My body clock is a huge mess! Please help

Post Reply New Topic

If there is one thing I could do without, it's having to sleep. I abhor sleep and especially dreaming. I think a considerable amount of my problems could be solved if I never actually had to sleep, and could just sleep if and when I wanted to. Although I acknowledge that it is indeed important, sleep is a huge waste of my time.

Wishing for what is obviously not going to happen aside, sleep is a nightmare in itself for me. Insomnia, nightmares, sleep inertia, and a messy body clock.

In general I am a night owl. I prefer to do most activities during the evening and night. Maybe it's because things are a bit calmer then. I also don't like to not be occupied with something I enjoy doing. For those reasons I prefer to stay up later at night. However this is becoming a problem, because I find myself a lot of the time staying up quite late, like until 3 or 4 am. Now, I actually do get a satisfactory amount of sleep per night; in general I find I need about 10-11 hours of sleep per night, so I get up around 1 or 2 pm. In the summer, this wouldn't be a problem, but since winter is approaching it's getting dark earlier each night, so I don't get a lot of daylight each day. I'm starting to worry that if I keep this up I will just be waking up in darkness during the winter. I do occasionally wake up at earlier times, but this means I don't get enough sleep, and there have been a few nights when despite the aid of a sleeping pill I haven't been able to sleep at all, and have had to make up for that by sleeping during the day and therefore missing out on the whole day.

As I said before, I don't like to not be occupied with something I enjoy doing. In general the only indoor things I enjoy doing involve being on my computer, but as we know it is not good to be on a computer or phone just before going to bed, so it's a double-edged sword. I don't enjoy reading books or anything like that. I like to watch films and listen to music, but I don't have a CD or DVD player, and my only source of music and films is my computer (my iTunes library and DVD-ROM drive).

Any advice would be much appreciated.

As you say, it's your body clock that seems to be the problem. You're certainly getting enough sleep for someone your age, this will decrease as you get older. Most adolescents stay up into the early hours, on the internet etc, and then struggle to get up for school, which has a knock-on effect on their work. Ask any secondary school teacher about pupils dozing off in lessons!

You're not at school at the moment, so you're not forced to get up early, which would probably make you want to sleep by about 10pm. I think you need to make an concerted effort to re-adjust your body clock by getting up much earlier, which would eventually break the cycle of staying up late/getting up late. Why not do it gradually, by getting up slightly earlier every day over a period of a few weeks?

It's true about being online just before going to bed. This definitely has an impact on your mind and your eyes, and may be the cause of the insomnia and nightmares. Try switching off the lights about half an hour before you go to bed, and listen to music in the dark, with your eyes closed. You might find that after a while this will send you to sleep.

Hope this helps.

BTW, love the new avatar.

In general I enjoy staying up later at night, probably because of the calm, quiet atmosphere as opposed to the more active atmosphere during the day. I'm not sure if I can afford to try to adjust my body clock gradually now; a month ago I would have been able to, but by the time my body clock is right it'll be too close to winter (= hardly any daylight) and it'll be too cold to go outside (= not enough vitamin D).

However...



...things may have just taken a turn for the better in this aspect, because earlier my dad showed me that there is a DVD-drive in my TV, so I can watch films on the TV after all, plus he and I managed to connect the TV to the internet so I could use YouTube. As another help, there is a headphone plug-in in the TV so I can listen to music and watch films at night without waking my parents up.



Thank you!

In that case your body clock is probably fine somewhere around the way it is now. That seems to be its natural setting, and any attempt to radically alter it is doomed to failure - and may affect your health, both mental and physical. This is likely to have consequences for how you live and work in the future. Your mind and body are at their most active and productive later in the day and at night, so you'll need to find studying and employment opportunities that allow you to live like this. It isn't all that rare - actors tend to be night owls, as are many writers, composers and others who need peace and quiet to think and work. Marcel Proust famously worked all night and slept until late afternoon.

The time of day we were born often dictates our body clock. For example, I was born at 06.16 am, and wake naturally at that time (even if I don't get up). People who were born in the early evening often 'come alive' at that time, and feel most alert and focused, even though they got up at 7am.

Good news about the TV, films etc - but remember that watching television has the same effect as staring at your computer screen. Try and switch it off 30 minutes before you go to sleep.

I must confess: I miss the Finnish model.

Here you are
http://www.womendirect.it/model/3452/an ... -ali-sisto

Thanks!

Google up on "sleep hygiene", amd whem trying to shift sleep patterms, remember the importance of breakfast. Your body tunes in to the meal-rythm, so try to eat at appropriate times, ams always immediatelt after getting up.

But I know your problem, I got woken up by a work related phone call at 11:30 today, and must have made a horrible impression on my client... But I was still very happy about the amount of sunlight I was going to get for waking up so early.... Winter is difficult for us nocturnals...

https://www.lowbluelights.com/products.asp?cid=61

Buy bluelight filters for your devices. If you can still see the colour blue, then you are not filtering blue light.

and/or wear these to block the blue light from your devices along with lowering the brightness on your device's screens.

http://www.amazon.com/Uvex-S1933X-Eyewe ... B000USRG90

Use red LED bulbs at night in the hours before bed around your house instead of ordinary bulbs as they don't disrupt your body clock.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Feit-Electri ... /204853236

Make sure to expose yourself to either sunlight or bright lights in the morning upon waking.

install F.lux on your computer and devices

https://justgetflux.com/

Block out all the light in your bedroom. You shouldn't be able to see your hand in front of your face, much less across the room. Use blackout blinds. Sleep music helps as well to drown out your thoughts or any other sound that might make sleeping more difficult.

With these steps, I went from waking up many times a night to sleeping 7 hours straight through the night. Falling asleep is easier as well.

N o c a, The great.

Noca, great advice. I use a low blue light level and flicker free Benq monitor and mainly sit in the dark at night. I find that it really helps to put the phone or tablet away before bed.

I got into a routine of reading before bed which helps me switch off I must stress here I have to read fantasy / scifi though if I read anything non fiction that keeps me awake as I will think on it. I do have to read for 2 hours though sometimes.

If your a teenager it sounds very normal there was an article on new scientist recently I recollect.

I use a blue light alarm clock. It has helped. I might try blue light filters.

Why don't you like dreams?

I love dreams. Especially if they are totally mixed up and irrational, even if scary.

The brain shuts down motor activity during dreams so that your legs don't actually run when you dream about running. Sometimes I wake for a few seconds and my mind is aware, but my body is still paralyzed. That seems weird and cool.

You just reminded me to take a melatonin before 3AM. Immediately after getting a new laptop to carry on programming with, my friend needed a VERY secured disk decrypted.

I run F.Lux & Redshift to keep the blue light to a minimum on all my computers.
https://justgetflux.com/
http://jonls.dk/redshift/

I have nightmares almost every night. Good dreams for me are few and far between.

Thanks everyone for the advice