Re-regulating my sleep patterns (OT but helpful)

I had an idea, since nothing else was working, on how to get back on a
regular sleep schedule rather than stay up all night. I stayed up all
night!

Seriously, the night before last I didn't let myself go to bed at all. Kept
myself busy, either online or doing small things around the house. I went
to bed yesterday at 10AM and got up at 4PM. Then I went to bed last night
at 11:30PM and slept through the night! Didn't wake up until 7:30 this
morning and I felt so refreshed! I will not allow myself to nap today,
which will just throw things off again. Don't ask me why, but it seems like
when I stayed up those extra hours it sort of got me back in sync. We'll
see if this continues.

OB Cats: Persia was extremely puzzled about why I didn't go to bed at all
the other night, not even at 3AM. She finally realized I'm crazy and she
snoozed on the couch while I persisted in staying awake. And no, I wasn't
sleepy, that's part of the problem with me trying to sleep when my body
isn't inclined to. She happily curled up next to me when I went to bed at
10AM yesterday, although I'll admit she had a puzzled look on her pretty
face Oh well, she'd been fed and would be fed again shortly after I woke
up so all was right in her world!

Jill

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
I had an idea, since nothing else was working, on how to get back on a
regular sleep schedule rather than stay up all night. I stayed up all
night!

Seriously, the night before last I didn't let myself go to bed at all.
Kept
myself busy, either online or doing small things around the house. I went
to bed yesterday at 10AM and got up at 4PM. Then I went to bed last night
at 11:30PM and slept through the night! Didn't wake up until 7:30 this
morning and I felt so refreshed! I will not allow myself to nap today,
which will just throw things off again. Don't ask me why, but it seems
like
when I stayed up those extra hours it sort of got me back in sync. We'll
see if this continues.

I fell into the same pattern of getting up later and staying up until the
early hours when I off sick and I didn't sleep well. I'll mail you soon
about what I did about it.

Tweed





OB Cats: Persia was extremely puzzled about why I didn't go to bed at all
the other night, not even at 3AM. She finally realized I'm crazy and she
snoozed on the couch while I persisted in staying awake. And no, I wasn't
sleepy, that's part of the problem with me trying to sleep when my body
isn't inclined to. She happily curled up next to me when I went to bed at
10AM yesterday, although I'll admit she had a puzzled look on her pretty
face Oh well, she'd been fed and would be fed again shortly after I
woke
up so all was right in her world!

Jill

jmcquown wrote:

I had an idea, since nothing else was working, on how to get back on a
regular sleep schedule rather than stay up all night. I stayed up all
night!

Seriously, the night before last I didn't let myself go to bed at all. Kept
myself busy, either online or doing small things around the house. I went
to bed yesterday at 10AM and got up at 4PM. Then I went to bed last night
at 11:30PM and slept through the night! Didn't wake up until 7:30 this
morning and I felt so refreshed! I will not allow myself to nap today,
which will just throw things off again. Don't ask me why, but it seems like
when I stayed up those extra hours it sort of got me back in sync. We'll
see if this continues.

That's more or less my method for combating jet-lag, when I
go to Europe! (I can never sleep on planes, and most
overseas flights from California are overnights.) After
being more-or-less awake for most of the night on a
twelve-hour flight, and having my internal clock confused by
the nine-hour time loss, I simply go to bed as soon as I
reach my hotel (I may have a meal, first, depending upon the
"real" time there). I then sleep the rest of the day, and
through until normal "getting up time" the next morning. I
may lose a vacation day, but that's no hardship when I've
planned for it, and the rest of my vacation, my internal
clock is "in synch" with the people around me. (For some
reason, the return flight from Europe to California doesn't
affect me the same way.)

"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
I had an idea, since nothing else was working, on how to get back on a
regular sleep schedule rather than stay up all night. I stayed up all
night!

Seriously, the night before last I didn't let myself go to bed at all.
Kept
myself busy, either online or doing small things around the house. I went
to bed yesterday at 10AM and got up at 4PM. Then I went to bed last night
at 11:30PM and slept through the night! Didn't wake up until 7:30 this
morning and I felt so refreshed! I will not allow myself to nap today,
which will just throw things off again. Don't ask me why, but it seems
like
when I stayed up those extra hours it sort of got me back in sync. We'll
see if this continues.

