Feeling tired all the time except at night

This is really making me feel like crap. I used to be an early riser in December, waking up around 8-10am everyday and sleeping at 10-11pm and I felt great, although it was a lot of sleep. Anyway, now that I'm back at sixth form, I've had a weird sleeping pattern. During the first week or so back, I was sleeping at 12am on weekdays and waking at 6.30am, and then on weekends I'd be so exhaused I'd sleep from around 11pm to 11am.

This week has been the worst. On Tuesday and Wednesday night I went to sleep at around 1-2am and woke up at 1-2pm, missing my lessons at school on both days. On Thursday night I slept 2am and woke up at 7.30am, forcing myself to get up. Last night I tried to sleep at 9.30pm hoping I'd wake up early and everything would be alright but I couldn't get to sleep till around 12.30am :frown:

And today I woke up at 11am :mad:

How am I going to get out of this habit?

It's making me feel really dull all the time, and lifeless. I drink about 3-4 bottles of Lucozade a day and still feel exhausted, but around 8pm-12am I'm full of energy :rolleyes:

Any ideas or advice? I really hate this!

Reply 1

LoveMusic

1

I'm like this a little, i am tired from when i wake-up till about 8-9pm.

Reply 2

Toy Soldier

3

Nothing wrong with being a night-owl! And you don't even sound like that much of one. I tend to sleep for 4 or 5am to 2pm. Unless I'm forced to get up earlier, this is the sleep pattern I fall into. I can only assume it's my natural sleep pattern. Likewise, I'm only fully awake after 7pm-ish. For example if I have Uni work to do, or study, I do it best from around 8pm - midnight.

Reply 3

sugarsweet_88

hmm i would suggest getting into a regular sleeping routine time and sticking to it everyday, then you will feel naturally sleepy and this time. Also doing exercise will help the routine. Make sure your also eating heathily-ish, drinking water. I think the most sleep we need to function each day is about 8 hours.

Reply 4

hannah_dru

2

I've been sleeping a lot at weekends lately- last weekend I think I slept about 21 hours. Caffeine, especially in the evening can make things worse. Bananas are good.

Its probably stress from study, but I don't think the weather helps either.

Reply 5

gracie88

14

I'm like this, except worse i won't ever fall asleep before 2am and i can quite easily sleep till 4pm. If i get up at a reasonable time, say 10am i will be tired all day but as soon as it gets to around 9pm onwards i am not tired at all and so the cycle begins... I wish i had some form of solution for it because then maybe i'd sleep at decent times and feel awake during the day.

Reply 6

Rooftopcowboy

12

Anonymous

This is really making me feel like crap. I used to be an early riser in December, waking up around 8-10am everyday and sleeping at 10-11pm and I felt great, although it was a lot of sleep. Anyway, now that I'm back at sixth form, I've had a weird sleeping pattern. During the first week or so back, I was sleeping at 12am on weekdays and waking at 6.30am, and then on weekends I'd be so exhaused I'd sleep from around 11pm to 11am.

This week has been the worst. On Tuesday and Wednesday night I went to sleep at around 1-2am and woke up at 1-2pm, missing my lessons at school on both days. On Thursday night I slept 2am and woke up at 7.30am, forcing myself to get up. Last night I tried to sleep at 9.30pm hoping I'd wake up early and everything would be alright but I couldn't get to sleep till around 12.30am :frown:

And today I woke up at 11am :mad:

How am I going to get out of this habit?

It's making me feel really dull all the time, and lifeless. I drink about 3-4 bottles of Lucozade a day and still feel exhausted, but around 8pm-12am I'm full of energy :rolleyes:

Any ideas or advice? I really hate this!

id say the lucozade isnt helping, its a load of sugary crap...which will make you feel good for a bit, then awful once the sugar has worn off and your body wants more.

id say ditch the sugar and switch to more natural stuff like water and fruit juice, youll probably feel bad for a few days..but then your body will feel healthier.

saying that i too am having severe sleeping problems, my sleep pattern is still 2am-lunchtime despite my best efforts to move it grr

Reply 7

quadruple_twist

2

There was a thread similar to this and a link was posted which I think was very useful:

Basically go to bed when you're tired (as in so tired you'll fall asleep more or less straight away - this will probably be a different time each night) and get up at the same time every day of the week. Apparently it takes a week or two to fall into the rhythm but it's very effective in the long run.

Reply 8

Anonymous #1

OP

^ Do you mean sleep around 1am for example, and wake up at say, 7am? Regardless of sleep needs? That does sound like it may work, but will be frustrating. And also, I probably will cut out Lucozade completely now Rooftopcowboy :biggrin:

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Reply 9

quadruple_twist

2

Anonymous

^ Do you mean sleep around 1am for example, and wake up at say, 7am? Regardless of sleep needs? That does sound like it may work, but will be frustrating. And also, I probably will cut out Lucozade completely now Rooftopcowboy :biggrin:

.

Yeah, which might lead you to being tired at, say, 10/11pm the next day. So you'd go to bed then, and get up again at 7am :smile:

Reply 10

Jennybean

13

It's all very well to be nocturnal if you're happy with it but it's clearly bothering you. First of all I would say ditch the lucozade as this will give you false energy patterns. Have you tried all the usual sleep remedies, like listening to some relaxing music, having a bath, drinking some warm milk etc before you get into bed? There are also herbal sleeping remedies which can really help to relax you. Apparently having a messy room can stop people sleeping so make sure your bedroom is tidy. If you think the stresses of sixth form might be affecting you, try writing lists of things you want to accomplish each day and ticking them off so you can review them in the evening and see how much you've achieved. If things are bothering you, write them down so you know they are under control and you can sort them out the next day, rather than worrying about them in bed. If you get into bed an hour before you actually want to go to sleep and lie there with the lights off then you give yourself plenty of time to be asleep by the time you want.
If none of the normal ideas work then you could consider trying to move your sleep pattern forward instead of backward, i.e. instead of going to bed earlier and not sleeping. Try staying up a couple of hours later each night so that you move your natural bedtime through the day to the evening rather than back from the early hours of the morning to the evening, if that makes sense? E.g. if you last went to bed at 12.30am, push yourself to stay up til 2.30 so you're really tired. Set your alarm for 12 midday and make sure you get out of bed, so you're not tempted to sleep til you're not tired at all anymore. The following night stay up til 4.30am, then set your alarm for 2pm. The following night stay up til 6.30am and get up at 4pm. Keep moving the times forward by a couple of hours, always making sure you have little enough sleep that you will be tired by the time you get to bed, until you arrive back at a sensible bedtime of say 10.30pm and a sensible waking time of around 7.30am. You probably will need a week off college to sort it out in this way but I believe half term is coming up? You will also need to explain the situation to your family so that they can assist with leaving you to sleep and getting you out of bed at the right times. It is a fairly drastic idea but I have anecdotal evidence that it does work very effectively and if you can maintain the results afterwards it's well worth the weirdness of staying up all night watching rubbish telly.

Feeling tired all the time except at night

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