i'm sleeping my life away... - Sleep Disorders Message Board

koden · 05-06-2003, 02:24 AM

as usual i am still awake even tho it's 3:15 in the morning. i am so tired of my inability to fall asleep earlier than 4:00 a.m. & the only way
i sleep is by staying up most or all of the night & then sleeping 12+ hours average. this has really drained my energy & i've been so sluggish
lately. i believe i have turned into the laziest human on this planet but im not proud of it & would very much like to get my sleep pattern back to
normal, if that's possible. i don't want to get on a prescription medication & i've found something i wanna try but i can't get any money anytime soon.
so i guess i was hoping if some1 knows any kind of treatment that doesn't cost money? plz reply;
i am getting very desperate & will try anything

thanks for reading

joe59102 · 05-06-2003, 02:37 AM

If your scedule permits it, stay up one hour later each day. If you go to bed at 4:00 am today, then go to bed at 5:00 am tomorrow. Work your way around the clock. When you arrive at the time you would like to go to bed, then stay right there. A sleep specialist said that it is very difficult to work backwards but that it is rather easy to work forwards (going to bed an hour later each day until you have worked yourself around the clock).

Hope this helps.

koden · 05-06-2003, 02:48 AM

cool!
i never thought of that b4 but i doubt i will have any problems w/ it.
u must be a night owl too; it was a real surprise 4 me when i saw ur reply

thanks for ur help

quincy · 05-06-2003, 07:03 PM

Hi Koden,

Just curious.....why do you think you stay up so late?

I'm from a family of night owls, staying up is a natural thing for me, but then, I have a hard time to get up in the morning.

I do have depression, anxiety, other health disorders that do somewhat interfere..but I thought it was only the depression/anxiety -- seems it's not since I'm now on Effexor XR. So, now I feel even better staying up late...no guilt anymore. Works for me! YIKES!

Since I was a kid (I'm 48), I hated to go to bed.
I loved staying up late.

I too, love to sleep. I'm now self-employed, so the time is flexible for me. I feel best with 7 hours and am most productive during my daytime hours.

BUT, when I was working full time, you know, normal people's hours, I still stayed up till 3 - 4am on Friday/Saturday. I could be totally sleep deprived but get my second wind at 11:00pm. I have my best ideas and creativity after midnight.

I think the idea that joe59102 had would work...but only if you want it to.

I did take some hypnotic drugs to help me get to sleep, but you know what....I resisted them and when I was weaning off, I stayed up allllll night and slept during the day.

I'm working on it still, but I guess that I love staying up till the wee hours and I'll never change.

I do love being up and productive in the morning,though, even on a few hours sleep, but it takes nothing to get back to the cycle.

Computers just make the connection to "others like us" that much easier and the draw to get to bed just gets pushed aside.

Let us know (if you're going to try) how joe's idea works for you. I think I might even try it too.

quincy

koden · 05-07-2003, 06:53 PM

hey quincy~
i'm 16 & i stay up so late cos i can't fall asleep unless i'm truly tired & that doesn't happen unless i stay up all night. even if i somehow get my pattern back to normal the earliest time i can go to bed is 2:00 a.m. cos my favorite show only comes on at that time. it's also very hard 4 me to get up early & i was always late for school.

i think i'm gonna try what joe said but i'm gonna miss a couple of my shows so i'll have to tape them.
i luv to sleep too but not when i'm not tired.
if u try this, let me know if it works for u & i'll
let u know if it helps me

later

[This message has been edited by koden (edited 05-07-2003).]