OB Cats: Persia was extremely puzzled about why I didn't go to bed at all
the other night, not even at 3AM. She finally realized I'm crazy and she
snoozed on the couch while I persisted in staying awake. And no, I wasn't
sleepy, that's part of the problem with me trying to sleep when my body
isn't inclined to. She happily curled up next to me when I went to bed at
10AM yesterday, although I'll admit she had a puzzled look on her pretty
face Oh well, she'd been fed and would be fed again shortly after I
woke
up so all was right in her world!

Jill



I have a tendency to stay up later and later and later, particularly when
I'm doing a lot of reading or not feeling well or going through a depression
cycle.

The stay up all night thing is the only way I can get back in sync with the
rest of my family.

Jo

Christina Websell wrote:

I fell into the same pattern of getting up later and staying up
until the early hours when I off sick and I didn't sleep well.
I'll mail you soon about what I did about it.

I would be quite interested in this, myself. Between the fact that I
do freelance work at home, so I don't need to be at work at any
particular time, and I live alone, so there's nobody to insist that
it's time for bed, I keep extremely late hours. (The kitties don't
care - they love having me up late!)

My typical sleeping time is from 5AM to 2PM. Hey, I did say
*extreme*. (And yes, I do seem to require 9 hours of sleep, no matter
when I do it.) But last night, I went to bed at 7:30 AM, and slept
until 5 PM!! I have a cold, so I needed even more sleep than usual.

I've been battling this problem for years. It's not just a habit
anymore - my body is now completely acclimated to my schedule. If I
go to bed "early" (say, midnight or 1 AM), I cannot stay asleep, and I
have a very poor night's sleep, waking up frequently and sleeping
very lightly. From my body's point of view, I'm supposed to be up and
about at this time!

In some ways, I don't really mind having weird hours - it's fun to be
up and doing things when the rest of the world is asleep. I work much
better in the middle of the night - no phone calls, no visitors, no
delivery trucks, or kids making noise, or beautiful sunny weather
calling to me... it's dark and quiet and tranquil, and my concentration
is excellent.

But when it comes to trying to live in the real world, it's a big
problem. People want to get together to socialize shortly after I've
finished breakfast. The nerve of them! I'm always rushed to do my
errands, because stores and gov't offices close not long after I get
up. Society is diurnal, and I simply don't fit in, and I usually feel
out of sync and out of sorts.

So I'd like to change it, but boy, it's hard to do. Last year I even
went into therapy, with the explicit goal of changing my sleeping
hours. Needless to say, this failed, because therapists do not work
with goals. Their job is to probe and probe, and then ask you how you
feel about that. I actually like my therapist, so even though I
didn't succeed at changing my hours, I've continued to see her for
other reasons. I realize now that I don't need a therapist for this
problem - I need a dominatrix with a whip!

Anyway, Tweed, if you could include me in that email (remove the X's
in the "jXwXeXrXmXoXnXt" part of my address), I'd appreciate that.
Or if you want to, you could just post about it here.

Thanks!
Joyce

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:
jmcquown wrote:

I had an idea, since nothing else was working, on how to get back on
a regular sleep schedule rather than stay up all night. I stayed up
all night!

Seriously, the night before last I didn't let myself go to bed at
all. Kept myself busy, either online or doing small things around
the house. I went to bed yesterday at 10AM and got up at 4PM. Then
I went to bed last night at 11:30PM and slept through the night!
Didn't wake up until 7:30 this morning and I felt so refreshed! I
will not allow myself to nap today, which will just throw things off
again. Don't ask me why, but it seems like when I stayed up those
extra hours it sort of got me back in sync. We'll see if this
continues.

That's more or less my method for combating jet-lag, when I
go to Europe! (I can never sleep on planes, and most
overseas flights from California are overnights.) After
being more-or-less awake for most of the night on a
twelve-hour flight, and having my internal clock confused by
the nine-hour time loss, I simply go to bed as soon as I
reach my hotel (I may have a meal, first, depending upon the
"real" time there). I then sleep the rest of the day, and
through until normal "getting up time" the next morning. I
may lose a vacation day, but that's no hardship when I've
planned for it, and the rest of my vacation, my internal
clock is "in synch" with the people around me. (For some
reason, the return flight from Europe to California doesn't
affect me the same way.)

My method doesn't seem to work well if I have several glasses of wine while
enjoying a meal with friends and then get home and want to go to sleep at
9PM. Here I am awake again! Oh well!

