Posted by NewRose on May 03, 2009 at 00:19:42:Hey everyone,
This is my first post and I was wondering if I could get some advice. I tried posting this in the Insomnia section, but since I am not sure if I have insomnia, per say, I didn't really get a response. I do have some horrible sleep habits I need to break. I am ruining and wasting my life.
I go through a period about every couple years where I will get into the habit of staying up most of the night and sleeping most of the day. I am currently going to college and this seems to happen when I start to take night classes and am not working. I had a part-time job up until a few years ago and that kept me from this routine (although I would still stay up late occasionally). I would like to get another job and will more than likely have to take some day classes in the fall, but my sleep habits are keeping me asleep all day. I want to change it, but every time I try, I toss and turn in bed and don't fall asleep until my usual time. I was able to reset my sleep habits about a year or two ago where I was sleeping at night and getting up at least mid-morning but I think I just forced myslef to go to bed at a certain time and wake up whether I wanted to or not. I wasn't sleeping well, which is probably why I have reverted to this really horrible routine I have going now which is this:
Go to bed at about 9 A.M.
Toss and turn, don't actually fall asleep until about 10 or 11 AM most days because I have trouble falling asleep unless I'm utterly exhausted.
Wake up at 5 PM.
Take a "nap" at about 1 A.M.
Wake up again at 3 A.M
Read, do homework & study until 8 or 9 A.M.Horrible I know. It probably be ok if I was a rock star but I'm not..haha. I am actually quite embarrassed by this. I basically put off sleep as long as I can because I know I'll have trouble falling asleep, which I dread. I have the summer semester off. I want to enjoy and not sleep my days away. Possibly get another part-time job. What I don't get is that for the most part I am pretty healthy. I eat well and exercise daily. Now that the time has changed and we get some extra daylight, I have been trying to get a few minutes of actual sunlight in the evenings.
One of my big problems is worrying before I even go to sleep that I won't be able to fall asleep easy :(
Reading through the forum archives has helped with that problem a bit (especially the posts by Tom-in-Texas).
I was thinking of trying sleep restriction, since I hate to toss and turn in bed. Anyone had any success with this?