Changing my sleep pattern

[sledghammer]

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Just do it. Make yourself lay in bed from 12-10. You probably won't sleep much the first night or two, but just shut your body down. Don't nap during the day and repeat the next day. Within a few days (maybe a week) your body will get used to the new schedule.

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This can work even better if you get a huge workout in before the first night.

[dibbs]

I have to do this two or three times a year for various reasons, my general strategy is to pop a trazedone or Ambien (or 2 depending) super early one night at 8-10pmish, wake up the next morning naturally, and keep super busy all day, laying around the house doesn't work because you'll usually find yourself napping.

After a day or two of this switch to no drugs to sleep and waking up by alarm, making sure to keep active during the day because naps kill it.

Hope this helps, GL.

[KotOD]

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some people claim success with melatonin in shifting their sleep cycles. melatonin is widely available at any vitamin store. might want to do some googling.

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It's helped me tremendously.

Take one of these 20 minutes before you want to sleep

Lay down and relax, and you're out.

[pokah5]

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skip a nights sleep, then go to bed at desired hour. sleep longer than you want to normally but you'll still be tired the next night at midnight or whenever.

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i think this would be the easiest way.

[silver book]

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Spend a lot of time outside in the sun. It helps you normalize your sleep schedule. Best way I've found to recover b/n time zones.

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this is very interesting. i want to try this now.

[juttelstud]

Hey man, I had the same problem all summer. I'd suggest you spend a day being a little more active. Get out of the house, hit the gym for a light work out, just be busy all day. I found that when I was at a more normal level of activity it was easier to ease back into a normal sleep schedule.

[orange]

as stated earlier, youre going to have to skip one day. tire yourself out by exercising alot and such. keep repeating the process until you fix it.

[Jack of Arcades]

Set your alarm clock for when you want to wake up. For the first few days you won't get much sleep, so you'll start going to sleep earlier and earlier.

Skipping a day works too.

[dylan's alias]

You're right, it is hard to go to sleep before you are tired. The key is to make yourself tired at the right time. Skipping a night of sleep is tough, but can certainly be tried.

If you have a few weeks to do this, the easiest and most effective way is to gradually set your wake time back about 30 minutes at a time. I'd probably start with waking at noon. After a few days, set your alarm back to 11:30, wait a few days, repeat.

In addition, you should get bright light exposure as soon as you wake up. Since it is summer, there is no need to buy a light box. Open the window shades, go outside. Try to do something active early in the morning.

You'll also want to avoid bright light in the 2 hour period before you go to sleep. Sunlight shouldn't be an issue, but dimming the lights in your room should help.

Do not take any naps!

I'll repeat that: No naps!

You are deliberately depriving yourself of sleep in order to change your sleep-wake cycle. You will be tired, but naps will be counter-productive.

Go to sleep when you are tired (but not more than 7 hours before your set wake time).

Melatonin has been reported to be helpful in transitioning sleep-wake cycle, but it probably doesn't change things all that much. A gradual transition will be easy to do.

If you have a really long time to do this, then you could try shifting your cycle forward. It is actually easier to do this because the natural circadian rhythm is longer than 24 hours.

In this case, you should take your sleep time (6AM) and move it forward by 15-30 minutes every few days. You will have to move through 18 hours to reach your desired bedtime of 12AM, so this isn't practical unless you have a ton of time to make the transition.

-Dylan's Alias - Sleep MD

[Jack of Arcades]

by the way, deprive yourself of the comp while you do this. playing with the computer is terrible for sleep.