Sleeping Habits
 

I'm hoping this is the best forum for this post. If not, feel free to relocate it.

I'm 19 years old and in addition to a regular nine-to-five job, I play poker on the side. I enjoy it a lot and really get into playing once I get started. The problem is, lately I've been playing farther and farther into the night, getting a start later in the evening after I get home and sometimes playing until midnight or 1AM. Since my regular wake up time is around 6:15AM, I usually only get about 5-6 hours of sleep a night. I find myself not able to go to sleep at night, laying in bed staring at some poker forums or watching late-night tournaments on my laptop.

Also, my weekend sleep schedule seems to be nearly always screwed up. I'll start playing on Friday night and eventually go to bed sometime Saturday morning, which naturally throws off my Circadian rhythm. Most of the time when it comes to Monday, I've only gotten a couple hours of sleep on that Sunday night at most.

I don't have too many pressing problems with my home or work situations, but this seems to be a nagging problem that won't go away. I enjoy playing poker and wish there were ten more hours a day that I could do so, but it just seems like I can't fit everything I want to in a day's time and still get a nominal amount of sleep. I'm wondering if this is perhaps a temporary problem, something a break from poker might fix, or if this is some sign of a deeper seeded problem. Even on nights that I don't play poker and do something else, I feel like because I stayed up late playing other nights, that I need something to do until the wee hours.

I've traditionally had problems sleeping through my teenage years and have sought out professional help a couple times. I know that teenagers tend to not sleep as much as they should, but I'm not sure if this is something I should be worried about. I know there are ways to correct this problem and I believe I can right myself with some work, but I'm just wondering if any of you have ever experienced this situation; and if so, how did you go about fixing the problem and getting back to a healthy sleep schedule.

Edit: I should make it clear that I don't feel addicted to poker or gambling in any way. I feel like I could quit the game as a whole if a really pressing matter required me to. Perhaps I am and just don't see it but I just feel like this is kind of a broad problem that falls into this area.

Re: Sleeping Habits
 

Cut down on either work or poker, simple as that. If you are winning more at poker than you earn at your job, I'd be cutting down your 9-5. Maybe switching to cash games is also a solution, you aren't locked into hours of playing like you are with an MTT. The most important thing in life is your health, don't sacrifice it by losing sleep due to a hobby. Change things now to achieve a good balance of work, poker, exercise and whatever else and you'll avoid troubles in the future. It's good that you are identify the problem before it has caused you to get sick etc etc.

Re: Sleeping Habits
 

[ QUOTE ]
I should make it clear that I don't feel addicted to poker or gambling in any way. I feel like I could quit the game as a whole if a really pressing matter required me to.

[/ QUOTE ]
You mean in the same way an alcoholic can give up drink if they really wanted to. Be careful – it is not until you can admit you have a problem that you can then deal with it.

I don’t know you so perhaps you don’t have an addiction here but it does sound a possibility.

In general, people of your age need more sleep than you are getting. However, everybody is different and perhaps you are an exception and don’t need as much sleep. It sometimes feels that people are forcing themselves into a certain hourly night sleep pattern. My mother for instance (and yes, I know you need less sleep as you get older) worries constantly that she wakes in the early hours and then can’t get back to sleep. She lies there fretting about it until “it is time to get up”. I just tell her that if she is not tired then get up and do something. It is not as if the lack of sleep catches up with her. She just doesn’t need it to function fully. Other people may need 9 hours a night.

Re: Sleeping Habits
 

Perhaps I should have chosen my wording more carefully: I don't feel this is a gambling problem so much because of the length of time this has gone on extends beyond my start in poker. However, I do wonder if playing poker late at night is fuel on the fire or just another occupation of my time. I was really just wondering if there's any other poker players that experience problems like this. Sorry for the confusion.

Re: Sleeping Habits
 

I went through the same cycle - I started cutting back the poker and also made sure to do something else between playing cards and going to bed (generally reading - and not poker).

Set yourself a hard schedule - work around first your desired sleep schedule and then your regular job. Poker fits the gaps in that, nothing else.

Re: Sleeping Habits
 

pretty standard, a lot of people deal with similar things. I find that a lot of times when I think "there is just no way I can go to sleep yet, there is something I want to do and I'm not tired but it sucks b/c I have to wake up tomorrow" it is actually easier to get to bed than i thought.
It is hard to make yourself do it, but if you take an hour or so before you are supposed to sleep and drink some chamomile tea or something you will be ok. Try it for a couple days and it will come pretty naturally.

Try to play earlier in the day. Poker can give you a lot of excitement and make your heart race which will make you less tired when its time to stop. Also exercise during the day will probably help with this

Re: Sleeping Habits
 

where is that thread about the guy who played poker while he slept? lol you should try that

Re: Sleeping Habits
 

Sleeping is overrated anyway, don't you think?

pokervintage

Re: Sleeping Habits
 

i haven't had a decent night's sleep since moneymaker won.

Indy

Re: Sleeping Habits
 

one word... Ambien.

