Sleep Question

Just wanted to put up a question here to those who probably know a lot about sleep--I have been lucid dreaming for a few years now so I have learned a fair deal about the sleep process, but still have not been able to find an adequate answer to this question:

At the moment I currently have to deal with school from about 7 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon, following which I work from about 3 to 5 I train for Track and MMA, and from 5 to 2AM on work related to my business--usually I don't get to sleep until about 4AM and then I have to wake up at 5:30 to make/receive various business calls from people on the west coast.


I know this is obviously not healthy, but it's what I have to do so there's no changing my schedule. During the day I have caffeine obviously to help, but i'm looking for:

a) a way to minimize the strain if possible

and most importantly...

b) a way to wake up more easily in the morning--i'm willing to resort to whatever it takes, but I find it incredibly difficult to wake up after 2-3 hours of sleep and since my conscious self is not always reasonable under the influence of the morning fog, I can't "will power" myself out of bed.

Any recommendations or strategies are much appreciated.

That realy cant be good for you, you could try alternative sleep patterens, or simply nap in your free time, but if you dont do somthing, sleep deprivaton can cause depression and even cause mental health problems, and is that realy worth it?

haha I specifically said in my post that I already know the implications--I understand what you are saying and have given it a great deal of thought, and luckily I only really have to carry out this schedule for another two years, but still the rewards are far greater than what I am giving up. It's a cost/benefit ratio and my decision is clear.

Ok, but I would also go easy on the caffeine, Its addictive and has alot of bad effects from long term over use, plus it does'nt realy help because after its effects wear off you'll just be even more tired.

I would also mentain a healthy diet etc just to try and get every bit of energy you can, and like I said power nap whenever you can during the day, this should help you to wake up when you realy need to.

Over time your body will adjust if you stick to a set out sleep and nap schedual and dont change it.

good luck