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    Thread: How long does it take for the sleep cycle to balance itself?

    1. #1
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      How long does it take for the sleep cycle to balance itself?

      I'm a college student and on Saturday nights I usually go out with friends. The weeks that we do this I go to bed at around 5 am and obviously have very little sleep, since I've always had issues with insomnia and waking up at dawn. On Sunday night I tend to go to bed early because I'm exhausted and I get up at 6 am on Mondays to go to college. Needless to say, I still spend the Mondays feeling sleepy.

      From this point on, how many nights does it take for the sleep cycle to get back to normal, knowing on weekdays I tend to go to bed and get up at regular times? It's worth pointing out that I usually volunteer to drive on Saturday nights so I don't drink (I'd rather not couple the tiredness with a hangover, I'm really not much into alcohol anyway) and that I make sure I sleep at least 7 hours on weekdays, more on the first days, to try and make up for the lack of sleep.

      I've been asking myself this for a while now and I'm really curious, but I guess there's not an "exact" answer to this.
      "If you must sleep a third of your life, why should you sleep through your dreams?"

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    2. #2
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      I have same problem. Two mounths ago me and three friends was started a long-night gaming session, staying awake all night until 8 AM. We continued this next night because we had one week holiday from collage. The bad thing is that we still used to slept at 8 AM, especialy me because I have issue with insomnia and I found that i can sleep beter on day than night. We missed one mounth of collage until my friends have regain their normal cycle, except me who start sleeping only after college classes. I tried to stay awake until hours like 12 or 1 AM and then to go to sleep, but insomnia was keeping me awake until matinal hours like 6-7AM. I'm still having this kind of issue with my cranky sleep cycle.
      I hope that your cycle will get ballanced in a shorter time.

    3. #3
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      No one seems to be responding, so I'll throw in an unscientific off-the-cuff answer for you, Martakartus:

      Your natural sleep cycle is inclined to keep to its programmed schedule, so it will return to its normal routine pretty quickly -- probably within a night or two of regular sleep hours, no matter how much you abused it. So if you must be on schedule by a certain date, be sure to cut off the partying or late nights a couple of days before that date, and you'll be fine. And don't worry about trying to make up for lost sleep; this is less important than you might think, as your body will probably be able to recover from lost nights of sleep pretty quickly -- in other words, it isn't mathematical: miss 20 hours of sleep, and you can still make it up with just one good night's sleep (8 hours).

      I guess the bottom line is this: don't worry about screwing with your sleep schedule, because your body is designed to get it back to normal very quickly -- usually within a day or two of normal sleep.

      I hoped this completely unscientific bit of advice helped; I also hope that if someone knows better, they choose to chime in...
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      Well I would add unto Sageous that it might help to Regulate Melatonin levels in order to regain a normal day-night cyclus. From my experience it doesn't matter so much so I agree with Sageous completely. To be honest, I don't think we really even need a sleeping pattern at all. We can sleep whenever we want. The only downside to not sleeping is that you don't really learn much when you don't sleep. But Melatonin cycles happen regardless of sleep and that is the real clock. What is messed up is that artificial lights keep our regular day-night clock in chemical inbalance. So if you want to dream more it will be quite useful to sleep during melatonin-release at night and for that you can use F.lux. It's a quick download and it will help you balance ur melatonin levels on that very day. (as long as you turn off articial lights, and maybe even close the curtains if you live in the city). Hope that answers ur question?

      I used to actually stay awake until dawn for days on-end for years really and lately I even go to school after 24 or more hours of being awake. Naps have been very useful in fueling exhaust. And foods. So if you happen to go out this weekend. Make sure you eat healthy and take an apple on monday morning and I will assure you that you will make it through the day as long as you don't close ur eyes and WILD accidantilly while in ur class-room.

      GabiAlex, What helped me beat Insomnia is not caring so much. I gave up trying to sleep when not feeling tired. That would only make me frustrated. Whenever I had school or responsibilities I decided to go anyway regardless if i lacked any sleep. That helped fuel exhaust at night. Instead, I worked on changing patterns of behaviour that led to me not being tired. What I had to cut out of my life was computer gaming, tv and smoking mainly and some other activities that keep me stimulated. Changing my computer lights with a program called F.Lux and turning off artificial lights at sunset has proven extremely effective in helping me sleep. Now.. I just go to bed whenever I feel like i'm ready to go to bed. It helps when i'm not stimulated from technology to actually feel like my body is ready to sleep. Meditation has helped as well. Good luck to you'.
      Last edited by Dthoughts; 04-20-2014 at 12:19 AM.
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    5. #5
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      I started noticing the effect on dreaming (longer, more vivid, better recall) dreams after about one week of maintaining regular to-bed and out-of-bed times.
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