Why am I having trouble sleeping?

[Warwithin]

Hey all,

I am a college student and started a new job last Monday. I was very much on a "college" schedule from just finishing up finals (up till 3-4am studying), so I knew sleeping before work would be a pain (have to be up at 7:30am 5 days a week). I try sleeping at like 1am last Sunday night, but cannot sleep whatsoever. By 6am I concede that I will not sleep and just get up and painfully go throughout my first day on the job trying to make good impressions on no sleep.

After that first day, it got better simply due to exhaustion. All through the week, I was able to have somewhat broken sleep - waking up every couple hours thinking I might have overslept or something.

This past weekend, I went out Friday and Saturday night, staying up until 2am and 4am respectively. Again, I knew I was in for trouble since I stayed out late and slept in both Sat/Sun morning. Come this past night, I get in bed around 12:30 but am 100% unable to sleep. Here I am at nearly 7am about to have to go through yet another day without sleep.

I just toss and turn all night. Not sure if it's stress-related, but I'm thinking it might be. I ate kinda heavy at around 9pm (4 slices of pizza, color me American), but didn't eat heavy at all last Sunday when I had the same issue. Anyone have any advice? I had a 9-5 job last summer after classes ended, but I don't recall the transition being nearly this painful.

[Aspect of Death]

Well if you go out on friday/saturday and stay out most of the night, then you still need to get up early, even if you only get to sleep 2-3 hours. Or you will have problems falling a sleep on sunday when you go to bed "early". Atleast this is how i do it^^
You just need to get up the same time everyday to have a "normal rutine" even if that means 2hours sleep in the weekend.

I get up 6:00 in the morning everyday, in the weekend i push it to 8:00 (max), and i go to sleep 23:00 every night (except weekends). But i often stay awake until 00:30 before i fall asleep.

But i have had problems falling asleep my whole life, and sounds like you had this recently, so might not be the same.

[Damsbo]

I agree with #2.
If I find myself sleeping in, I wont try to go to bed until I've been up for atleast 13-14 hours. I know I just cant sleep otherwise.
You need to figure out how many hours you can stay awake, before getting tired enough to sleep; and the schedule your sleeping pattern after that.
Hope it helps, good luck

[MickoLis]

routine is the best therapy for your sleeping pattern. it sounds like its all over the shop and your brain thinks it should still be awake at the time you want to sleep. agreed again with number 2. wake up at the same time each day. ivy recently starts doing the same thing.

if you feel you need to sleep during the day, a 20 minute power nap can work wonders. even if you don't sleep that short time gives your brain time to relax. now this is the tricky part...... keeping it to ONLY 20 minutes. much more and your brain can quickly transfer into deeper states of sleep making you tired and stuffing up your body clock again.

i practice these methods most days and lucky enough to able to sleep during a break at work.

i still have trouble getting ti sleep at times but a half hour reading forums (like this) and im out.

another method for helping you sleep is to let your mind wonder. start with something you enjoy or a place you've been obviously holiday. maybe looking up 'lucid dreaming'. start by relaxing you toes and feel them get heavier and slowly sink into your bed. then your feet, calves, knees. slowly make your way to your head and if you do it right you can put yourself in to a state if relaxation. hope all of this helps.

as i finish this i remember this topic being bought up before a few months ago. try looking it up to fir some other methods.

---------- Post added 2013-05-20 at 10:48 PM ----------

oh and dont mind the grammar issues. writing on a phone through a dodgey app. fixing the grammar can be more troublesome

[ibnalail]

You've trained your body to a certain schedule, you're not going to break it from that schedule if you aren't willing to keep it changed. I have been on a graveyard schedule for well over 10 years {getting up at 10PM, going to bed around 2PM}. I can not function at all on a "normal" schedule.

For example, I went to see my family for the holidays. I was there for 5 days, on their schedule. Every day, by the time 4pm rolled around, I was nearly in tears because it "felt like bedtime" all day. By the time 6pm would roll around, I was nodding off and there was no stopping it, even though I got like 10 hours of sleep the night before.

You talk about the weekends, you can adjust to that, but you HAVE to get up at the normal time.

