet lag for me.

Post: #12

Following

Post: #13

Has anyone tried a sleep monitor/tracker?

There are two that are popular, Motiv, and Oura. The first is $200, the second is $300. Both look like a man's wedding ring that you wear 24/7. Prince Harry wears one.

The Motiv seems to be all purpose and was first. Oura seems to have better sleep information.

There is a new one that is in development called Go2Sleep that you only wear at night. Looks like its about $130 and you can order one from the kickstarter-type site Indigogo. None of them give you very specific information about what they do, but this one seems to be the deepest on sleep information.

Leaning towards the Go2Sleep but interested in opinions if anyone has tried any of these.



https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/go2sl...p#/backers

Post: #14

sleep trackers are all notoriously unreliable when compared to a polysomnography

Post: #15

wait up at the same time everyday and stay busy. my sleep schedule used to be fucked. im talking about me waking up at 6 pm lol. and going to bed at 8 am...

i used to party and stay up till 9-10 am at raves... on the weekends so it fucked me over. and i just slept the week till late...

started traveling and had shit that i had to wake up at 5-6 am for.. and had to wake up early to catch planes for like a month straight due to traveling... and after my trip i naturally wake up at 8 am everyday... and get tired at aroudn midnight...

all it took was a month to undo the damage of waking up at 4pm everyday. if i can do it so can you.


dont do any of that all nigher bullshit. also coffee helps too