Adjusting My Sleeping Pattern

esunaesuna Rock Bottom Join Date: 2003-04-03 Member: 15175Members, Constellation
Muh, i'm too tired to actually write much, so this'll be brief.

As it stands, my sleeping pattern is screwed. I wake up between 1-3pm and i'm never asleep until at least 6am.

I can't find any way to change this. If i go to bed earlier or try to sleep, i just lie awake, i just can't fall asleep any earlier. And i've tried setting my alarm for an earlier time (10-11am) but when i wake at that time i just unconsciously switch off the alarm clock and i'm fast asleep again before i know it.

So basically, does anyone have any ideas what i should do to alter my sleeping pattern?
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Comments

  • OttoDestructOttoDestruct Join Date: 2002-11-08 Member: 7790Members
    Ask a friend to wake you up and make sure youre up.
  • ZigZig ...I am Captain Planet! Join Date: 2002-10-23 Member: 1576Members
    what i did was not wake up for school and end up failing an entire semester worth of classes and now i'm taking them for summerschool and i'm waking up PERFECTLY on time because i don't for the love of me want to repeat this **** a single more time.

    maybe that only works for me.
  • SwiftspearSwiftspear Custim tital Join Date: 2003-10-29 Member: 22097Members
    If you stay up all night you should be able to reset your sleep patterns how ever you want (go to bed no earlyer than 11PM the next day) If that doesn't work, bite the bullet and do two nights, it's practically a sure thing.

    My current sleep pattern is acctually worse than that <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> Every weekday, 2am-7:30 am, every weekend 2am to 2pm.
  • BigMadSteveBigMadSteve Join Date: 2003-02-12 Member: 13472Members
    edited June 2004
    Get a very loud alarm clock and place it somewhere which will force you to get out of your bed to turn it off (other side of the room maybe?). It works well. If you don't get out of bed you've got a really loud noise to put up with and if you do turn it off you are out of bed and good to go.
  • MantridMantrid Lockpick Join Date: 2003-12-07 Member: 24109Members
    edited June 2004
    Put a picture of Goatse on your alarm clock.

    That'll wake ANYONE up.
  • [WHO]Them[WHO]Them You can call me Dave Join Date: 2002-12-11 Member: 10593Members, Constellation
    I've had this happen to me several times over the summer. And that staying up all night crap never worked.

    I've found that with myself, I need to have a *reason* to get up earlier than 2pm. Right now I never wake up before 2, but I know that as soon as I start working (next week) that I'll start waking up at around 8am every morning without fail because I have somewhere to go.

    Most people these days are just too pumped up to use a normal schedule. It's been shown in studies that a significant percentage of people actually settle into a 36 hour daily cycle when deprived of any method to check what time it is for an extended period.
  • SwiftspearSwiftspear Custim tital Join Date: 2003-10-29 Member: 22097Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-[WHO]Them+Jun 16 2004, 10:02 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> ([WHO]Them @ Jun 16 2004, 10:02 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I've had this happen to me several times over the summer. And that staying up all night crap never worked.

    I've found that with myself, I need to have a *reason* to get up earlier than 2pm. Right now I never wake up before 2, but I know that as soon as I start working (next week) that I'll start waking up at around 8am every morning without fail because I have somewhere to go.

    Most people these days are just too pumped up to use a normal schedule. It's been shown in studies that a significant percentage of people actually settle into a 36 hour daily cycle when deprived of any method to check what time it is for an extended period. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Proof that were originally from another planet?

    I THINK SO!
  • NumbersNotFoundNumbersNotFound Join Date: 2002-11-07 Member: 7556Members
    Just get one of those 120db trucker alarms from a truckstop.
  • NuketheplaceNuketheplace Join Date: 2002-09-02 Member: 1266Members
    Who[Them], I could have sworn it was a 25 hour cycle.
  • [WHO]Them[WHO]Them You can call me Dave Join Date: 2002-12-11 Member: 10593Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-Nuketheplace+Jun 16 2004, 08:28 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Nuketheplace @ Jun 16 2004, 08:28 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Who[Them] <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    WTH ppl, is it really that hard?
  • MulletMullet Join Date: 2003-04-28 Member: 15910Members, Constellation
    My sleeping pattern was all messed up too, until recently. What you have to do, is instead of doing your regular activities all day (lets sayin sitting in front of a computer) go out and do some physical or somthing that makes you tired cardio vascular wise.

