Destroyed sleeping pattern, 3 years

[PersonaUser]

I'm 17 and I've had this problem for about 3 years starting at the age of 14. During summer vacation, I usually stayed up late and slept in over and over again (as most kids do during break). My sleeping pattern would be pretty bad, falling asleep at 4-5am and waking up at 3-4pm. But when school started up again, I was pretty much forced to sleep at normal times after about a week or so being in routine. I didn't even have to try or think about it. It just happened naturally. Then at the age of 14 (my 8th grade summer) is when my sleeping pattern was just... destroyed. It was the middle of summer when I got so bored and sick of sleeping all day when people we're around and being awake all night when it was quiet and there was nothing to do. Granted, I was very anti-social and almost never went outside, but I at least enjoyed the company of my family being up and around. My main plan was to stay up all night/day so I could fall asleep easily the night. I ALWAYS failed. I always gave up and took a "5 minute nap". But I kept trying as the days went by. Then during one of the last of my attempts, my mom called to take me and my brother out to eat just as I was about to give up and sleep (it was around 2-3pm). I came up with this "brilliant" idea to nap then knowing that they would HAVE to wake me up to leave. So I did just that. But when I woke up (about 15 minutes later) I felt so weird. I felt muggy and my eyes felt like they had bags under them... but the weird thing is I didn't feel tired anymore. I was even more alert than before I napped. So I continue to feel like this for the rest of the day and fall asleep some time after we get home. Since then I gave up and just waited for school to start. I was sure it would get my hours back in shape like before. But I guess I was wrong. During school, I would always fall asleep around the same time. And I really enjoyed it. I actually felt tired and could sense myself fading from consciousness. The bed was very cool and made me feel cozy. Even falling sleep at the crappy hours of summer, I would get so tired my eyes just couldn't stay open. And when I woke up, I would feel so drowsy. Stretching and yawning. And if it was the weekend, I would feel so rested waking up at around 10. But since that one day where I took that 15 minute nap, I just don't "feel" tired anymore. I no longer fade from consciousness. It feels as if I just "turn off". Next thing I know, It's morning. I no longer feel rested or anything. I knew something was wrong when I started waking up for school with 100% alertness. When weekends come and I stay up a little later, I don't get super tired and pass out on my bed still wearing clothes the day before (good times). I just yawn like once or twice. And feel slightly tired. But never enough to quickly drift into sleep. I just lay down and go into thought until I wake up and realize I slept. I wake up feeling as if my tiredness just vanished. Not feeling as if I slept. As the weeks went on, I just dealt with it. I tried to at least look at the upside of things. Mainly that I could get 1-2 hours of sleep and be so alert the next day. Before, I would just barely make it to school and pass out on my desk. After awhile I realized I had been taking naps a lot of the days after school. I thought "well maybe that was the problem! I just won't nap!" and I did just that. But when night came, my body still felt wide awake (even though I could tell I needed sleep). I eventually realized that almost every day I would feel drowsy during the early noon or noon hours (mostly on weekends). Enough to beckon me to bed. But when night came, the drowsiness just disappeared. I got a little depressed over that. Seemed like I forever broke my sleeping pattern and I'll never feel rested again. Now I'm 17 and I'm getting fed up with it again. Things that have changed since the start of this all: I used to have an MP3 player and some speakers near me when I slept. Now it irritates enough that I started playing music from my PC with the bass cable unplugged and volume very low. I used to shower before bed as that would always make me more comfortable falling asleep. Now it makes me even more alert, my skin dry, and hair dry. Started showing in the mornings. My body temperature seems hotter than it used to be. Even if the thermostat says 70-72, I still get hot very fast and am often flipping my pillow over and over to no avail. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with 100s of thoughts flowing into my head at once. VERY RANDOM mixed thoughts that never make any sense. It sometimes gets bad enough that I have to sit up and calm myself down. I realized I can sleep alright at night if I DON'T PLAN TO. As stupid as that sounds, it's always proven true. If I have homework that night and I know I can't sleep, that's when I start getting tired and crawl into bed but still not wanting to fall asleep. Light is left on, music is playing, but I still end up doing just that. And I wake up pretty rested the next morning. Every time I go to lay down with the intention of sleeping, I get even more awake. It really pisses me off. And that's pretty much it. If you read all that, I thank you.

