How can I successfully change my sleeping habits?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around strategies for changing sleeping habits, specifically focusing on going to bed earlier while ensuring sufficient sleep duration. Participants explore various methods, personal experiences, and suggestions related to sleep routines, sleep aids, and lifestyle adjustments.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested
  • Personal anecdotes

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest gradually adjusting sleep times by going to bed 30 minutes earlier every few nights or staying up for an extended period to reset the internal clock.
  • Others propose using sleep aids such as melatonin and herbal remedies, although there are mixed opinions on their effectiveness.
  • Several participants share personal experiences with sleep patterns, including challenges with racing thoughts and the impact of lifestyle factors like caffeine and alcohol on sleep quality.
  • One participant mentions the difficulties of maintaining a consistent sleep schedule due to work shifts and offers insights on managing sleep during such transitions.
  • Another participant humorously notes that having a baby is a guaranteed way to wake up earlier, highlighting the challenges of sleep for parents.
  • There are conflicting views on the effects of caffeine, with some stating it keeps them awake while others claim it makes them sleepy.
  • One participant reflects on the historical context of famous figures who reportedly thrived on minimal sleep, questioning the necessity of longer sleep durations.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the best methods for changing sleeping habits, with multiple competing views and personal anecdotes shared throughout the discussion.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include varying individual responses to sleep aids, the influence of personal schedules on sleep patterns, and the subjective nature of sleep quality and duration.

Who May Find This Useful

Individuals seeking to adjust their sleep habits, those interested in sleep science, and anyone facing challenges with sleep quality or routines may find the discussion relevant.

mattmns
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What is the best way to go about changing sleeping habits? I want to go to bed about 2-3hrs earlier every night. However, I also need to sleep at least 8hrs every night, while changing. Anyone have any ideas? :zzz:
 
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Sleep potions

Getting sufficient exercise, and administering sleep potions, can help you get to sleep earlier. Items you might find useful to have in your sleep potion include: melatonin, GABA, Kava Kava, Passiflora, and Valerian Root. You can buy these items in the health section of your local natural food store, or online at BAC or iHerb:
http://easycart.net/BeyondACenturyInc./
http://www.iherb.com/store.html

BAC mainly sells generic supplement powders and iHerb sells name-brand supplement pills. You may find the name-brand pills easier to deal with.
 
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mattmns said:
What is the best way to go about changing sleeping habits? I want to go to bed about 2-3hrs earlier every night. However, I also need to sleep at least 8hrs every night, while changing. Anyone have any ideas?
And miss all the action on PF? :biggrin:

In addition to what hitssquad mentioned, I have heard (don't remember where) that one way to reset one's internal clock is to stay up 36+ hours, and go to sleep at the time that you want to regularly go to sleep.

Or you can change incrementally, going to sleep 1/2-hr each night for about 1 week, and of course wake up earlier. Avoid stimulants like coffee and exercise before sleeping. Also, eat dinner about 4 hours before you wish to go to sleep. Exercise during the day (as hitssquad alluded to) is also beneficial.

I have a colleague who goes to sleep about 10 pm and wakes around 5 am, but if you need 8 then it's 10 pm- 6 am, or 9 pm - 5 am.
 
Just get up early and be active during the day.
 
I found when getting ready for a trip, where the time difference was going to be greater then 4 hours, that going to sleep 30 minutes early every other night did the trick.
Drinking tea herb blends may help, but in my case they made half to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and I couldn't fall back asleep.
 
I have found an effective way of getting myself to sleep. My problem is that I tend to lie awake and think Think THINK for an hour or more. I can get quite active mentally.

So, what I do is concentrate on turning off the voices (my own voices, not the kind that tell you to do things). It's hard at first, but it gets easier. I try to achieve a state where I have no dialogue happening in my head. If I get distracted, and find myself tallking in my head, I immediately silence it. It helps to concentrate on something purely visual, such as the pretty patterns of light sparkles on the insides of my eyelids.

I try to see how long I can stay in that state. It is not very long before I am asleep.
 
DaveC426913 said:
I have found an effective way of getting myself to sleep. My problem is that I tend to lie awake and think Think THINK for an hour or more. I can get quite active mentally.

So, what I do is concentrate on turning off the voices (my own voices, not the kind that tell you to do things). It's hard at first, but it gets easier. I try to achieve a state where I have no dialogue happening in my head. If I get distracted, and find myself tallking in my head, I immediately silence it. It helps to concentrate on something purely visual, such as the pretty patterns of light sparkles on the insides of my eyelids.

I try to see how long I can stay in that state. It is not very long before I am asleep.
This is my situation - often wide awake sometime between midnight and 4am. I sleep best between 4am-8am, but then I have to get up to let the dog out at 0600, and the cats start harrassing me at 0630.

I have always enjoyed the pretty patterns of light sparkles on the insides of my eyelids. Helps to apply a little pressure from the fingers. :biggrin:
 
I gave up on the idea. As I've mentioned to the person whose lab I work in...what good is it to research circadian rhythms when I can't even apply any of the knowledge to wake myself up earlier in the morning?

Oh, wait, I've been told there's one sure-fire method for waking up earlier in the morning, but it's not compatible with getting 8 hours of sleep at night...have a baby; they are an alarm clock you just can't ignore. :-p
 
  • #10
7 out of 14 days I work a 6pm-6-am graveyard shift. I try very hard to maintain a sleep schedule which has a consistent core 4 hrs sleep (~7am - 11am)

On weekends I tend to go to bed early ~2am and strive for 8+hrs sleep (~10am) then as the weekend progress I stay up later till the night before I have to go back to work I shoot for (4am-noon).

When I take vacation I tend to get day shifted, but again as I get closer to going back to work I start stay up and sleeping late. For me the key to making the shift is a good long nights sleep, I can then easily do a 18-20 hr wake time to shift my schedule. I do this on my last non work day so as to remain as sharp as possible through out my upcoming 12hr shift.
 
  • #11
3 years of engineering at uni has taught me two things:

- When you want to sleep, get drunk.
- When you need to be awake, make a superbrew (coffee, red bull&coke, tea etc)



I'm going into detox this summer, I promise...
 
  • #12
3 years of engineering at uni has taught me two things:

- When you want to sleep, get drunk.
- When you need to be awake, make a superbrew (coffee, red bull&coke, tea etc)

Works the other way around with me - too much caffeine puts me to sleep. Is that normal?
 
  • #13
rachmaninoff said:
Works the other way around with me - too much caffeine puts me to sleep. Is that normal?

I don't think so. I can't sleep if I have had a cup of tea later than 4pm, unless I've had a few pints afterwards. I'm sure it's not too healthy relying on alcohol and caffeine for sleep control, but hey.
 
  • #14
I don't know exactly why, but all the smart people(atleast the ones I consider smart) slept for only four hours a day. I remember even Edison and Einstein (i didn't count these two in the four hours a day category) spent most of the night researching and slept very little.
 
  • #15
Thanks for all of your responses! I will try some of these things and see what works.
 

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