Sleep -- Help

[pinkfloyd]

So i am on a very awkward sleep pattern. Anytime i get on say a wake up at 8am go to sleep around 12pm i always stray back to going to sleep around 5-6am and waking up at 1-2pm. I need to get back on schedule and usually the only way to do this is for me to stay up 30 something hours but it kinds of sucks having to do that. My body just seems to be attracted to the graveyard type schedule... Any Advice or anything would be so helpful. Thanks.

[Airana]

Hi pinkfloyd

Sleep disorders are now becoming more recognised and maybe you suffer from a type of sleep disorder. Many people are finding that food intolerances cause a variety of complaints, sleep disorders being one of them. I know that gluten (found in wheat, oats, barley and rye) is a common culprit. Perhaps a change in diet or a trial elimination diet would help? Sleep disorders can include insomnia, daytime drowsiness, sleep apnoea etc.

[A GROWING MIND]

Ohh man you dont even have it that bad. Trust me I know exactly what your going through. For the longest time My body would want to wake up just as the sun was going down and I would fall asleep just as it was coming back up.

You can beat this though as I have.

You need to force yourself to sleep during normal hours. You can either stay up ALL DAY and go to bed at like 9 or so, or you can try to sleep at night normally but you will probably just roll around and stuff and wont be able to sleep very well.

I am not gunna lie doing this made me feel really sick for about a week or so but after my body got back to a normal schedule I would feel better overall.

I would also end up breaking the normal cycle and go bak to terrible hours...... I have had to reboot like this 3 times and its not fun but you will feel better in the long run.

I hope everything works out for you!

[Annya]

Your body is used to this pattern now but you can break it easily. When I was studying for a very difficult test during some vacation time I began studying at around 8-9 pm and went to bed at 5 or 6 pm which was annoying because it didn't match other peoples schedules and was intrusive. I consider myself a nite owl but. Anyway, I had to begin school the following month and had a very early class. So the way I returned to a more acceptable routine was to tire myself out until the next day and then sleep on time. So you can either work really hard/exercise or whatever or you can stay up until teh next night as as A GROWING MIND suggested (I think). Its hard and annoying but it works for me. It only took me one night to start sleeping at that time and just a few more to adjust to*not* oversleeping. Also I tend to oversleep in my "nite-owl" mode so its better to have a "normal" schedule anyway and it obviously feels more natural to do so. As Steve has mentioned in a related post, our body actually doesn;t need very much sleep. I've found 8 hours to be the best number for me.