[kookyinc]

This is like when traveling to a different time zone. What you should do is just force yourself to sleep at night. If you don't fall asleep, make sure you don't sleep during the day, or just take a short nap during the day. That's my best suggestion. Sorry is kind of sucks.

[PersonaUser]

It's cool, I'll be pretty thankful for the advice I get no matter how simple or elaborate.

[Burke]

Most people find trouble falling asleep when something they really want is going to happen tomorrow, myself included. But I find that when there is something that is going to happen tomorrow that I don't want to happen (say, a dentist visit) then I tend to fall asleep much faster and easier. Try finding something that you don't like about what is going to happen the next day and think about it as you fall asleep. Maybe a really boring class in school or just school itself.

[BigFan]

Well, I used to stay up till 5 in the morning, in some cases even till 7 and then sleep till 3 the next day. I did this for a while. I decided to stop it and started forcing myself to go to sleep at a certain time. It takes your body ONE WEEK to get used to a sleeping schedule. Eventually, I started sleeping at around 1-2 or so. My point is you have to force yourself to sleep at a specific time EVEN if you don't fall asleep right away, if you can be in bed by 11pm sharp and do this everyday for a minimum of a week, then your body will get used to it. I would avoid naps or even lying on the couch at all times. With me, if I am slightly tired, I would pass out when I lay down on the couch. When I used to come from work, I would take a nap and then sleep at about 12-12:30, having to wake up at 6 in the morning. I would find myself rested after the nap but pretty tired when I woke up in the morning. I forced myself to start sleeping earlier, so, that I got a minimum of 7hr. Eventually, I was able to sleep at 11-6am. In some cases, I was asleep at 10:30pm, so, just force yourself to do it, it'll work, you just need to be patient. For me, showers seem to wake me up more than help me relax. Likewise, I find that some sounds can be pretty disturbing. I just like listening to the ambient sounds outside my house when the windows are open. If thoughts are bombarding you, just give them a quick resolve or write them down to get rid of them, that helps a lot. Keep us informed and good luck

[PersonaUser]

Well, I used to stay up till 5 in the morning, in some cases even till 7 and then sleep till 3 the next day. I did this for a while. I decided to stop it and started forcing myself to go to sleep at a certain time. It takes your body ONE WEEK to get used to a sleeping schedule. Eventually, I started sleeping at around 1-2 or so. My point is you have to force yourself to sleep at a specific time EVEN if you don't fall asleep right away, if you can be in bed by 11pm sharp and do this everyday for a minimum of a week, then your body will get used to it. I would avoid naps or even lying on the couch at all times. With me, if I am slightly tired, I would pass out when I lay down on the couch. When I used to come from work, I would take a nap and then sleep at about 12-12:30, having to wake up at 6 in the morning. I would find myself rested after the nap but pretty tired when I woke up in the morning. I forced myself to start sleeping earlier, so, that I got a minimum of 7hr. Eventually, I was able to sleep at 11-6am. In some cases, I was asleep at 10:30pm, so, just force yourself to do it, it'll work, you just need to be patient. For me, showers seem to wake me up more than help me relax. Likewise, I find that some sounds can be pretty disturbing. I just like listening to the ambient sounds outside my house when the windows are open. If thoughts are bombarding you, just give them a quick resolve or write them down to get rid of them, that helps a lot. Keep us informed and good luck 3am the day before I managed to force myself to sleep till 6am and decided to just stay up. Managed to stay up until around 5pm sleeping till 9pm. Been up since. I plan to start sleeping around 12-3am and waking around 10-12. Those are the hours I'm most comfortable with. Although it's 5:20am right now and I'm wide awake, I think I'll try forcing myself to sleep anyway. At least if I sleep now, I'll have a better chance to stay awake the whole day until around 12-3am. I'll probably make the time a little more precise like...1-2. 1 week huh. I think it's just me personally not liking to have to sleep at a set time. I mean, it's summer vacation. I don't HAVE to sleep at a set time. But oh well, that's something I'll just have to get over. It'll be worth it if it works. Thanks for the advice