Trouble falling asleep/waking up early?

**LadyGalaxy** · 07-20-2015 05:06 PM

I have a problem concerning my sleep schedule. Since I'm currently on summer vacation, I basically sleep from whatever time to whatever time, so around from 11:15 PM to 9:30 AM works for dream recall. The thing is, when I start school, I'll be forced to wake up at least at 6:00 AM, and I can never fall asleep before 11:00 PM, so I don't know how to adjust and still be able to recall dreams/practice lucid dreaming.

Does anyone have tips for falling asleep earlier and/or being able to recall dreams even early in the morning?

Thanks for reading ^_^

**Zoth** · 07-20-2015 09:20 PM

I (and many other people I assume

) are facing the same problem: it's a pain to adjust your schedule when you're in vacations or work in shifts.

The solution goes by gradually (emphasis on gradually!) changing your sleep schedule. If you want to do it the right way, then we're talking about small changes like 15minutes every week. This helps your body adjust it's biological clock without the negative consequences of doing it drastically over a span of a few days.
Still, you'll still experience side effects: to combat sleep inertia or even insomnia, you can turn to some small habits that can aid you send a message to your body about the sleep schedule, such as:

- Get in the habbit of reducing the intensity of light sources a few hours before bed time. This is especially critical when it comes to artificial lights with a certain intensity/color, being tablets/computer the biggest enemies of your sleep;
- A good bath before bed can help you fall asleep, just make sure you don't use too hot water (as the goal is to lower your body temperature), and stretch a bit to relax better;
- Make sure you focus and stick to your sleep routine: this means shutting down everything and getting ready for your sleep hour, and not delaying it because of "stuff to do". If you don't convince your body it's time to sleep, your schedule will be erratic. A good way to solve this is reserving an extra 15 minutes before sleep time to simply stretching in bed. It does wonders!

Regarding your recall, it's mostly affected by your sleep schedule and your habits. This means if you get your body used to waking up at the same hour, and actually waking up focused to recall your dreams (don't forget to lay still and start scanning your thoughts for dream memories right away), as this attitude will reinforce the behavior as your brain will perceive the exercise as an important task you can't miss. So be serious about it, and prioritize your sleep in your schedule. Good luck!