Horrible sleep habits - good ways to deal?

blaked569

blaked569

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i'm a dumbass and for the last 7 years (high school and undergrad years), i've had horrible sleeping habits which have taken a noticeable toll on my health and mentality...i don't know why, but for some reason i'm never too compelled to sleep and often end up wasting hours on forums or watching south park or whatever. for example...

this weekend i wanted to get caught up on school work. i ended up getting on a nocturnal schedule because i tried staying up all night to do homework, but ended up just watching movies instead. then come monday (yesterday), i had a busy day of classes, but felt like shit due to my needless all nighter. i got home at around 9 pm, slept for three hours, then woke up and here i am again, wasting time in the middle of the fucking night.

besides "don't be a dumbass," does anybody have good advice on how to change bad habits such as these? thanks in advance
 
The easiest way I found to reset my internal sleep clock was to pull an all-nighter (or 1-2 hours of sleep), then wait to crash until 10-12 PM (trying to sleep earlier ended up with me waking up at 3 AM). Even if you can't sleep in, you should be able to get at least 6 hours of sleep during normal night hours, which should help push you in the right direction. Going to your college gym might help tire you out as well. Otherwise, you could try diphenhydramine sleep aids if those affect you.

As for fixing your bad habits, it's hard to do during a semester, with homework, tests, and finals coming up. I'd just recommend to try to prevent it from getting worse for the next couple months, then work on getting better sleep habits during the summer.
 
I find that if I take a nap after a long hard day, it fucks up my sleep cycle big time. If I nap for 2-4 hours after I get home, I end up not being tired until 2am in the morning when I have to be up by 6am :whistle2:(

Usually between 3-6 pm is when my body screams for a nap, and if I can resist the urge to nap, then by 6pm I am ok and will go to bed around 11pm.
 
I'm in the same boat as you, that's why I'm posting here at nearly 5am. And though I try to fix my sleeping schedule by staying up all day and sleeping at around 9pm, I end up going back to sleep at 4-5am within a week. I don't have any advice for you, I just want you to know you're not alone :(.
 
Try not to do anything visually stimulating before bed. Don't play video games, get on the computer, or watch TV. Take a bath and read a book, and see if that helps you.
 
[quote name='ITDEFX']I find that if I take a nap after a long hard day, it fucks up my sleep cycle big time. If I nap for 2-4 hours after I get home, I end up not being tired until 2am in the morning when I have to be up by 6am :whistle2:(

Usually between 3-6 pm is when my body screams for a nap, and if I can resist the urge to nap, then by 6pm I am ok and will go to bed around 11pm.[/QUOTE]

This crap happens to me all the time. Sometimes my eyes ache from all the monitor usage at work and I get home to rest them with a nap and then my whole night is f'd up and I cannot sleep.
 
This worked for me after being on the night shift for 4 years in the Army, a year at the phone company, and a year at a tv station.

1. Stop surfing the net after a specific time. It'll be there tomorrow I promise.
2. Get off your fat lazy ass and go outside. Walk a mile or two. Work out. Try to do it late in the day.
3. Start eating better. Get some greens in your diet. Slow down on the meat, especially garbage meat (you know what I mean).
4. Get your ass in bed at a certain time. Don't get back up.
5. Set deadlines and FOLLOW THEM. Get your class work done by a predetermined time. Don't screw around BEFORE you do your work, but after.

I'm not throwing stones at all, this is just what worked for me.
 
Eat six small meals instead of 3 moderate-to-large ones. Drink lots of water and, after resetting your internal clock as suggested, sleep no later than 11pm. If you're wide awake, it's because you didn't have enough activity during the day to tire you out or you drank an energy drink past noon. The solution to that would be to work out until you're heavily tired/perspiring & take a shower or cut back on the energy drinks.
 
I have trouble with sleeping and have for years.

The single most important piece of advice I can give you is to wake up at the same time everyday. Whether you sleep 1 hour or 10 hours make sure you get out of bed at the same time everyday. Don't sleep in, don't lay in bed after the alarm goes off.

I tried all the other tips people have posted (no stimulation near bedtime, plenty of exercise, regulate light, a bed is only for sleep and sex, eat well) and none of it worked. The regulated wake-up time worked like a charm.
 
[quote name='blaked569']this weekend i wanted to get caught up on school work. i ended up getting on a nocturnal schedule because i tried staying up all night to do homework, but ended up just watching movies instead. then come monday (yesterday), i had a busy day of classes, but felt like shit due to my needless all nighter. i got home at around 9 pm, slept for three hours, then woke up and here i am again, wasting time in the middle of the fucking night.[/QUOTE]

Get a outdoors/labor job or start working out.

Seriously, it will work.
 
Set an alarm early in the morning (say 7 am) and have it go off EVERY day, and make sure to get up with it.

It'll be tough at first, but your body will automatically start making you want to sleep earlier.
 
[quote name='ITDEFX']I find that if I take a nap after a long hard day, it fucks up my sleep cycle big time. If I nap for 2-4 hours after I get home, I end up not being tired until 2am in the morning when I have to be up by 6am :whistle2:(

Usually between 3-6 pm is when my body screams for a nap, and if I can resist the urge to nap, then by 6pm I am ok and will go to bed around 11pm.[/quote]I'm the same fucking way!I slept yesterday for 30 minutes at 5:00 pm and I couldn't go to sleep at 9 and slept at nearly 2 am.
 
I'm imagining you don't have a job, so get one. I've come to learn come the middle of the day if your doing something productive, something you have to do, or something you like to do, regardless of if you had a full night sleep or only 4-5 hours of sleep you'll be fine.

I feel like shit every morning, you can say I'm not a morning person I try to go to sleep every night around this time, no later than 2AM regardless if I have work at 10AM, 7AM, or don't have work at all. So maybe it is just me but I hate mornings and waking up, but once I'm a couple hours into my day I'm fine. Sleep is overrated.
 
Example, I'm gonna go to sleep right now, about 1:15AM my time, and I probably won't wake up till about 11 since I don't have work, then thursday I wake up around 8 for work, I take the extra hours of sleep when I can get it, guess it comes down to just forcing yourself out of bed in the morning whether you want to or not. On workdays I literally sleep walk myself to the shower and hop in to wake myself up.
 
I'd say do some physical activity that will wear you out and crash for the night. Seems to work sometimes. There are a lot of times during the late afternoons I want to take a nap... try to fight though it. Listen to your body though, it's telling you things.
 
thanks for everyone's help. i think i'm mainly looking for some proper state of mind or mentality to adopt; it's not so much a physical problem. as for a getting a job, i worked night shifts at a collegetown sushi place last year where it'd get crazy with underage kids coming in for sake. it made me tired, but instead of sleeping at proper times i'd just sleep through my classes.

anyway, i am fully nocturnal now. was going to bite the bullet and go to all my classes today on no sleep the past night, but ended up falling asleep at 11:00 am and sleeping through errrythin (including classes, orchestra concert dress rehearsal), finally waking up at 8:30 pm. on a side note, i started drinking jolt, and whilst my initial preconception was that it would be shit, i actually like it quite a bit, all flavors included.
 
I was in the same boat as you..then I got a job :lol:
Plus I started working out when I get home. So I'm usually passed out by 11:30-12:00 and I get up at 6. I'm doin well on my 6 hours of sleep! It's nice!
 
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