Do not eat before bed, avoid caffeine and other stimulants later in the day, "unplug" for the last hour before bed {no computer, no tv, no video games - read, take a hot shower or bath, do some light yoga/meditate, write in a journal, etc}, try to avoid doing anything in the bedroom that's not sleeping or sex. If you aren't falling asleep within like half an hour, get up and do something "unplugged" for a while and try again.

Creating a bedtime ritual is the best way to get your body to realize it's time to sleep. Once your body starts to develop a habit of it, it gets easier to fall asleep because your body starts to let go of the daily rush stuff earlier instead of trying to do it when you're sitting there telling yourself "go to sleep, come on, ffs I gotta get up in X hours, go to sleep!" A good routine would be something like an hour before bed, shutting off all the lights and only using a warm or soft-light lamp for light. Then having a hot drink to sip like herbal tea, hot chocolate, warm vanilla milk {the smell will end up as part of your sleep trigger} while you journal {journal, not facebook}. As you start to do this more and more, your body will start winding down faster and faster.

[Enchanter]

The key is to get on a sleep schedule. You have to train your body to go to sleep at a certain time. Ibnalail gave some solid advice. You can also try melatonin or valerian root 30 minutes before bedtime to help you nod off as I find those don't leave me groggy when I wake up. Make sure to consult a doctor before you take either of those though and always follow the instructions about dosage.

[Thedoja]

1. Diet Diet Diet (No foods 3-4 hours before you want to sleep, especially energy providing carbs/sugars)
2. Exercise regularly
3. Your bed is where you sleep, keep that ritualistic - Don't watch TV in bed
4. Complete darkness + White Noise (Youtube Rainstorms, Fans, Humidifiers)
5. Keep it on a schedule - Shoot for 8 hours. Tons of people say they "only need 5 hours" Big difference from having "been to sleep" compared to "waking up feeling like mother fucking Rick James, bitch"
6. Pay close attention to your mattress - Do you have small pains or find yourself adjusting position frequently? - Memory Foam tops can be bought for ~40$ or less
7. Try melatonin supplements
8. Smoke hella weed - Fewer fine things in life than a toasty pipe and a cold fluffy pillow
9. When lying down and your mind starts to race; emphasize on your physical being. The weight of your body sinking, the heat of blood flowing through your eyelids, the heart thumps heard in your ears, when you hear sounds don't give them a name or try to identify the source just listen as you would music.
10. Smoke more weed
11. If you haven't fallen asleep within 20 minutes then get up and either leave the room your are in or sit in a chair to read / do mundane task (Keep the bed as sleep only ritual)
12. All else fails, trusty fap'n nap

[Roose]

Benadryl. Take 2 and try to stay awake.

[Chisato]

Relying on any type of medication for sleep is a bad idea, especially when the medication is not meant to be used as a sleep aid (Benadryl, which is allergy medication).

I agree with others who suggest the biggest issue is not having a sleep schedule. I would definitely set a bedtime and stick to it. If you aren't sleepy by bedtime, think of something relaxing which will help you fall asleep. Some people suggest 'unplugging', but to be honest, that doesn't work for me. Playing 10-20 minutes of PSP or watching a brief TV show always puts me to sleep. Reading and listening to calm ambient music can help too. It's completely up to you and what works for you personally.

Good luck! The first few days will take adjustment but once your body is used to the schedule and you are sure to stick to it, you'll find much improved sleep and mental function overall.

[Theodoxus]

+1 for sleep schedule. I know, being in college - or that age, you really want to party it up - but it's a choice. You can do that, and remain unhealthy, or wise up and get into a routine.

I've also found, for me, that when my mind is racing - to just push it even faster, let all the thoughts rage about until they just stop on their own. The combination of pushing (which is mentally exhausting) and letting them run their course typically means I fall into a nice deep sleep for the night.

[v2prwsmb45yhuq3wj23vpjk]

Because you're worried about something, you're sleeping at the wrong time or you are drinking too much caffeine.

If I'm worried about not waking up in time, sometimes I'll wake up a lot, like every 10 minutes.