Jill

jmcquown wrote:

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:

jmcquown wrote:


I had an idea, since nothing else was working, on how to get back on
a regular sleep schedule rather than stay up all night. I stayed up
all night!

Seriously, the night before last I didn't let myself go to bed at
all. Kept myself busy, either online or doing small things around
the house. I went to bed yesterday at 10AM and got up at 4PM. Then
I went to bed last night at 11:30PM and slept through the night!
Didn't wake up until 7:30 this morning and I felt so refreshed! I
will not allow myself to nap today, which will just throw things off
again. Don't ask me why, but it seems like when I stayed up those
extra hours it sort of got me back in sync. We'll see if this
continues.

That's more or less my method for combating jet-lag, when I
go to Europe! (I can never sleep on planes, and most
overseas flights from California are overnights.) After
being more-or-less awake for most of the night on a
twelve-hour flight, and having my internal clock confused by
the nine-hour time loss, I simply go to bed as soon as I
reach my hotel (I may have a meal, first, depending upon the
"real" time there). I then sleep the rest of the day, and
through until normal "getting up time" the next morning. I
may lose a vacation day, but that's no hardship when I've
planned for it, and the rest of my vacation, my internal
clock is "in synch" with the people around me. (For some
reason, the return flight from Europe to California doesn't
affect me the same way.)


My method doesn't seem to work well if I have several glasses of wine while
enjoying a meal with friends and then get home and want to go to sleep at
9PM. Here I am awake again! Oh well!

Despite its supposed classification as a depressant, I find
that alcohol in the evening (far more than strong coffee)
will keep me awake at night. However, if warm milk fails, I
find a melatonin tablet usually does the trick. I very
seldom have to resort to sleep-aid medication, and then it's
just Sominex or another OTC preparation that's mostly
antihistamine.

I've had various sleep disorder problems over the years, including being
unable to go to sleep until 6 a.m. or so. My boss at the time was
pressuring me to fix it, saying to just go to bed earlier and earlier each
evening. After talking with my doctor, I replied to the boss that the only
way to re-regulate was to stay up later and later until the cycle got back
to normal: was he willing to have me work gradually forward-shifting hours
until I got back to normal hours? He wasn't, so my doctor decreed the only
alternative: I went on disability for 2 months while my sleep routine got
re-established. I don't see how that was better for the company than if I'd
worked, but that's what happened.

Sandy


"jmcquown" wrote in message
...
I had an idea, since nothing else was working, on how to get back on a
regular sleep schedule rather than stay up all night. I stayed up all
night!

Seriously, the night before last I didn't let myself go to bed at all.
Kept
myself busy, either online or doing small things around the house. I went
to bed yesterday at 10AM and got up at 4PM. Then I went to bed last night
at 11:30PM and slept through the night! Didn't wake up until 7:30 this
morning and I felt so refreshed! I will not allow myself to nap today,
which will just throw things off again. Don't ask me why, but it seems
like
when I stayed up those extra hours it sort of got me back in sync. We'll
see if this continues.

OB Cats: Persia was extremely puzzled about why I didn't go to bed at all
the other night, not even at 3AM. She finally realized I'm crazy and she
snoozed on the couch while I persisted in staying awake. And no, I wasn't
sleepy, that's part of the problem with me trying to sleep when my body
isn't inclined to. She happily curled up next to me when I went to bed at
10AM yesterday, although I'll admit she had a puzzled look on her pretty
face Oh well, she'd been fed and would be fed again shortly after I
woke
up so all was right in her world!

Jill

Sandy wrote:

my doctor decreed the only
alternative: I went on disability for 2 months while my sleep routine got
re-established. I don't see how that was better for the company than if I'd
worked, but that's what happened.

Did it work?

Joyce

wrote in message
...
Sandy wrote:

my doctor decreed the only
alternative: I went on disability for 2 months while my sleep routine
got
re-established. I don't see how that was better for the company than if
I'd
worked, but that's what happened.

Did it work?

Joyce

Yes, it did. I had to have some help from medication (Ambien), but it
worked. I stayed on the Ambien a long time (2 or 3 years, much longer than
normal), but in the last couple of years I've only taken it 3 or 4 times.
To this day, it makes me happy when I get sleepy around the time I need to
go to bed.

When I went back to work I had an additional work restriction, which I still
have: no night-time or 24-hour oncall work (which is a normal part of the
computer technical support work I do). I have mixed feelings about that:
I'm happy not to be oncall, but the oncall work can be some of the most
interesting.

Sandy