How can I train myself to get a healthier lifestyle?

Phire — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 21:18:32 -0800

So half a year of self-destructive behaviour that involved both procrastination and disgusting amounts of homework/projects have resulted in a sleeping pattern that is sliding towards the Crashing and the Burning, really really quickly. Help me figure out how to adjust this before exams roll around. During milder weeks, I sleep from 2-4 AM to 6-8 AM, and take a nap from about 7 PM to 9 PM after I get home. Recently, it's gotten to the point where I crash immediately after getting home (5 PM) and sleep till 9 PM, or further, and then will either not sleep at all, or sleep 1-2 hours, before I have to go to school (8 AM). On average, I'd say I get about 6 hours every 24-hour-cycle. I crash and sleep about 14 to 15 hours between Saturday and Sunday, and get up at noon or later on Sunday. I still feel absolutely exhausted Sunday, and will sometimes nap Sunday evening, too, and work straight through the night till Monday. The cycle begets itself.

I've tried staying up and just working after I get home from school, but I'm restless and I can't concentrate because I haven't slept, and my work takes that much longer subsequently. So by the time I finish it, it's too late for a full night's sleep anyway. I've tried drinking tea and coffee to make myself more alert and work more efficiently, but that often means I can't sleep by the time bed time rolls around. It's easier to just give in to the nap

My chronic fatigue, however, has gotten to be uncontrollable. If I lay down for a nap with the intention of getting up an hour later, I will honestly not hear the alarm. I set multiple alarms, close enough to be heard, but out of reach so I can't shut it off and continue sleeping, but I sleep through all of them (until my parents come in and yell at me about the alarm being too noisy). In the afternoon/early evening I can't concentrate on anything for more than 30 minutes, because I fall asleep.

All the relevant marks are in to the Universities by now, so the teachers are letting up slightly. I want to use the more relaxed month I have between now and exam time to retrain my body into accepting a sleeping schedule that gets me enough sleep, and lets me be awake after I've slept. Help?

Other info: Over the summer, too, I'd get 10 hours of sleep and still be tired. I have looked into Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, but I'm not sure if I fit or how to fix it. I've heard more exercise would help (I'm not actively at all)... is this true? I don't get much caffeine normally, a Pepsi a day (religiously), and I eat well/have a balanced diet.

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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