Poker and Healthy Sleeping Habits: Looking for Some Advice

[IshiP2U]

So lately I've been concentrating a lot more on trying to develop a healthier lifestyle while playing full time (which for me specifically is playing >=5 hours per day of NL400+), but I haven't been able to get off the "poker player" sleep schedule; i.e. waking up sometime between 11AM-1PM, playing some in the afternoon for maybe 2 hours or so, and then waiting until the games get good around at night and playing until about 2 or 3, at which point I get some choppy and unrestful sleep and the cycle repeats itself. I'm 23, and have noticed what I would call a significant decrease in my energy since starting to play full time, and I believe that my sleep habits are the cause of this continuous exhaustion (I would say I have a peak in mental sharpness lasting about 2 hours a day, which is pretty awful considering it used to be like for 9 hours before I slipped into this blasted routine). I'm able to "come down" after a session relatively quickly, forget about bad beats, bad plays, etc....I'm sure other full time players (or if you consider me part time that's fine too) have had similar problems. Any suggestions? I'm looking to adjust it pretty drastically, so that I'm up by 8AM every day and sleeping by about 11PM. What I'm thinking is to do it by brute take a week off of poker and make myself wake up every day at 6 o clock AM no matter what and just spend my days trying to stay awake until it's not a struggle anymore and then get back to playing poker? Any other suggestions? Help me get back in sync with the rest of the world!!!

Adam

[SpecT]

yeh im in the same situation aswell

pulling an all nighter tonight so that i can go to sleep at a normal time tommorow, i find that an easier way to get back in sync than trying to go to bed early

[Vraket]

You must find a motivation to live healthier. For example, I have a goal that I want to weight 100 kilos in a couple of months. To achieve that asap, I work out a lot and eat healthy food. Whenever I eat unneccesary junk food or sleep bad without a reason or smth like that I feel bad, since im destorying what I'm about to achieve.

In order for this to work you must ofc. have a reason for your goal. My reason is to become more attractive, which will help me with women ^^


Gl man I was in your deep [censored] a couple of months ago, So I do feel with you.

ps. Healthy food is the key to everything. No healthy food = no energy = bad habits due to lazyness.

[jgca]

That's interesting, because your description of choppy sleep, low energy, and only brief mental sharpness sounds exactly like my experience when I have to regularly get up between 6-8am for work. I also get wicked insomnia when I try to sleep at 10pm, even if I've gotten up early that day. Conversely, when my sleep schedule is about 3-11, I sleep soundly, wake up bright-eyed, and feel sharp throughout the day. I've worked/studied on both kinds of hours over the last 12 years or so, and it seems to be an unchangeable trait.

[SuperWhale]

I think just forcing yourself to do it by waking up early would be good. The first few days are going to suck, and you won't feel that sharp. After the first week to cement the earlier schedule try to exercise in the afternoon.

[nimajneb]

Exercise. Definitely. It'll tire you out and make you sleep more soundly. And be good for you otherwise too.

If possible try to switch to a site (Euro maybe) where the games get good earlier.

Good luck.

[cwar]

I went pro so I could sleep till noon. Lol, Im actually somewhat in the same boat I tend to wake up around 3pm and Im looking to wake up at noon good luck, its really easy to get thrown off your schedule. I havent found any lack of mental process though that seems strange to me, maybe thats a little bit of burnout creeping up on you.

[homeboy604]

if i sleep in until (noon-3pm) im more prepared to play poker at might as apposed to waking up at earlier, but i basically have no energy to go outside of my house and do anything productive. i end up staying up all night on the net.
not very healthy...

[cwar]

If you wake up at 12 make sure the first thing you do in the day has nothing to do with poker. Go for a run, go get lunch with a friend etc. will make you feel a lot better and getting up at noon should give you plenty of time and you can play the juicy games at night (sleep 4am-12pm) this is my ideal schedule.

[hra146]

Same problem here. However, I feel like exercise and HEALTHY FOOD are much better than a fixed sleeping pattern.

Its okay for your body to go to bed at 2AM and get up at say 10:30 AM . Giving you 8.5 hrs of sleep.


and believe it or not, excercising and healthy food can be fun. Especially now that the summer is (kinda) there.

Also: having a nicely worked body AND being a balla = God