Sleep....

[thatgirljj]

For this challenge, one of my goals is improving my sleep. I usually sleep terribly between August & mid-October (I think it's the heat), and I know it really affects my eating and my training. So my goal for this challenge is to work really hard on improving my sleep hygiene: wake up and go to bed on time (damn you Olympics), be careful with my caffeine intake after 12pm, make sure that 1 bad night of sleep doesn't interrupt my exercise. Some of the time I may still not sleep very well, but my goal is to improve my habits around sleep with an ideal of getting 6-7 hours a night.

I just wanted to throw this out there to the Rebel Army in general, since I know we don't have a ton of Druids. Anyone else out there struggling with this?

-jj

This message brought to you by last night's 11:30pm wake-up call from the San Andreas fault.

[leadchipmunk]

I do have trouble with this, but I have all sorts of messed up schedules that makes it worse. I'll work at night a couple days, not getting done until 3 or 4am, then there are times where I have stuff planned for mornings and have to get up around 6 or 7. It just confuses my body and it never knows when it needs to sleep and thinks it always wants it.

That being said, I do have a suggestion that may work for you. Set a planned time to wake up every day, no sleeping in on weekends, and set an alarm (or 2 (or 3 in my case)) for that time. Now listen to your body and go to sleep when it wants to, but be sure to wake up every day at the same time. After a while, your body will understand it needs to wake up in X hours from now and it will need X amount of sleep, so it is time for bed. At the start you may have days where you sleep only 3 hours, then the next day you fall asleep around 6pm and get 13 hours (if given that you wake at 7am). But after a while you will regulate to your natural, needed amount of sleep (usually between 6 and 9 hours). I haven't tried this before because of my above schedule, but it makes sense and I've heard lots of good things about it.

[ponita]

This was a huge issue for me up until a week ago. Despite being exhausted, I would routinely wake up around midnight and fidget the rest of the night. I was reading Mark's Daily Apple blog here and two of the tips have really helped. One is so simple it's stupid but I face my alarm clock away from me so that 1) I can't stress about what time it is and 2) the light is no longer bothering me. I also started using the sleep posture that Mark recommended. Not sure which helped with sleep more, but in the last week I have slept better than I have in years.

Hope this helps (as I'm sitting here watching the Olympics myself)

[Jcannon98188]

I do have trouble with this, but I have all sorts of messed up schedules that makes it worse. I'll work at night a couple days, not getting done until 3 or 4am, then there are times where I have stuff planned for mornings and have to get up around 6 or 7. It just confuses my body and it never knows when it needs to sleep and thinks it always wants it.

That being said, I do have a suggestion that may work for you. Set a planned time to wake up every day, no sleeping in on weekends, and set an alarm (or 2 (or 3 in my case)) for that time. Now listen to your body and go to sleep when it wants to, but be sure to wake up every day at the same time. After a while, your body will understand it needs to wake up in X hours from now and it will need X amount of sleep, so it is time for bed. At the start you may have days where you sleep only 3 hours, then the next day you fall asleep around 6pm and get 13 hours (if given that you wake at 7am). But after a while you will regulate to your natural, needed amount of sleep (usually between 6 and 9 hours). I haven't tried this before because of my above schedule, but it makes sense and I've heard lots of good things about it.

The only problem is my body says "Ok time for sleep" but the rest of me says "one more episode..."

[thatgirljj]

Leadchipmunk: I've tried that strategy before and it works poorly for me. A night of 3 hours of sleep is just too disorienting. It leads to days of bad eating and irregular caffeine intake and generally being an asshole to my whole body. Less than 5 hours of sleep and literally ALL of my self-discipline goes right out the window. :-P

Ponita: MDA has some awesome things on sleep. I got blackout curtains for our bedroom earlier this year and they seemed to help a lot. I haven't messed around with his sleep posture ideas though... I should go back and read that and see if it might be worth testing out in my challenge.

The only problem is my body says "Ok time for sleep" but the rest of me says "one more episode..."

See... that's the key. This is why it's a challenge goal. I absolutely NEED my brain to have the discipline to say "No. Stop. Get your butt to sleep."

-jj

[rtalencar]

I wake up at 4AM every day to go to work so I can get a gym session in first. Sometimes I stay up playing video games when I shouldn't and only get ~4 hours (like today). It's rough. Good luck with your goal!

[leadchipmunk]

Leadchipmunk: I've tried that strategy before and it works poorly for me. A night of 3 hours of sleep is just too disorienting. It leads to days of bad eating and irregular caffeine intake and generally being an asshole to my whole body. Less than 5 hours of sleep and literally ALL of my self-discipline goes right out the window. :-P

I actually feel better off of 3 hours of sleep than I do with 8. I'm not sure why, but I get groggy with more than 6 hours sleep. Sad thing is, when I'm off the next day and have no plans, I'll easily get 14 hours sleep and just feel horrible the whole day...

[Hammlin]

This was a huge issue for me up until a week ago. Despite being exhausted, I would routinely wake up around midnight and fidget the rest of the night. I was reading Mark's Daily Apple blog here and two of the tips have really helped. One is so simple it's stupid but I face my alarm clock away from me so that 1) I can't stress about what time it is and 2) the light is no longer bothering me. I also started using the sleep posture that Mark recommended. Not sure which helped with sleep more, but in the last week I have slept better than I have in years.

Hope this helps (as I'm sitting here watching the Olympics myself)

I do this exact thing with facing my clock away. It really does help!

[BeckyBuckeye]

Part of my challenge is the same issue because I am AWFUL at getting things done when I'm tired. My issue is usually getting distracted and wanting to watch tv/read my book/play on the internet/talk to BuckeyeBoyfriend instead of going to bed. Now, I have an alarm set for a half-hour before I want to go to bed to make myself get off the couch and finish all those "one last thing"s before it's time for me to go to sleep. Right now, that alarm is set for 10:30, but it might be moving earlier soon, I'm still waking up pretty tired, but better than in the past, so it's progress.

ETA: I also have F.lux installed on my computer so the light doesn't keep me as alert later at night. It seems to help at least a little.

[DylanAilDon]

I don't sleep the best myself, usually because my regular schedule involves late-evening activities

(ex:WP Practice and Dance Lessons [so 5 days a week] ends at 10, so I get home by 10:30-11:00, still energized)

I have gone to a sleep and relaxtion workshop, but haven't applied the info they gave me yet.

I function well with less than 8 hours, and to be honest if I sleep in or nap too long it actually drains my energy, which happened this morning after a post-5:30am-shift nap.

The only reason I haven't put sleep as a challenge goal is I don't have a routine yet. Next time hopefully.

*Posting on NF after late evening shifts doesn't help either, but I digress*

[aravis]

ETA: I also have F.lux installed on my computer so the light doesn't keep me as alert later at night. It seems to help at least a little.

Flux is the shizzle. I'm using it right now.

[coonskee]

When I had insomnia for a while second year of undergrad, a few things really helped me.

1) Not using my bed for anything but sleep (or certain fun activities)

2) If I couldn't fall asleep right when I got to bed, get up, go downstairs, read for however long I needed to until I felt tired again, THEN go back to bed.

Associating your bed with just the activity of sleep (or sexy fun times) and not associating it with "omg I can't fall asleep *turn over* *turn over* *flail* *plump pillow* crap it's been twenty minutes already!!!!" really helped me get some kind of sleep rhythm back into my life.