How can I reset my sleep patterns?
Question:
Trouble is, I'm posting this at 1 am, so you can see that I"m a night owl. Anyone ever had any luck in this area?
BTW, if I can do it without taking any medication, I'd be a happy camper.
10 points to the guy/gal who comes up with an idea that works.
Answers:
i have always been quite the insomniac. luckily for me, I'm on a night shift now, and seeing as i enjoy staying up late i just do and it's fine. however i wasn't always on a night shift so i can give u some of my techniques.
1.) first of all, u could try herbal supplements. Valerian root and melatonin are the two best. melatonin will always be in pill form that i know of, but it's just a replicate of the exact same chemical that your brain uses to put you to sleep. it's either the best stuff out there or it won't work at all. that depends on you. Valerian root on the other hand, has one major benefit for you. it doesn't to be a pill. u can actually buy this in it's natural form and i think u boil it in some water. the pills for valerian root and melatonin are the most convenient. there may also be some herbal teas that have it.
2.)ur second bet is herbal teas. there are alot of them available a sleep aid and even if they don't have Valerian root they do have other things that work. and drinking something warm before u go to bed usually helps you go to sleep anyhow. warm milk can sometimes do it for me. you need to make sure, however, that you do not drink anything with sugar or caffeine in it at least 2 hours before you go to bed. if i have to go to bed at ten, i don't drink caffeine after 5 pm, or not at all if i can help it. also, u might try not smoking about a half hour before sleeping if u r a smoker.
3.) another thing u can try is a sleep CD. my friend Whitney swears by some of them. they have music or sounds or just gentle whispering and she says that some of hers will put u to sleep within 5 minutes of starting them.
4.) make sure that you have the most comfortable bed set up possible. if your like me, your body and mind love finding any excuse to get up, and the wrong pillow blanket and mattress is an easy target. i love the foam pillows but the foam mattresses suck for me. but it all depends on you. if you sleep in clothes, make sure they are soft and loose. it's better to sleep in the nude, however. also keeping a room a bit too cold for ur tastes but having plenty of cover is a great way to go to sleep. you'll wrap urself up tightly and u won;t move. soon you'll be asleep. i always sleep better in winter.
5.) reading or watching a television show that just DOES NOT INTEREST YOU is another way. i watch the news because i hate the news. sometimes the news can conk me out in the middle of the day.
6.)there are plenty of meditation exercises out there and lots of them can relax you to the point of sleepiness. instructions for quite a few should be available on line, but try this one: breath in and fill your lungs all the way up. imagine that when you breathe in you are breathing in a number (the number one for the first breath and so on). fill ur lungs up completely with ones. then breath out all of the ones (emptying ur lungs completely) and then continue with the number two. sounds crazy but it does relax you and if ur laying on ur back in ur bed, it can actually put you to sleep.
i hope one of these works!!
Other Answers:
Try to cut back on going to bed so late. Go to bed 30 minutes sooner than what u normally do every night. Cut back thirty minutes more after that.Keep cutting back till u can get to bed at a good hour. Drink a cup of chammomile tea.
Well, I'd say (since you want to be drug-free - but I have to say the Tylenol PM is great in a pinch) that you should try to set your alarm earlier and earlier each day and then get up and be active right away. Then set a "bedtime" that you make a priority and stick with it. Make sure your room is dark and quiet and try some relaxing exercises or mediatation. Not everyone can do it. I am NOT a morning person but I wish you good luck.
i have the same problem. when this happens, i try to stay up all day and set a time for me to go to bed (i.e, i am up at 3am.I stay up all day then go to bed at a "decent" hour, like 9:30pm. usually the next day, i wake up on time (which is 6am for me), and by the time 9pm rolls around, i'm ready to go to bed) hope this helps!
Source(s):
i'm a night owl and it SUCKS!!
set a sleep time for your self BEFORE 12 AM. give it at least a week or 2. the sleep schedual is everything! you will get sleepy in the afternoons in the begining.
i am a night person also, and i had a shift in the past the required me to start at four in the morning. i can tell you this, if i tried to stay awake and get sleep before going into work, i was almost always late. i used to come home and sleep, get up around 10 or 11 and stay up until my shift was over. i hated it because i felt like i was working when most were sleeping, sleeping while most were playing and when it came to my play time everyone was sleeping. then i went to a different job and started working when i was use to sleeping.now i have a shift i love. good luck..yes it can be done, but it will be hard you on for the next couple of weeks.
You should start trying to wind down your evening by 8pm. Do not eat after 6 pm. Start trying to get into bed by 9pm. It will take a week or so to get your brain use to this new schedule, but YOU CAN TRAIN YOUR BRAIN!!
Drink a class of warm milk: Milk contains a substance called tryptophan. The body uses tryptophan to make serotonin, a chemical in the brain. Serotonin helps control sleep patterns, appetite, pain, and other functions. Milk does not contain enough tryptophan to change sleep patterns, but drinking a glass of milk before bed may help you relax. Over-the-counter tryptophan supplements are not recommended due to a rare condition associated with the supplements called "eosinophila myalgia syndrome.
Also:
Do not nap during the day.
Avoid caffeine after 3pm
Keep your bedroom cool to prevent night sweats.
Take a warm bath or shower at bedtime.
Do not watch television, eat, or read in bed. Do these activities in another room until you feel sleepy. (The reason for this is because your brain needs to know that the bed is ONLY for sleep and not for other activities).
FOLLOW THE SAME ROUTINE EACH NIGHT!
Avoid using sleeping pills.
GOOD LUCK!!
Source(s):
http://www.sleepfoundation.org/
OK this is simple get an alarm clock and use it. Maybe not wake up at 5 or 6 maybe an hr or two later. Exercise to exhaustion that will make you sleepy but do it earlier in the day not an hour or 2 before you go to bed cause then your just pumped up. Also avoid caffeine later in the day. Dont use darken curtains either just makes you want to sleep later cause your body doesn't know that it is day and time to wake up.
Check out (http://www.reducingstress.net/ ) there is a lot of great content and information on the subject there.
Also the stresseraser is a great product to help you sleep. You can find it at (http://www.buystresseraser.com ) and there is a link to it at www.reducingstress.net.
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