What's A Good Way To Reprogram My Sleep Cycle A Little...

I try to get to bed by 11pm, but only ever get there between 11:30 and midnight. And when I DO get there before then, I'm not falling asleep until 11:30-midnight anyway, so I haven't really gained much. I'd like to make all that more consistent.

I read a good way to do it is to force yourself to get up at a particular set time, and you'll just be tired earlier and earlier. I'm fairly skeptical about this method because:

- As much as I promise myself to force myself out of bed in time, it's a LOT harder in the morning to get that motivation, especially when the bed is sooo comfy!!

- There was a point where I absolutely HAD to get up at 7am every morning, and while I did get up, it never got easier. I never got sleepy until later than I'd want, and I'd have trouble getting out of bed no matter what... so it may be that the technique just plain doesn't work for me.

Stay awake approx. 24 hours. The next day you will be able to set the time as you wish, but don't be lazy and screw up by going to bed at an inappropriate time. I have used this technique several times, it always works when wanting to change sleep cycles.

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Originally Posted by King

Stay awake approx. 24 hours. The next day you will be able to set the time as you wish, but don't be lazy and screw up by going to bed at an inappropriate time. I have used this technique several times, it always works when wanting to change sleep cycles.[/b]

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Hmm, that's a really interesting idea, I'll give it a shot. In my experience, after an all-nighter at school, I would go to bed at 10:30am and sleep for a couple hours, then go to bed that night and sleep a whole lot. I'll try it out one weekend without crashing during the day, and see where it gets me haha. Thanks.

No prob. Also, try to be physically active, else you will probably fall asleep easily.

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Originally Posted by King

Stay awake approx. 24 hours. The next day you will be able to set the time as you wish, but don't be lazy and screw up by going to bed at an inappropriate time. I have used this technique several times, it always works when wanting to change sleep cycles.[/b]

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Be sure you don't have a circadian sleep disorder.. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_disorde...ircadian_rhythm ) In that case, that would be useless.
I have DSPS (delayed sleep phase syndrome), and unless i will find the time and a good doctor to do some therapy, i am doomed to go to sleep at 4 o'clock in the MORNING each day.
It's a realy trauma, as i have to go to school at 8 AM each working day. DSPS keeps screwing my life big time..
I tried many times and using different methods to force my circadian rythm to match the social requierments (going to sleep at 11 AM, waking fully rested at 7 AM), but nothing worked. I took powerful sleeping pills for on e month to get to into the habit of going to sleep at 10-11 PM, but after i've run out of pills, i started going to bed at 4 AM again.
Right now i am trying to get into a polyphasic sleep ( thanks to asher, who gave me this idea :) ) so i will sleep from 4 PM to 7 PM, from 11 PM to 12 PM, and from 4 AM to 7 AM. Maybe this will match my circadian rythm better.. dunno. :(
So, make sure you don't have a circadian rythm disorder.. because in that case, all your efforts to changeyour sleep pattern will be useless.

Doing an all nighter... Hmm I would not recomened this. As you can see if King and God needs to keep on useing this he must have a messed up cycle and clearly isn't the one to look for advice from.

If you wanna go to bed at 11pm, just get up at like 7am, 8 hours is more that enough, but you got to make sure you stick to it, if you stick to it the more of a rutine it'll become. The time you wake up is more important than the time you go to bed.

How long does it take to adjust, if I do go with the "force self to get up at the same time" approach? By 'adjust', I really mean 'at 7am, I am not groggy and am fully ready to attack the day, without feeling like I should rest my eyes for JUST a little bit longer' :)

shouldn't take more than a week, maybe even just a few days, depends on what time you wake up normaly. Just remember the first 30mins after waking up are always going to be hard, just something you got to live with.

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Originally Posted by honyagenga

Just remember the first 30mins after waking up are always going to be hard, just something you got to live with.[/b]

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I remember a few times when I woke up and BAM, was out of bed and feeling great. I wish I could unlock the secret to that. I bet it's just a lucky perfect alignment with sleep cycle boundary.

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Originally Posted by honyagenga

Doing an all nighter... Hmm I would not recomened this. As you can see if King and God needs to keep on useing this he must have a messed up cycle and clearly isn't the one to look for advice from.

If you wanna go to bed at 11pm, just get up at like 7am, 8 hours is more that enough, but you got to make sure you stick to it, if you stick to it the more of a rutine it'll become. The time you wake up is more important than the time you go to bed.[/b]

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I have had a messed up cycle before, but at the moment it is good. It is an efficient technique if wanting results immediately.