Messed up sleeping pattern

Lotto — Sun, 15 Jan 2006 22:03:23 -0800

How can I sort out my sleeping pattern? My sleeping pattern is currently severely messed up. I'm a first year uni student with exams over the next two weeks, so I don't have lectures until after that. Consequently, I've been getting up late, as I also had been all holiday, and going to bed very late.

For several years now I've been in the habit of taking naps in the afternoon, but because of the getting up late thing they've now shifted back so that I'll have an uncontrollable urge to sleep at 7 or 8pm, which is obviously a bad idea. However I frequently succumb to those urges (because at the moment it doesn't *really* matter), and then cannot sleep at bedtime.

Whilst this isn't currently a problem as such, it will be more so once I have exams, and even more when I have morning lectures in two weeks time. Also, it's driving me crazy. It's 6am and I haven't been to sleep yet. I've read, I've lain (laid?) still, I've tried to empty my mind.. nothing.

Whilst I know that the solution to this is to go to bed now and stay there, doing nothing until I fall asleep and then get up at 10 or 11, force myself to stay awake all day and then go to bed at 10 or something tomorrow night, I know this will be very difficult for me.

Basically I'd like advice on the following things, though anything else helpful will also be appreciated:

- how to force myself to get up before noon tomorrow and not sleep until 3 in the afternoon

- would having a short nap tomorrow afternoon sometime be a total disaster? how long should it be?

- general advice for keeping myself awake and fighting the urge to sleep (sleeping being something that I've always done a lot of and kind of view as a recreational activity to some extent)

Thanks

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Messed up sleeping pattern