consistency is really important if you're having trouble feeling sleepy - going to bed near the same time and getting up at the same time every day (i.e. no sleeping in on the weekends) makes a big difference. if you find that you're still off kilter after fixing that, try shooting for 6 hours of sleep instead of more - some fancy scientists believe that rem sleep cycles run in 3 hour spans so you'll generally feel better rested when you wake up even after sleeping just 3 hours than you would if you had 7 (but of course you'll crash in the middle of the day on 3 hours of sleep). the 3 hour thing isn't timed to the minute so 6.5 shouldn't be that far off, you just don't want to get interrupted by an alarm in the middle of a cycle.
my wife has actually started getting up with me at 5am so she can go to yoga while I sit on my ass and play hot shots golf and she's been feeling a lot less tired than when she slept until 7am or later. we'll see if that sticks though.
#notasleepdoctorbutihaveexperience