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Around the age of 17 I used to regularly go to bed late so I could socialise, but I often had to be up at 8-9am for college / university / work. This meant I de

by kypro 6y ago

Around the age of 17 I used to regularly go to bed late so I could socialise, but I often had to be up at 8-9am for college / university / work. This meant I developed a fairly unhealthy sleep pattern and would often only get 6 hours of sleep a night. 10 years on and although I don't stay up to socialise anymore, I still really struggling to get enough sleep. No matter how tired I am throughout the day my mind seems to naturally wake up around 10pm and I rarely want to go to bed before 3am despite having to be up at 9am for work. On average I probably get 5-6 hours a night on a week day and 7-8 a night on weekends. Also every now and then (2 or 3 times a year) my body simply refuses to sleep and I will be completely unable to sleep for 2-3 days. Again, although I know I need sleep I am not "tired". I'll put my head down on the pillow and nothing, my mind is racing and my body is fidgety and hyperactive. I don't know if I've conditioned myself to develop an unhealthy sleep pattern as a teenager, but I really struggle with sleep these days. I have tried to condition myself with having a schedule and dimming lights past 9pm, but so far I haven't had much luck shutting my head off at an appropriate time. However when I do eventually sleep I will typically want to stay in bed for 12+ hours it's just that's rarely possible because of work, etc. Does anyone have any tips for me? I seem to naturally want to sleep around 5-7pm so these days if I'm feeling particularly sleep deprived I'll try to get a couple of hours after work, but again this isn't always possible and sometimes my body will refuse to sleep even if I lie there for two hours.

andrekandre 6y ago
- daily excercise really helps - read a textbook before sleeping (works for me everytime) - turn off the lights by 8 (not just dimming) - get rid of your tv if you have one personal anecdote: for me, difficulty in sleeping is also caused by work anxiety, so... maybe changing that work environment might be something to think about
slpthrwwy 6y ago
I was in a similar state, I just started taking unisom (the kind with doxylamine succinate) on the days I have trouble going to sleep at a good time. It works for me. Sleeping pills aren't great but not sleeping isn't either. And not sleeping well can create a bad cycle where you stay up late to finish stuff that you didn't do during the day due to exhaustion.
arkadiytehgraet 6y ago
Huh, I had a similar experience during my adolescent years, yet right after high school I have had zero troubles with the sleep. Starting from the age of 13 and till 18 I would go to bed at 1-2 AM, occasionally at 3-4 only to wake up at 7-8 AM almost every day. Double espresso every morning, 10-15 minute naps in the classroom/subway/literally anywhere/nights without sleep at all - I had it all. The only exception were Sundays, where I would get solid 11+ hours sleep. I think during these times I learned the value of high-quality sleep and I am simply afraid to miss on it now. Also no alarm clocks, coffee/energetics only when it's really necessary (once a few months at most), regular exercise (does not matter what exactly, as long as I move any parts of my body, even plain walking around is amazing) - all of it goes a long way to help with the sleep.
jniedrauer 6y ago
I fixed this problem myself in my mid 20s by taking up early morning exercise. I started running and lifting at about 6 AM and slowly moved that back to 5 AM over the course of a year. It completely rewired my brain. I get sleepy around 9 PM now and fall asleep with no effort. If I don't set any alarms, I'm typically awake by 6-7 AM. The big downside is that on the occasions I do need to stay up until the early hours of the morning, it's a real struggle. (An alternative interpretation of these events is that my body rewired itself in my mid 20s and my behavior changed accordingly.)
- BjorksEgo 6y ago
  That sounds like a fairly typical transition into adulthood I would have thought. I know it was for me and my friends, when I was 21 staying up until 4-5am would have been fairly typical for myself, my brain was burning with energy during the night from my mid teens, by the time I was 24 my natural bedtime had shifted back about 4 hours to 12:30, where it's remained.
shock 6y ago
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/fall-asleep-fast/ https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/fall-asleep-fast/ That works wonders for me. You won't fall asleep in less than two minutes the first time you do it, but after doing it for two weeks, you will. Relaxing the muscles is very important to be able to fall asleep. Pay attention to the facial muscles and those of the eyes. To clear my mind of distracying thoughts I count from 120 to 0. These days I seldom reach 100 before I'm asleep. You might be skeptical that the process works as stated in the article, as I was, but after you see that the process works reliably you also get the benefit of less anxiety about being able to fall asleep. It is also very important to check your 25-OH Vit D serum levels. Watch the interview with Dr. Stasha Gominak about the relation between vit D and sleep that was posted recently.
- will_pseudonym 6y ago
  I've been thinking about trying to find that method again. Thank you for sharing it so I don't have to search. :) Another article I just read on that site was on "hypnagogic naps" basically napping for less than a second, by holding a heavy metal key or ball bearings between your thumb and forefinger, draped over an armrest, or hanging off your bed, and below it are plates or pans. When you fall asleep and your fingers let go of the object(s), they fall and clang against the plates/pans and wake you up. According to the article, it has been used by many artists and scientists such as Poe, Edison, Dali, Poincare, and Robert Louis Stevenson to gain inspiration and insight into problems/find new ideas etc. https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/hypnagogic-nap/ https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/hypnagogic-nap/

