Thread: I cant sleep before 5 am.

5htp (100-200 mg) or tryptophan (500 mg), 1 hour before bedtime should help. Or eat a huge turkey steak for dinner
Only a few days to fix your sleep pattern.

You have 'delayed sleep cycle syndrome', it is no wonder even after meditation you are not tired or able to sleep, the neuro chemicals which initiate sleep aren't being produced yet, since they are dictated by ones internal clock.

Melatonin is one of the best supplements to take for this condition, it is specifically recommended of jet lag symptoms and delayed sleep cycle syndrome. I have read that it actually helps change ones internal clock.

I have experience with not being able to sleep at normal times. What I think you are going to have to do is not go to sleep, but stay up all day and then try to go to sleep at a normal hour at night. Also it would be desirable to take Melatonin at this time to help along the process of telling the brain 'this is when you should sleep'.

A remark on what Raipat said. I have taken 5-htp before and it takes 5-7 days to kick in. The 5 days before it kicked in for me, it gave me pretty bad insomnia for reasons I do not know. After that 5 days I was able to sleep normally and it gave me a pretty nice mood lift. That is only my personal experience on the matter, maybe this is not that common, but I thought I should bring it up.

Some miscellaneous points that might be helpful.

Caffeine has a very long half life, it can stay in the body for 8 or more hours, when attempting force yourself to stay awake I wouldn't suggest drinking coffee.

When attempting to change your sleep cycles be sure to get a lot of sunlight, take a walk, leave your windows open, this produces waking neurotransmitters which tells your body this is the time to be awake not sleep.

Originally Posted by Raipat

5htp (100-200 mg) or tryptophan (500 mg), 1 hour before bedtime should help. Or eat a huge turkey steak for dinner
Only a few days to fix your sleep pattern.

It's doubtful that 5htp, tryptophan, or a turkey dinner will "fix" the sleep issue because the medical literature shows that even taking tryptophan as a supplement, getting much higher doses than from foods, doesn't really work well for insomnia or sleep problems (read Nutritional Supplements: Are L-Tryptophan Supplements Good For Insomnia?), it seems rather unlikely that this amino acid is the real predominant reason for having a huge impact on sleep induction or quality.

http://www.dreamviews.com/sleep-heal...xperiment.html

I found that not using electrical lights works wonders for sleep cycles.

These are tips for falling asleep at night:

http://www.dreamviews.com/sleep-heal...leep-tips.html

As Valis mentioned, melatonin is crucial, and the body only produces it when it is dark (i.e., there are no lights on). If you want to use f.lux, or the goggles that block blue light, that could also work, but turning off your lights will definitely work.

Originally Posted by Raipat

5htp (100-200 mg) or tryptophan (500 mg), 1 hour before bedtime should help. Or eat a huge turkey steak for dinner
Only a few days to fix your sleep pattern.

Turkey apparently doesn't have high levels of tryptophan in it... or at least, none more than pretty much any other meat. Chicken, pork, and beef all have only a negligible difference in tryptophan content in comparison to turkey. The reason people get sleepy after eating a turkey is because typically you have turkey at a holiday meal, and you eat a much larger meal, usually filled with lots of carbohydrates (which eating lots of can make you somewhat tired).

OP, if you want to fix your sleep schedule, the best way to go about it is to exercise for at least 30 minutes a day and to have a very scheduled routine. Go to bed the same time every night, wake up the same time every day, try and eat at relatively the same times of day, etc. Your body works on a cycle, and if you give it specific guide posts, it causes your body's cycle to adapt and conform to the cycle you want. Also, having a routine before bed time is apparently quite crucial in helping you get to sleep--your body unconsciously recognizes cues that it's time to sleep and it will release hormones and other chemicals that regulate your sleep as a result of recognizing these cues.

It takes a little bit of time to see success this way, but once you achieve it, as long as you stick to your schedule, it is one of the most successful methods at helping you get to sleep at the right time.