Ive always had extremely messed up sleep sched. problems.
If left to my own devices, i sleep for about 12 hours, then stay awake for 24+ hours.
Naturally, that did not fit in with work and life, so ive had lots of issues with being late to school, work, even events that i enjoy because of it.

Later in my life, i have found some solutions to my problem.
One being a job where i work 12 hour shifts at night. i stay awake for several hours, and sleep when im tired. works out nicely.

But how does that help you?
ok back to the beginning of my post, for when i cant sleep, and i really need to be up on time the next morning, i take ambien.
Best sleep med ever created, can fall asleep very quickly, be up in 5 hours and not feel hung over.

go to your doctor, tell him you cant sleep, you have taken ambien before and it works great.

sure its not the healthiest choice, but it sure works well. and its the american way. (just take a pill)

one word of advice though. dont take the meds while still playing poker. it can sneak up on you, and you can end up doing some reckless plays before you actually fall asleep. The icing on the cake is you dont remember what you did. Ive been quite suprised when checking my account the next day. Seems i actually play quite well when on ambien, i just dont remember it [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

-hyp

Re: Sleeping Habits
 

i have a pretty annoying problem that I almost NEVER can get to sleep earlier than I did the night before. Similar to what hyper_dermic posted above me, if unchecked I would probably sleep for about 10 hours and stay up for 16-18. Unfortunately this doesn't coincide with the Earth's rotation.

In high-school, I would go to be around midnight and wake up at 7:30. Then on friday night I would stay up til 1-2 am hanging out with friends, waking up the next morning at like 10 am. Saturday night would usually be a little later (3am), waking up at 11am. So Sunday night I would attempt to get to sleep around midnight, but would just lay in bed with thoughts running around in my head, but no sleep till 3 am. Since I had to attend class at 8am, I'd end up forcing awake and be in a semi-concious state for the first few periods. However, at least this would result in being able to get to sleep at a reasonable time that night.

In college, this hasn't worked well. In the dorms it was very easy to find someone awake at 2am if I wanted on weekdays. And there was stuff (read: drinking) going on until even later on weekends. Combine this with the fact that attending class is not "required" like it was at my high-school, and I started sleeping through my 9am class almost every day. I ended up in such bad shape in that class, that I ended up just skipping the final - because I figured my grade was hopeless, and I didn't want to wake up for it.

This same kind of thing went on for another 3 semisters. Trying to scrape by with decent grades proved difficult and frustrating when constantly missing classes and/or showing up on < 5 hrs sleep. Even when I found the motivation to wake up and drag myself to campus, it would basically ammount to sleepwalking through the first couple hours - retaining little information and hating it. For some reason my brain just HAAAATES itself for a few hours when woken up prematurely. Everything would suck during that time, I hated everying and just wanted to sleep. If I wasn't physically closing my eyes, I would usually just sit in class imagining how amazing it would be to just lay in bed. Eventually I would begin waking up, but at the same time start getting antsy from all the previous classes that day - focusing on anything but the professor/material. Thus it is no surprise that it became more and more difficult to complete homework, and I'd spend the last 13 weeks (of a 16 week semister) walking the line between passing and failing in several classes.

I didn't like this at all. This past summer I stayed at school and took a single course (Calc 2). I wasn't working or anything else, so the single 75 minute lecture 5 days a week was my only committment. Despite all this, I still managed to routinely miss class. At one point I missed 7 or 8 straight lectures, simply because I had stayed up too late the prevoius day and didn't want to wake up on limited sleep. I ended up managing a "C", which I'm not even sure I deserved.

At this point I realized how significant a role my sleep issues were playing into my lack of success at school. I couldn't even fathom the idea of going through another semister like this, so this last Fall I decided to take a semister off. I'm still living at school, and my roomates are taking classes. I haven't been working, so I just fill my day however I feel. This has been both liberating, and unstimulating to a point bordering on insanity (not really, but sometimes it feels like it). I would very much like to begin taking classes again this Spring, but I'm finding it difficult to believe things will go any better.

Re: Sleeping Habits
 

OK can anyone find the post made about the guy who played poker for 8 hours while he was asleep? This is the only thread that comes up in any searches on 2+2 or google.

Re: Sleeping Habits
 

I have this exact problem. I dont think the problem is poker related at all. I am also 19, have a regular job and play poker almost every hour i am not working or playing pool. But i have had this problem my entire life, through school i wouldnt sleep until 4am, and then be at school for 9am. and do the same again the following night. It ended with me spending a little time in hospital, apparently lack of sleep caused severe weight loss and other problems.

It is funny that iv seen this thread as i was going to post something similar myself. My sleeping pattern at the moment is perhaps the worst its been. its 12.10am as i am posting this (UK), and i have only been awake for 3 hours, so to me this is morning, but yet my friends and family are sleeping now. I have work in 10 hours, and i have no doubt i will be awake for another 24 hours before i sleep again for 8 hours or so.

Im just wondering if there is any solution to this problem other than pills. I have tried changing my diet and loads of other rubbish the doctor advised.

Thanks.