I feel like I'm torturing myself

LegacyUser

This is probably very self indulgent and I'm sure most people wouldn't see it as a problem but I can't make myself go to bed.

I'm not an insomniac (although I have had problems with that in the past) when I actually try to sleep, I usualy do so very quickly and without any problems. My problem is that every night I stay up a lot later than I should. I'm a person who needs 8 hours sleep to feel well and rested. every night I stay up later than I should for example this morning I had to be up at 8 like usual, so I really should have gone to bed at midnight, I knew this and yet kept finding unnecessary things to do like tidying, thinking baout doing things that I've put off doing all day, chatting on facebook, watching tv, googling stupid things etc. I didn't end up getting into bed until 4am and am like a zombie walking aorund today.

At weekends its fine, if I stay up until 2 or 3 I just sleep in later but trying to survive on so little sleep during the week is just killing me, I feel like I'm using some sort of torture on myself.

I've been doing this ever since I went to college but it wasn't as bad then and I didn't have to be up so early. I started my first (non-summer) job about a month ago and I'm so worried about sleeping in that I have 5 alarm clocks, just to make sure. I don't know how to force myself to get into bed every night but I need to, I can't keep going on like this

If theres anyone who has any advice, I'd really appreciate it

jessiejam

I'm a bit of a night owl too. I know I have to get up at 7 but still manage to find some crap on the telly to keep me up till after 1 most nights. By the time the alarm goes off in the morning, I always say "should have gone to bed earlier".

You have to train yourself into going to bed early. Start winding down about 10. Do everything you need to do in the house before then and turn off the telly and read for a while.

Eventually your body and brain will want to go to bed earlier.

Its all about habit I think. Even if i am in bed by 11 (a rare occurance), I'm still not bouncing out of the bed at 7.

I would stay up all night and sleep all day if I had the choice.
Should have taken a night job I think!

Adam

i was exactly the same and worse up until very recently. the answer for the most part is turn the laptop off at 10. have a cuppa and relax for an hour, then hit the hay. i get up at half seven every morning, only for the last two months though, and i'm currently on my longest stretch of successfully going to bed/getting up on time in my life (since school, didn't go to college)

still now i stay up late-ish, usually actually get in to bed between 11 and 12, and i find that's enough, but it's really all to do with getting off the computer or whatever it is that you find yourself doing most at night. i dont have a facebook any more, i've been on boards a long time so i don't feel the urge to stay on and on, it'll all be there in the morning. also remember that just because you don't feel your eyes closing doesn't mean you're not tired, if you're up at seven every morning you ARE tired at half ten ish every night, but if you stay up late again you break your body's cycle and catch second wind.

long may my streak last, i still feel like just going back to sleep some mornings, but i feel better overall for getting up!

Novella

I used to have serious sleep issues. I would stay up all night, 'til 7 or even 8am and only then might I fall asleep. Even at that, I was never able to sleep for a prolonged period. I was prescribed sleeping tablets for a few months, but then I read an article about how the sleeping pill I was on was hugely addictive and there were many cases of people who simply couldn't survive without it... so I stopped.

You need to stop this too. It will be hard in the beginning, but stick with it. Try getting into bed at 11pm - no tv, no computer. Maybe just read, listen to some quiet and relaxing music. Maybe if you drank Valerian tea, or used lavender on your pillow. Allow yourself an hour to wind down. Then at 12, turn off the light and sleep.
You will probably find yourself lying awake for a while for the first few nights, but don't get back up. You need to settle yourself into the routine. It's hard, but it works.

nimrodsson

I'm a bit like that myself... and i've just started a new job and really anxious about sleeping in!

Heres the thing though... do you nap when you get home from work? Thats my biggest problem... i'll just lie down for "2 mins" and of course an hour later i'm up again, bright as a button! And it starts again.....