Help me change my sleep schedule for the day!

May 4, 2006 2:11 AM

For a day-long business trip, I have to wake up at 4 am to catch a train and be at a client's site by 10 am, and be functional once I'm there. How can I prepare to deal with the drastic change to my sleep schedule (both falling asleep the night before & keeping energy up during the day) so I can do a good job?

I normally wake up at 7:30 am, so waking up at 4 am is completely crazy to me.

I'm afraid that even if I go to bed at 8pm that I won't be able to fall asleep. I could take something like Bayer PM to knock myself out, but then I might be too groggy to even drive to the train station. Are there any other tricks to falling asleep early, or anything OTC I can take that won't leave me groggy in the morning?

Also, what can I do to keep my energy up during the day? I've never had any of the popular energy drinks ... should I bring a couple of sugar-free Red Bulls or something? Anything else?

The trip is tomorrow, I've had almost no notice to prepare for this trip, so the only thing I was able to do so far was wake up at 5 am today to try & help make myself sleepy enough to fall asleep insanely early tonight.

Thanks for any advice!

posted by tastybrains to health & fitness (14 comments total)

Sleep on the train?
posted by k8t at 2:24 AM on May 4, 2006

I plan to do that, but that's never really very restful sleep, and I still have to be functional enough to drive 45 minutes to the train station.
posted by tastybrains at 2:27 AM on May 4, 2006

Can you go tonight instead and stay at a hotel near the client?
posted by blue mustard at 2:49 AM on May 4, 2006

No, if I could do that, I would. They don't want to pay for a hotel, thus the early train.
posted by tastybrains at 2:53 AM on May 4, 2006

Go to bed really early, like at 6pm. In my experience, it's easier to get sleep much earlier than usual than just 2 or 3 hours earlier. Also, you won't be worrying about getting to sleep from the moment you get into bed.
posted by teleskiving at 3:48 AM on May 4, 2006

Eat an early dinner and try taking 3mg of melatonin a half-hour before bedtime to fall asleep. Any other sleep aid will make you a wreck when you wake up. Drink lots of liquid when you wake up, but avoid coffee. Try to get a window seat and lean against the window to sleep. Noise-cancelling headphones might help if the sound of the train bothers you.

Wake up an hour before the train arrives and eat a real breakfast with some coffee. Avoid energy drinks -- they'll make you wired and you'll think you're brilliant while you're spouting incoherent rants at your client. Take frequent breaks during the day to drink some juice or something with sugar and splash some water on your face in the bathroom.

I've done this kind of thing way too many times, and eventually I burned out completely. When you get back, tell your employer that you'll be taking a paid day off for each day you have to go through something like this. They should think twice about requiring this of you, and if the client won't spring for a hotel, your employer should pay. Make the argument that doing the trip this way doesn't allow you to be your best in front of the client. You also might want to look at videconferencing.
posted by fuzz at 4:06 AM on May 4, 2006 [2 favorites has favorites]

I have a similar problem, and my solution involves slightly depriving myself of sleep the night before the night before, then I'm tired and I fall asleep easier (and earlier) than I might otherwise.

Second the melatonin, I take it every night as part of my ritual to sleep.
posted by Mutant at 4:14 AM on May 4, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

I wouldn't worry too much about it. I advise surgeons in training on sleep hygiene for those brutal shifts so here's my 2 cents worth.
My experience is that you can never force yourself to go to sleep earlier and any meds you take, since your're not used to them, may have worrying side effects. Because this is so unusual for you I think you will be adrenalinized enough, in fact I'm going to guess that you won't sleep very well the night before. When I do this (quite frequently although not routinely) I tend to wake just before the alarm. Having your normal amount of coffee should be enough to keep you awake, remember the body can adapt quite quickly since it is a once off. You will be tired towards 2-3 especially if you eat lots of carbs at lunch so I would concentrate on that "dip" rather than the 4 am time.
Eat a lightish lunch and if you can take a half hour down-time around 3 (doesn't have to be a nap but if you can power nap all the better), you can continue on for longer.
I'd also be more concernd coming home that night as you say you have a 45 mon drive from train station, so please be careful.
posted by Wilder at 4:41 AM on May 4, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]

I have to do this a lot with my job - day trips from London to northern cities for meetings with an early start. I find if I go to bed 2 hours earlier than normal, I don't sleep early but I do get some rest, which helps. I don't bother with energy drinks to keep me going, but I do have a double-shot coffee first thing then take some fruit to snack on for the afternoon slump that nearly always accompanies an early start (you don't get a mega glucose high then low as you might from chocolate or something). I also nap on the train on the way home to help recovery the next day.
posted by greycap at 4:52 AM on May 4, 2006

I once had to get up at 4 (instead of 10, as usual), then ride the bus for an hour, then take the plane and finally attend a trade show.

I managed to go to bed the night before at 10pm (any earlier I just wouldn't have been able to sleep). Getting out of bed at 4am was not a pleasure, of course, but it wasn't as hard as I imagined.

Once I showered and were on my way, I was fully awake and the day went without a problem.

I assume you have slept enough the last week or so - dealing with little sleep just one day isn't really a big thing then.
posted by bloo at 5:18 AM on May 4, 2006

When you go to sleep the night before, imagine a clock showing the time, 8pm?, and the hands turning forward to the time you want to wake up, 4am. Keep playing this back and forth in your mind as you fall asleep.

Your body will be ready for the alarm when it goes off, or you might even wake up on your own one minute before it does.
posted by StickyCarpet at 6:20 AM on May 4, 2006

Whoa, don't take melatonin if you've never used it before, and definitely not 3mg to start. You may experience nasty hangover effects for the following day, which would completely wreck the purpose. (I speak from experience: my first foray into melatonin, I took 1mg a night for three nights as an experiment, and I spent three days walking around like a zombie, not knowing why I was so tired since I had slept so soundly.) Depending on your body composition melatonin can be surprisingly strong.

The rest of the above advice is similar to my own--avoid caffeine and sugar, go to sleep early the night before, and give yourself extra time in the morning to adjust, which the train ride will do for you by default.
posted by werty at 6:48 AM on May 4, 2006

Yeah, melatonin can give you crazy hangover effects.. 3mg puts me in a daze for about 4 hours after I wake up. I usually only take it if I want to force myself to sleep in on a lazy Sunday. I'm an average-size male, too.

I really recommend trying it beforehand on a day you can afford to be sluggish. It may still affect you differently each day, too, depending on what you've eaten etc.
posted by kcm at 7:40 AM on May 4, 2006

I used to travel across nine time zones for week(s)-long business trips, then return back to home base. I did this for more than five years.

Here's something to keep in mind as you toss and turn because you are off your normal sleeping cycle:

Rest is as good as sleep*

Lie in bed, think restful thoughts. Let your body rest even though your mind is still keyed up. Work on calming down your mind, perhaps do some meditation.

For you, it appears that getting to bed at an ungodly-early hour is the issue. For me, it was waking up at an ungodly-early hour (local time). I learned to fight the frustration of 'but I should be sleeping now! why can't I sleep!' and instead I would simply stay in bed and let my body rest, even though I was no longer asleep.

Resting instead of getting up as soon as I was done with sleep allowed me to function well during the day.

*Obligatory disclaimer - this works for a few days only. Within a few days your body will demand sleep and you will be able to fall asleep faster, and sleep longer. The key is to remain focused on 'resting'.
posted by seawallrunner at 8:12 AM on May 4, 2006