    If you went out and ran like 3 miles at a decent pace (asuming that you don't run often), then I guarantee you, you will be wiped out by the time you get some food in you.

    I had a horrible sleeping pattern until I went to this football camp. We had 3 practices a day, and we pretty much ran the whole entire time (or did somthing active). Now i'm in bed by 11:00 pm but I wake up at like 8:00 am. It's bad to have a build up of energy before you go to bed...

    Hope this helps... <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • TalesinTalesin Our own little well of hate Join Date: 2002-11-08 Member: 7710NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators
    I just grabbed a comp program that functions like an alarm clock... executes something at a given time, or plays a sound file.

    I've got it set to run WinAMP at maximum volume. Since I have my machine hooked up to a surround-sound full room stereo, that's pretty damn loud.
    Since I don't want to wake up to having no ears every day, I have two alarm clocks... a little one by the bed, and a noisier one across the room. If I turn both of those off, the stereo blasts me out of bed.
    Usually I leave it set to something vulgar or annoying, so I'm sure to WANT to turn it off as soon as possible. I've actually slept through 'pleasant' playlists at 70DB in the past. :b
  • AgentOrangeAgentOrange Join Date: 2002-11-18 Member: 9244Members
    <!--QuoteBegin-[WHO]Them+Jun 16 2004, 09:02 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> ([WHO]Them @ Jun 16 2004, 09:02 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I've had this happen to me several times over the summer. And that staying up all night crap never worked.

    I've found that with myself, I need to have a *reason* to get up earlier than 2pm. Right now I never wake up before 2, but I know that as soon as I start working (next week) that I'll start waking up at around 8am every morning without fail because I have somewhere to go.

    Most people these days are just too pumped up to use a normal schedule. It's been shown in studies that a significant percentage of people actually settle into a 36 hour daily cycle when deprived of any method to check what time it is for an extended period. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    [WHO]Them is right. You have to have a reason and actually want to. If you're wanting to get up earlier just because you feel like a slob, tough luck it's not going to help you. I just broke this cycle myself and I did it by accidentally staying up during the day and going to bed at a reasonable hour. I wake up every day at 8 am now.

    Get a job you bum!
  • BlackMageBlackMage [citation needed] Join Date: 2003-06-18 Member: 17474Members, Constellation
    get a clockradio (or any alarm clock system than can get AM static or something near as annoying) turn it up as loud as possible and place it far from the bed.
    AM static is very, very annoying because you don't get nice, even whitenoise like FM and random channels will phase in and out (random voices)

    either that or get someone to do one of the following at [whenever]:
    - place ice on your forehead/groin
    - place water on your face
    - plug your nose (works all the time, somewhat amusing to see ^^)
    - slap you with a kilo/pound of raw fish
  • MedHeadMedHead Join Date: 2002-12-19 Member: 11115Members, Constellation
    The same thing happens to me (insomnia at 1-3AM) exactly at that time, too. It's hard for me because I <b>like</b> staying up late, so I don't really want to go to bed early.
  • CyndaneCyndane Join Date: 2003-11-15 Member: 22913Members
    I find that if I trouble sleeping any regular hours I will stay up for about 4 days straight and usually I can force myself to eventually become physically exhausted enough to correct it. :-)
  • Marik_SteeleMarik_Steele To rule in hell... Join Date: 2002-11-20 Member: 9466Members
    edited June 2004
    Drastic cases call for drastic measures.

    Bring out the big guns.

    I present to you...


