[BlueSheep32]

These past couple of weeks, I've found it incredibly difficult to fall asleep at night, and have been awake after 3am more often than not. One night this week I didn't get to sleep until about 4:30 I often have great difficult getting up in the morning as well; I haven't been up before 10 unless I had to be since getting home from uni for Christmas. If I go to sleep when I feel tired and can sleep for as long as I want, I generally don't feel tired during the day at all. The time of day when I find it easiest to fall asleep is in the morning.

I've always had some difficulty with getting to sleep at night and waking up in the morning but it's never been this bad before. I'm not sure what to do to sort it out, but I'm going to have to as I'll have an early start pretty much every day next term.

I looked up Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome and I'm starting to think that I might have it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed...phase_syndrome

Anyone else have it/think they might have it? How do you get enough sleep?

[Blazara]

This sounds scarily similar to how I've been struggling to sleep. At my worst I'd fall asleep at 6am and wake up at 5pm ;\

Re: getting enough sleep - I don't during uni term time, I do while on holidays ;3

[BlueSheep32]

I actually sleep better when I'm at uni! I think it's because I'm a lot more active both mentally (lots of work to do) and physically (walking everywhere) so I do feel tired, although I generally don't end up going to bed until after midnight, most nights after 1. I managed to get myself up most mornings but one time at the end of term I did sleep through my alarm and almost missed a lecture.

I'm hoping that I'll start to sleep better when I get back to uni tomorrow but if I don't I'll see a doctor about it.

Going to sleep at 6am and waking up at 5?? At least I've never been that bad!

[In2deep]

I don't know whether it could be classed as a disorder or not, I probably don't have the same thing but I do constantly go to sleep at around 2.30-4.30am and this goes on for a few weeks at a time but the best way to sort it out is to 1) Have a very good reason to wake up early, for example, having classes at 9am means you have to wake up at around 7.45am which means you only had a few hrs sleep and hence feel very tired and you'll gradually sleep earlier and earlier or 2) miss out on a night's sleep or even two and you'll sleep like a baby at 10pm.

[COD_is_a_fish]

(Original post by BlueSheep32)
I actually sleep better when I'm at uni! I think it's because I'm a lot more active both mentally (lots of work to do) and physically (walking everywhere) so I do feel tired, although I generally don't end up going to bed until after midnight, most nights after 1. I managed to get myself up most mornings but one time at the end of term I did sleep through my alarm and almost missed a lecture.

I'm hoping that I'll start to sleep better when I get back to uni tomorrow but if I don't I'll see a doctor about it.

Going to sleep at 6am and waking up at 5?? At least I've never been that bad!

I didn't sleep until 4:30 last night

[BlueSheep32]

(Original post by PhoenixFortune)
Why don't you go to bed earlier? I manage to get all my uni work done and I go to bed at 10!

I don't stay up doing work; I do all of my work during the day because I generally finish uni for about 2. I'm just wide awake late at night for no reason, no matter how tired I've been during the day. If I try to go to bed early I just end up not being able to sleep, and I get frustrated because of it which makes it even harder to fall asleep.

[Blazara]

(Original post by BlueSheep32)
I don't stay up doing work; I do all of my work during the day because I generally finish uni for about 2. I'm just wide awake late at night for no reason, no matter how tired I've been during the day. If I try to go to bed early I just end up not being able to sleep, and I get frustrated because of it which makes it even harder to fall asleep.

- I feel exactly the same way. I've not spoken to/found anyone else who experienced a similar thing - generally people just think I'm weird

[BlueSheep32]

(Original post by Blazara)
- I feel exactly the same way. I've not spoken to/found anyone else who experienced a similar thing - generally people just think I'm weird

I think people think the same about me; during the first few weeks of uni I was going to bed at around 3 in the morning regardless of whether I'd been out or not because I was wide awake and then getting up at 7 or 8 for lectures, and struggling to stay awake in them! People asked me why I stayed up so late if I knew I'd be that tired the next day and I couldn't really give a reason for it. My parents think it's odd as well - they keep asking me why I often end up still awake at 2 and 3 in the morning and I can't really give them a good answer. It just happens.

(Original post by In2deep)
I don't know whether it could be classed as a disorder or not, I probably don't have the same thing but I do constantly go to sleep at around 2.30-4.30am and this goes on for a few weeks at a time but the best way to sort it out is to 1) Have a very good reason to wake up early, for example, having classes at 9am means you have to wake up at around 7.45am which means you only had a few hrs sleep and hence feel very tired and you'll gradually sleep earlier and earlier or 2) miss out on a night's sleep or even two and you'll sleep like a baby at 10pm.

Yeah, I think that's why towards the end of last term I slept a lot better at uni than I currently am doing at home - most days I have to be in for 9 or 10 so I'll get up at 7 or 8 to make sure I've got enough time to wake up properly and get to my lectures on time. I've had one good nights' sleep in the past few weeks and that was on New Year's Day because I'd been out on New Year's Eve and only got a few hours' sleep when I'd got back in. If it continues to be a problem I might try the missing out on a night's sleep thing one weekend and see if that works.

[Blazara]

(Original post by BlueSheep32)
If it continues to be a problem I might try the missing out on a night's sleep thing one weekend and see if that works.

I regret to say that I've done that (during the 6am - 5pm stint) - it works, but then you have to be REALLY strict with it; going out once (and thus staying up late-ish) threw me right back into a bad habit

[MancBoy]

(Original post by BlueSheep32)
.

