Insomnia and Sleeping Schedule

[chica]

Hello everyone. I've been home for a week from college and I've already messed my sleeping schedule up. I stay up WAY too late and I can't get to sleep at an early time. (I'm writing this at about 5 in the morning). Since I don't have a part time job lined up yet, I just naturally wake myself up at whatever hour is convenient. But I've been waking up at around 3-4 p.m. and going to bed around 6 a.m. This happens every summer, and it's really frustrating. It just seems like each day in summer I get tired at a later and later time.

I don't really know how to get my sleeping schedule back on track. I like sleeping, but waking up and realizing half of the day has passed makes me feel a little depressed. :/ I would like to get this fixed ASAP. Is the best way to force myself to go to sleep at an early time, even if I'm not tired? Or should I try to pull an all-nighter? Or should I try to get a small quantity of sleep (like 3-5 hours) so that I can be tired enough to get to bed the next night?

What are some of your suggestions?
Thanks!

[thebigbigsky]

Perhaps you could try and error for some of these - experimenting and find out how it works for you. Just some examples:

- sleep less or don't sleep at day time, so that you could sleep at night.
- doing something that you would feel boring before going to bed. Eg when I read books that bored me, I would fall into sleep easily
- Just thinking of whether it is possible that during the summer, you are too free and your day/time not contented enough? If yes perhaps find something you like to do, a goal, a project or a part time job etc just for examples.
- Check your diet. Stop things like coffee or others which might affect your sleep.
- Doing exercise, if possible daily.

Don't be stress with not able to sleep at night, the more you feel stress, the possibility is more difficult for you to get into sleep.

Good luck!

[chica]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I think you're right about having too much free time. I've become very bored with myself and not having a schedule really is hard for me. During the school year, my insomnia isn't as bad because I have structure. I'm also pretty successful during the school year in terms of grades and my mood is generally pretty good. But over the summer, I think I tend to get more depressed because of my erratic sleep schedule.

Maybe I could look into volunteering somewhere. I just think I need to get out of the house!

[kageri]

The problem is our bodies are actually designed for a 25hr day. Everyone resets their sleep cycle every night. Our entire system is artificial and against nature.

You can help fix this problem by taking melatonin at night. Melatonin is what tells your body to sleep and you can get it over the counter in most countries. Up to 40mg is safe but the pills usually don't come higher than 10. Sunlight causes your body to make serotonin which wakes you up and lack of light turns serotonin in to melatonin. Another problem is that the light from a tv or computer screen is in the spectrum that triggers serotonin so using your computer or tv after dark will trigger your brain to stay awake. You can get blue blocker sunglasses and screen covers (google it) to block that spectrum but you'll have to watch things in a blue shade. Or you can just read a book using a night spectrum light. They come in red on flashlights including useful headlamps with none of the light that triggers serotonin.

Another option is to try valerian root which is a much stronger sleep aid than melatonin. It just doesn't work with your body's natural rhythm which is where your problem lies. They have safely tested up to double the suggested dose on most bottles or about 800-900mg.

I take both 40mg melatonin and 800mg valerian root every night with my prescription sleep meds and they probably help just as much as the prescription stuff with no side effects and no addiction potential.

[thebigbigsky]

Thanks for the suggestions!

I think you're right about having too much free time. I've become very bored with myself and not having a schedule really is hard for me. During the school year, my insomnia isn't as bad because I have structure. I'm also pretty successful during the school year in terms of grades and my mood is generally pretty good. But over the summer, I think I tend to get more depressed because of my erratic sleep schedule.

Maybe I could look into volunteering somewhere. I just think I need to get out of the house!

Yes do follow your gut feeling. Find yourself activities when you feel need to get out have you found volunteer work? Is you sleep getting better?