Bad sleeping habits.

[fettoken]

For no reason I've been staying up late for no reason really. Just checking around the internet and not doing anything important really. Should really sleep around 23.00 but instead stay up to 04.00 or sometimes 05.00. Guessing this isn't really good health wise so any ideas on how to get to sleep instead? Sleeping is not the issue, as i get really tired but just somehow sit through it.

Am i addicted to the internet? Perhaps. Something needs to be done!

 

[old.Tohtori]

If you get enough sleep it doesn't matter when you sleep. You can even get 3h during night, then another 3 as a nap and you'll be as fine as rain if that's your jam.

If you don't want to stay up to the wee hours though, put an alarm on. When the alarm oes off, so does the computer. Only person who can control that is you though

Other way is to not sleep for one night, feel like crap for a day and then go to sleep at 2300 like you want. Fixes the day rhytm right up. Again, something only you can do.

 

[Ormorof]

Avoid food with vitamin c and iron in evening as it will pump your brain full of oxygen (the vitamin c helps your body absorb iron so is great in mornings but not for evenings!)

 

[Raven]

If you aren't tired then it doesn't matter. Some people just don't need that much sleep. I get by on about 5 hours a night and don't ever feel tired (Except my old man Sunday afternoon nap) My wife is a grumpy zombie unless she gets 8 (up to 13-14 on a weekend) I have the advantage of being able to fall asleep within a minute or two of getting into bed, or the car on the way home from somewhere (when someone else drives!).

If you are feeling tired during the day then you should try and change your sleeping patterns, but I have always found there is no point going to bed if you aren't tired, you just waste time lying there trying to get to sleep and making any lack of sleep problems even worse.

I did read about a good trick though, no idea if it works. If you want to go to sleep, try to stay awake instead. lie there with your eyes open in the dark for as long as you can and you will drop off quicker than lying there worrying about not being able to sleep.

 

[Lakih]

There's lots of info about sleep problems online. This website is from a quick glance very informative. http://www.helpguide.org/articles/sleep/how-much-sleep-do-you-need.htm
First off, make sure you get sunlight during the day, and that it is dark during the night. Avoid eating late at night at all if you can. And no caffeine late as that will screw with you big time. I think most people do what you do in cycles if they don't have a set routine (like a non-shift job) every week. Just force yourself to go to bed at 11 or even set an alarm if you need to.

 

[Lakih]

[znippety] but I have always found there is no point going to bed if you aren't tired, you just waste time lying there trying to get to sleep and making any lack of sleep problems even worse. [znipp]

This is important. Don't stay in bed and get frustrated if you can't sleep. Get up and read a book or watch some TV for half an hour and then go back to bed.

Also, the bed should only be used for two things: sleeping and sex. If you spend a lot of time reading/watching TV/working in bed your brain will not associate the bed with sleep or sexy time, and you will have a harder time falling asleep.
And if you fall asleep during sex then you are doing it wrong. Or you got some unusual fetish.

 

[old.user4556]

For no reason I've been staying up late for no reason really. Just checking around the internet and not doing anything important really. Should really sleep around 23.00 but instead stay up to 04.00 or sometimes 05.00. Guessing this isn't really good health wise so any ideas on how to get to sleep instead? Sleeping is not the issue, as i get really tired but just somehow sit through it.

Am i addicted to the internet? Perhaps. Something needs to be done!

How old are you? Do you have a career?

I had a similar issue when I was at uni, I'd stay up until 4am playing CS and talking to people on mirc. I'd sleep until 2pm, get up and do it all over again. I'd skip uni (I was a lazy 'bright' person), only showing up for tutorials and exams. It wasn't until my old man kicked my ass and I started working that I managed to break the cycle. Looking back, I'm deeply embarrassed that I was such a loser.

 

[Scouse]

I find when I bust into that cycle it's a number of things - reading too much pointless web at night being one of them.

I can break the habit if I absolutely physically exhaust myself on a couple of days. I.E. I'll get up early on a Saturday morning (regardless of how tired I am) and then do something active until I physically can't move any more (big long all-day hike somewhere / bike until my legs won't do any more) then get to sleep at a sensible time, then get up on Sunday, regardless of how shit I feel, and rinse-repeat.

I end up having an awesome weekend where I've done and seen loads and I'm back in the can-get-to-sleep pattern.

Having said that - I also set an alarm on my phone that goes off at 11 to tell me to get off the PC and go to bed. I ignore it, of course. I tend to go to bed just after midnight.

 

[Lamp]

If you need to sleep drink red wine whilst watching one of Leonard Suskind's lectures on quantum mechanics. No way you'll make it to the end of the video.

Lecture 1 | Modern Physics: Quantum Mechanics (St…:
View: http://youtu.be/2h1E3YJMKfA

 

[Scouse]

Well, it's 2am...

 

[SilverHood]

fetokken, sounds like a bad sleep cycle. Just need to break it consistently for a few days and you'll be good. Like Tom said, exercise is good. I found that purposely staying up for 24+ hours and then going to bed at a normal hour also worked. Just had to force myself up in the morning and do something. Going outside also helps, as sunlight helps restores your day / night cycle.

 

[Moriath]

I find melatonin works to help shift sleep cycles. Take some an hour before you wanna go to sleep as its the bodies natural sleep hormone.