Hello did you manage to fix this? I've had this problem all my life. My pattern is getting out of hand now. I am sleeping at 9am and getting up at 5pm.

[DZJX]

Thanks for putting this up, ive got this, i didnt know there was a name for it i thought it was just years of bad sleeping habbits that seem like i cant reverse no matter what i do. i usually get to sleep around 3 and wake up about 12 30 - 1 ish if i am left to my own devices, which i usually am. although i will say i can make it into my seminar that starts at 11:30 on a firday but havent been seen in a 9AM lecture for seven weeks

[M4LLY]

I'd reccommend going to see your GP if its getting that bad.

[moya]

(Original post by DZJX)
Thanks for putting this up, ive got this, i didnt know there was a name for it i thought it was just years of bad sleeping habbits that seem like i cant reverse no matter what i do. i usually get to sleep around 3 and wake up about 12 30 - 1 ish if i am left to my own devices, which i usually am. although i will say i can make it into my seminar that starts at 11:30 on a firday but havent been seen in a 9AM lecture for seven weeks

(Original post by MancBoy)
Hello did you manage to fix this? I've had this problem all my life. My pattern is getting out of hand now. I am sleeping at 9am and getting up at 5pm.

I spoke to the guy who wrote this article (http://www.supermemo.com/articles/sleep.htm) which you should all read, it's extremely interesting and will change how you think about sleep. I wrote to the author this week that he did kind of miss a solution to DSPS in this article. It was by pure coincidence that he was currently writing this solution.

Basically, as I understand at the moment, the main cause of DSPS is electric lighting. Even if you are on your computer late at night, and have all the other lights off, the light from your monitor (which is brighter than you think) will mess with your homeostatic rhythm.

So the first thing you can try, is coming off the computer if you spend early hours of the morning on it (I am not saying these are solutions, but things you can try).

The second obvious thing, is stimulants such as caffeine, which should only be taken shortly after waking up (including naps) so at max you should use it 2 times a day (if you have a nap, and this also assumes you have a nap at the right time, so not a nap from 8pm-9pm because this can also affect DSPS.

Some other things, don't do lots of exercise in the hours leading up to bed. Free-run your sleep (as the article explains) to find your 'sleeping rhythm' which can help. Some things you can do in the hour leading up to bed (which, after you have read the article, I mean that you should do this in the hour that you aim to go to sleep, you should never go to sleep if you are not tired, but should go straight to sleep if you are) are books, casual TV (although this does slightly contradict what he says about the computer monitor...), just things that won't be keeping you awake (so no mw2 at 2am).

I'll repost when he uploads the article, there should be a lot more stuff on that.

(Original post by M4LLY)
I'd reccommend going to see your GP if its getting that bad.

sadly not many GPs know much about sleep (I'm not saying you shouldn't go, but if they prescribe sleeping pills don't take them, it's not a solution)

[gagaslilmonsteruk]

The last time I had an early night was last Tuesday at 8.15pm, but that was after 37 hours awake of nothing but work - had to rely on a lot of Diet Coke to keep me awake. However, most nights I go to bed between 2.30 and 5, and I can get up from around 7.30am onwards (the earlier I sleep the easier it is for me to get up). Tonight it will easily be 4.10am when I go to bed, but I've been on a night out so I've had a valid reason to stay up. I can't see myself being up until around 12.30pm/1pm, and defo not starting to work until 2.30/3

[meow444]

Ugh I have this so badly. I'm considering taking sleeping pills, I don't know what else to do.

[moya]

(Original post by meow444)
Ugh I have this so badly. I'm considering taking sleeping pills, I don't know what else to do.

hi

trust me, don't, benzodiazepine and non-benzodiazepine can be extremely addictive, I've read that people say it's more unpleasant to come off zopiclone than it is to come off cocaine

read my post above, it's possible to help yourself with this

it may be hard to, but try to cut out anything that involves keeping you awake in the 2 hours you aim to get to sleep, including computer monitor. try watch some TV, and turn the brightness down

google for it, find solutions, read www.supermemo.com/articles/sleep.htm

[meow444]

Hey guys. So last night I took a sleeping pill, despite having had a nap in the afternoon (because I hadn't slept at night) and I actually slept! It was amazing! Admittedly I had a pretty nasty nightmare before I woke up, but I don't really care about having nightmares, it's better than not sleeping.

I took Diphenhydraine Hydrochloride BP (whatever that is). I have no idea if it is addictive, but I will try not to get dependent on it. Anyway hopefully I won't need one tonight, now that my sleeping patterns are right for once. I suppose the best thing is to use them once or twice just to switch you sleeping patterns around again.

So yeah, so far this has been a really great solution for me.

[moya]

(Original post by meow444)
Hey guys. So last night I took a sleeping pill, despite having had a nap in the afternoon (because I hadn't slept at night) and I actually slept! It was amazing! Admittedly I had a pretty nasty nightmare before I woke up, but I don't really care about having nightmares, it's better than not sleeping.

I took Diphenhydraine Hydrochloride BP (whatever that is). I have no idea if it is as addictive as moya says, but I will try not to get dependent on it. Anyway hopefully I won't need one tonight, now that my sleeping patterns are right for once. I suppose the best thing is to use them once or twice just to switch you sleeping patterns around again.

So yeah, so far this has been a really great solution for me.

it's not addictive, but yeh try not to use it everyday

[meow444]

(Original post by moya)
it's not addictive, but yeh try not to use it everyday

Cool, thanks moya.