    <span style='font-size:11pt;line-height:100%'>The TOTALLYSCREWED <a href='http://www.totallyscrewed.net/newsite/other.htm' target='_blank'>HAPPY MORNING WAKEUP KIT</a>.</span> <PLEASE read warning in description below>

    [edit]To give proper credit: this was taken from <a href='http://www.totallyscrewed.net' target='_blank'>TotallyScrewed.net</a>, who also brought us such bloody atrocities as Zombie Smashers X, the now-disappeared Matrix Smashers X, Blood Zero, and several newer games I just noticed are up. To quote the description of the Happy Morning Wakeup Kit:
    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->This is basically a glorified alarm clock, but with the added bonus of severe psychological scarring! Crank the volume way up, set your wake up time, and you will wake up! Be warned, disturbing images are involved.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    Once again, I must emphasize my hesitation in promoting such intense tools for waking yourself up. I'm not just saying it <i>may</i> contain psychologically-damaging content. I'm saying it <i>definitely does</i> contain scarring content as warned, the sort I'd probably lock or delete a topic for if it was more directly-linked.

    [edit2]And in case it wasn't obvious enough by now, the link isn't work or family-friendly. It's not teletubbies. It's not Barney the Fuzzy Purple Dinosaur. It's intended to wake you up, and it does so rather disturbingly.
  • SoulSkorpionSoulSkorpion Join Date: 2002-04-12 Member: 423Members
    Here's the trick: it's not when you go to sleep that resets your pattern, it's when you wake up.

    Force yourself to wake up in the morning, say, 10am. Yes, you'll be a zombie all through the day. Try to go to sleep at a sane time in the evening, don't worry too much about not being able to get to sleep. When you do go to bed, don't focus on trying to get to sleep. Just forcus on relaxing. Don't watch the clock, in fact, turn it so you can't see it.

    After long enough, you'll be tired enough hat it'll be damn near impossibe to <i>not</i> fall asleep. And, if all else fails, take sleeping tablets (oh, about sleeping tablets, the ones I sometimes use are a damn sight more powerful than they make themselves out to be. An adult dose is one tablet; I still feel sedate the next day after a <i>quarter</i>. But I digress.)
  • CodemanCodeman Join Date: 2002-11-21 Member: 9497Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    I only get up if I have something to do (or somewhere to go, like work), but I'm a zombie all morning unless I get at least 8 hrs of sleep...
  • TalesinTalesin Our own little well of hate Join Date: 2002-11-08 Member: 7710NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators
    edited June 2004
    The human body defaults to a 25-hour cycle.. not a 36. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo--> Tests were run where subjects were kept in an underground bunker with no natural light to cue them, and lights went on and off only when they were switched that way by the test subjects.

    Oddly enough, once natural light (sunlight or a reasonable facsimile thereof) was applied to ANY portion of their body, their sleep schedule immediately reset to a 24-hour day. And it didn't matter where... one subject was 'lighted' on the arm, another on the back, another on the back of the knee, or inner thigh. They all reset.


    One useful bit of information I took out of psychology classes was information about how the human body deals with sleep.
    Even if you're laying in bed, with your mind operating at a million rpm, if your eyes are closed and you're in a 'restful' orientation, you're still getting rest. You'll eventually be able to use this to reorient yourself.
    Humans sleep in 90-minute intervals. It takes that long to phase through the four stages of sleep, pop up to REM, and then start back into the first phase. If you sleep for 4:30, 6, 7:30, or 9 hours, you'll wake more rested and 'awake' than if you tried to get the stereotypical 8 hours' sleep.