by kypro 6y ago

andrekandre 6y ago

- daily excercise really helps - read a textbook before sleeping (works for me everytime) - turn off the lights by 8 (not just dimming) - get rid of your tv if you have one personal anecdote: for me, difficulty in sleeping is also caused by work anxiety, so... maybe changing that work environment might be something to think about

slpthrwwy 6y ago

I was in a similar state, I just started taking unisom (the kind with doxylamine succinate) on the days I have trouble going to sleep at a good time. It works for me. Sleeping pills aren't great but not sleeping isn't either. And not sleeping well can create a bad cycle where you stay up late to finish stuff that you didn't do during the day due to exhaustion.

arkadiytehgraet 6y ago

Huh, I had a similar experience during my adolescent years, yet right after high school I have had zero troubles with the sleep. Starting from the age of 13 and till 18 I would go to bed at 1-2 AM, occasionally at 3-4 only to wake up at 7-8 AM almost every day. Double espresso every morning, 10-15 minute naps in the classroom/subway/literally anywhere/nights without sleep at all - I had it all. The only exception were Sundays, where I would get solid 11+ hours sleep. I think during these times I learned the value of high-quality sleep and I am simply afraid to miss on it now. Also no alarm clocks, coffee/energetics only when it's really necessary (once a few months at most), regular exercise (does not matter what exactly, as long as I move any parts of my body, even plain walking around is amazing) - all of it goes a long way to help with the sleep.

jniedrauer 6y ago

I fixed this problem myself in my mid 20s by taking up early morning exercise. I started running and lifting at about 6 AM and slowly moved that back to 5 AM over the course of a year. It completely rewired my brain. I get sleepy around 9 PM now and fall asleep with no effort. If I don't set any alarms, I'm typically awake by 6-7 AM. The big downside is that on the occasions I do need to stay up until the early hours of the morning, it's a real struggle. (An alternative interpretation of these events is that my body rewired itself in my mid 20s and my behavior changed accordingly.)

BjorksEgo 6y ago
That sounds like a fairly typical transition into adulthood I would have thought. I know it was for me and my friends, when I was 21 staying up until 4-5am would have been fairly typical for myself, my brain was burning with energy during the night from my mid teens, by the time I was 24 my natural bedtime had shifted back about 4 hours to 12:30, where it's remained.

shock 6y ago

https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/fall-asleep-fast/ https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/fall-asleep-fast/ That works wonders for me. You won't fall asleep in less than two minutes the first time you do it, but after doing it for two weeks, you will. Relaxing the muscles is very important to be able to fall asleep. Pay attention to the facial muscles and those of the eyes. To clear my mind of distracying thoughts I count from 120 to 0. These days I seldom reach 100 before I'm asleep. You might be skeptical that the process works as stated in the article, as I was, but after you see that the process works reliably you also get the benefit of less anxiety about being able to fall asleep. It is also very important to check your 25-OH Vit D serum levels. Watch the interview with Dr. Stasha Gominak about the relation between vit D and sleep that was posted recently.

will_pseudonym 6y ago
I've been thinking about trying to find that method again. Thank you for sharing it so I don't have to search. :) Another article I just read on that site was on "hypnagogic naps" basically napping for less than a second, by holding a heavy metal key or ball bearings between your thumb and forefinger, draped over an armrest, or hanging off your bed, and below it are plates or pans. When you fall asleep and your fingers let go of the object(s), they fall and clang against the plates/pans and wake you up. According to the article, it has been used by many artists and scientists such as Poe, Edison, Dali, Poincare, and Robert Louis Stevenson to gain inspiration and insight into problems/find new ideas etc. https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/hypnagogic-nap/ https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/hypnagogic-nap/