Sleep...how do I get there?
 

I've been home from college on break since Dec. 13 and since then I haven't been to bed before nearly 4 in the morning or later everynight. I sleep late and go to bed late, feels like a cycle that won't break. I've been staying up most of the time to talk to JS as hes in California now and I'm in TX with a two hour time difference, he goes to bed at two typically and me later. Been trying to get to bed earlier but when I do I just lay there waiting for sleep to come.
Part of me is wondering if its being home that is causing my sleep to be off the wall, I don't do alot during the days so maybe the lack of energy is keeping me up.
Slept fine at school, but now its just not happening. Finally when I do sleep I don't get up until 3 in the afternoon since I couldn't fall asleep until nearly 4 or 5.
I really don't want to get on sleeping pills but if this continues once the semester starts up I might have to. My dad suggested aspirin before I go to bed to calm myself down, but it doesn't make me tired.
This has happened several years ago where I went through a period in high school where I couldn't sleep for several weeks at a time.

You need to send your sleep pattern forward, get up at say 9 or 10 am, then stay up until 10/11 pm, then go to bed. Do that a few days and you can bring your clock back into rythm. If try to send your clock backwards by going to bed earlier, you just end up bored.

What your doing is what i call the student effect, staying in bed till the wee hours of the afternoon because you can, then getting to bed late because your not tired.

Try a warm bath before you go to bed, the rise, then drop in body temperature simulates the one that your body naturally goes through before sleep, so can hasten the onset.

Yeah, best to wait for a weekend or sometime when you're not needed for anything. Set your alarm for when you'd like to get up, and struggle through the day tired as anything. You'll sleep before too long, if there's not a deeper problem :)

As was stated above, you must get up earlier and not take naps. Go for a nice long walk after dinner.
Drink a glass warm milk before bed, if you still can't fall a sleep then try benadryl, that will put most people asleep.
After a couple of days your body should regulate it's self.

I have that problem, have had it all my adult life. What I have done is find a second or third shift job and lived with it. I find I am much happier and my life is much more stable when I go to bed between 3-6AM and get up at noon.

But, it's not for everyone, when I need to get up in the AM I either stay awake for the appointment (and don't sleep at all) or I force myself to sleep early. Unfortunately for me.... I have lost many many jobs, missed many appointment and have had many fights, because I am not a morning person.

In the end do what is comfortable for you. It might be that you just miss JS and when together again your clock will be normal.

sleepy time tea or the Sam Kinison way "2 5ths of Jack Daniels!" sleepy time always helps me though.

You need to do something during the day. Ask your parents if they have any errands for you to run. Also, find some people to hang out with while you are home. The best way to burn energy is to do something.

Lately I've been taking doxylamine succinate to go to sleep--it's maximum strength Unisom--in order to get my sleep schedule back on track. I like it because the way it works for me is to sort of stop my pre-sleep anxiety-ridden thinking patterns.

But before resorting to pills, here are some things to try to help you:

1) Create a bedtime ritual.
2) Use your bed only for sleeping.
3) Get more exercise during the day.
4) Try warm milk or chamomile tea as part of your bedtime ritual.

apart from what the previous posters have said, stress can also be a reason for not sleeping. im an insomiac, but mine is different to yours. i wake up numerous times throughout the night. sometimes up to 20 times a night. mine is stress related, but i have never taken anything for it.

I'm starting to wonder if mine is a short-lived type of insomnia, although I do recall several times in this past semester where I would fall asleep but wake up exhausted because I was so stressed out over assignmenets and projects it would feel like I didn't sleep at all, just wasted time in bed when I should of been working. *sigh* Last year this happened when I wasn't even stressed out it was just there. I've noticed its hard to fall asleep in school when I was excessively stressed. Part of it might be stress over missing JS and my friends from school. I read last night for several hours, didn't make me tired...did make me creeped out about the dolls in my room, was a ghost book about haunted objects. Might go talk to a doctor when I get back to school.

Get up earlier and never sleep during the day.

You're not able to sleep at night because you're not tired yet.

I tend to have the same problem from time to time. Just completely out of the blue, I'll struggle to fall asleep 2 or 3 nights in a row. I just lie there, waiting for sleep to come but it never does...no matter what position you might try and put your body in. :)

The only rememdy that works for me is exercise. Usually I'll take a run down to the basketball court and play a few games and then head to the gym for a swim and a sauna. Then a shower before bed and I'm out like a light.