    <b>Sleeping for 8 hours is NOT what your body needs!</b>

    Unfortunate side-effect: I've used this for so long that I find it near-impossible to sleep for any other amount of time, including 'cat naps'. If I'm out, I'm out for 6 hours. If left undisturbed (and had an interesting day) I won't wake up for 9.
    On the up side, I'm much more awake when I am. On the down side, being woken up during 'interim' times leaves me extremely groggy. This may just be from forgetting how it is to wake up at those times, or possibly a physiological adjustment to getting 'proper' sleep making 'improper' sleep more debilitating.
  • CodemanCodeman Join Date: 2002-11-21 Member: 9497Members, Constellation, Reinforced - Shadow
    Strange... If I sleep for less than 8 hours I'm usually stuffed when I wake up, although I don't do the whole "8 hours per day thing" - it's either less than 8hrs (like 6 or 7) or 9-10hours (ie: days I don't have to get up and go to work >_< )

    Meh. No matter how much I sleep the only way I find myself alert in the mornings is if I've been awake all night and my mind is active (ie: gaming, coding, etc)

    One or more cups of coffee in the morning really helps too, there's something about a hot drink that helps me wake up...
  • booogerboooger Join Date: 2003-11-03 Member: 22274Members
    i'd like to clap for myself because i can literally wake up whenever I want to, without any aids... i even wanted see how much control i had over it - lo and behold, i can wake up at 4:00am pretty easy! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • [WHO]Them[WHO]Them You can call me Dave Join Date: 2002-12-11 Member: 10593Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin-Talesin+Jun 16 2004, 10:18 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Talesin @ Jun 16 2004, 10:18 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> The human body defaults to a 25-hour cycle.. not a 36. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
    I only said it was a significant percentage, not all of humanity or even the majority.

    The original study I saw about people falling into the 36 hour cycle was on discovery a year or two ago, so here's some other material to cite.

    <a href='http://www.sleephomepages.org/sleepsyllabus/fr-g.html' target='_blank'>http://www.sleephomepages.org/sleepsyllabus/fr-g.html</a>
    specifically - "Internal Desynchronization"
  • panda_de_malheureuxpanda_de_malheureux Join Date: 2003-12-26 Member: 24775Members
    edited June 2004
    <span style='color:red'>*NUKED.* If you do not feel the need to read others' posts, you shouldn't feel offended when yours is removed. -Talesin</span>
  • Private_ColemanPrivate_Coleman PhD in Video Games Join Date: 2002-11-07 Member: 7510Members
    prescription sleeping pills worked wonders for me. They can become addictive though after 3 days.
  • UnderDOGUnderDOG Join Date: 2003-04-05 Member: 15221Members
    dont use medication, just goto bed whenever, but find some way that you are completly sure that you can get in at 7:00 (or whatever) in the morning.
  • MulletMullet Join Date: 2003-04-28 Member: 15910Members, Constellation
    <!--QuoteBegin--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->prescription sleeping pills worked wonders for me. They can become addictive though after 3 days.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->

    lmao...
  • SomniusSomnius Join Date: 2004-06-17 Member: 29352Members
    edited June 2004
    I can't really say I have any problems with that same sleeping schedule, except I don't wake up unless I've had about 13 hours of sleep. I've actually slept through hurricanes and fire alarms before. Admittedly, it's not a healthy habit. But if you really have a problem with it, I'd have to go with the increase in physical activity thing. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    Then again, pills are always welcome friends. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
  • CabooseCaboose title = name(self, handle) Join Date: 2003-02-15 Member: 13597Members, Constellation
    Here I am at 3:32am in the same predicament... I'll try to follow some of this advise and get up early tomorrow...
  • juicejuice Join Date: 2003-01-28 Member: 12886Members, Constellation
    edited June 2004
    <!--QuoteBegin-Mullet+Jun 16 2004, 10:37 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Mullet @ Jun 16 2004, 10:37 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> go out and do some physical or somthing that makes you tired cardio vascular wise. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><div class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    Yeah this is the best way. Just go out and run a few miles and you'll be sleepy much earlier than 6 am.

    Of course, I'm the master hypocrite here; I just woke up 2 hours ago... at 2:00 am. My day kept getting later and later... waking up at 11 am... 1 pm... 4 pm.... 10 pm... now at 2:00 am, let my day begin lol! Pretty soon I'll be back on a normal schedule again I guess. That's another way <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->

    Edit: got my ams and pms confused, of course
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