Also, an orgasm before bed does wonders - so rub one out and ride the post-orgasm wave to sleep. ;)

I have this problem, too, only very often I have trouble getting back to sleep. I've been considering seeing a doctor about it. I know I don't get enough sleep and eventually it will affect my health.

Your problem is probably your body being whacked out from the new environment. A good solution is to exercise a lot or like some others have said just force your self to get up early than fall a sleep at a decent hour. I've always been one to stay up late. Over a weekend I will go from normal 11PM to 6AM sleep schedule to going to bed at 4AM and getting up at 2 in the afternoon then tired monday comes. After that monday I'm back on schedule for the rest of the week. I've been told by a lot of people that that kind of sleep pattern is terrible for your body though.

i on another one of those sleeplessness bouts where i wake up and stay up for a few hours..like mixedmedia..its 3am..been up since midnight.. thought this would be the perfect place to let you guys know :D


mixedmedia go see a dr.. i know i should, but i doubt i would!

Guys - being unable to sleep for a few hours is normal, if annoying.

If that is as bad as it gets then you have no problem. Best thing to do is to read a little (or surf web) and have an extra coffee the next day. Do something productive with the time.

Don't get on the medication train without good reason. Try the basic mental techniques (relaxation, hypnosis, sleep hygiene) first. And much as I distrust "natural/herbal" medicine, a couple of valerian tablets can help with mild sleep onset difficulties, in my experience.

definently dont take meds for it

just pick a time you want to wake up around and wake up then, and go to bed when you get tired

after a few days your body will get on a schedule, do as much as you can to stay on that schedule...

I wake up at 8 or 9 every day, even on weekends to keep my schedule going during the semester.

I'll second everyone's advice -

Set your alarm and wake up then, and don't nap in the afternoon/evening.

Go to bed at a reasonable hour.

Don't take drugs to sleep - they can be habit-forming, but more importantly they can whack out your sleep cycle even worse. While you're laying in bed waiting to sleep, close your eyes and do the following relaxation exercise: starting at your toes, clench your toes as hard as you can for one full, deep breath, and then relax them. (I "say" in my head as I'm doing this "go to sleep, toes" but that's optional, and corny.) Another deep, slow breath, then move up to your feet and do the same thing, then your ankles, then your calves, etc., all the way up to your face and the top of your head. Do it a couple of times if you have to; I usually fall asleep in the middle of the second cycle, around my abs.

Also, masturbation puts me in a very sleepy mood. Try it - if it doesn't work, what fun anyhow!

i too have trouble sleeping at night.

so the advice from my doctor is to stop drinking anything that contains caffiene after 4pm.

the caffiene is an important one for me... if I have caffiene in the early evening I'll be up till 3 or 4... really irritating sometimes...

Yea I've tried that and it usually works, but not lately. I've been up late talking to JS online and by the time we get off I'm sleepy but before then I feel wired.
Tonight won't be a problem I'm pretty sure....I had like five hours of sleep the past few nights, so I'm exhausted. Plus driving to Dallas and back from Fort Worth was exhausting enough.
Going biking tomorrow with a friend so that should be good.
Plan to go back to the pool alot when schools back in session.
JS will probably be the cause of some of my sleeping problems when we're back to Tech :suave:

You just need to fool yourself into going to sleep according to whatever schedule you determine appropriate. It helps if you move your sleep schedule around frequently (I am aware this is a contrarian point of view). I often go to sleep at 10pm and 3am in the same week, and at several other times in between. Use an alarm clock and put it in a place that requires you to get out of bed to turn it off. Get plenty of exercise if you know you'll need to get to sleep considerably earlier that night than you did the night before. Exercise your mind too. Relax for the hour or two before your scheduled bedtime. Pretty much everything else is hit and miss. To wit:

Caffeine doesn't usually work on me. Often times it can put me to sleep, other times it doesn't. I don't know why. Could be I've had too much of it.

Masturbation usually gets my heart running fast for a while, and when that happens I usually can't stop thinking for an hour or two afterwards.

exercise is good. If you're just hanging around the house while you're home you're probably not getting tired out, and then sleeping late just keeps you from adjusting your schedule. Being home and in a new routine probably has something to do with it as well, once you get back to school and back to the grind it probably won't be a problem.