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[Sowelu]

So I had a bad habit of going to bed real late (or 'early', depending on your metric) and then waking up real late, too.  I've fixed the first part.  The second part isn't going so well.

It's been a couple weeks of sleeping for twelve or thirteen hours a night, now.  And while I really do appreciate sleep...this is kind of causing problems.  Not least of which is that I'd kind of like to do things on weekdays which are different than "sleep" and "work".  Makes Jack a dull boy etc.

Any suggestions?  I'm open to anything, from dietary changes to non-prescription medicine to solid advice that it will probably fix itself in X more weeks.  Will be talking to a doctor about it, but varieties of advice are good.  I'm currently kind of a caffeine junkie, which I'm trying to fix, but I'm not sure how that would make me sleep more...  And I'm 27, in case that makes a difference.  Man, I wish I was one of those awesome people who could survive on six hours a night.  Think how much stuff I'd get done.  For the moment I'd be happy to bring it back down to nine hours.

Thanks!

[woose1]

Sleep wearing khaki shorts and a t-shirt. Attempt to make your bed less comfortable. You may think I'm simply joking, but it's at least worth a shot, right? You probably don't need 12-13 hours a night unless there's something wrong with you nutritionally or medically.

[Vector]

Don't go to sleep hungry.

The other thing is that I often have my sleep needs bump up to 12 hours when I've been doing 12-hour math days; I'm 21, and the basic shape of it is that I just get too tired.  If you've suddenly had an increase in work volume or difficulty, that could be part of it.

[woose1]

Additionally, take these: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&safe=off&q=desiccated+liver+pills&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=9308458832039196899&sa=X&ei=m41-TcX2EoK_0QHd9cHbAw&ved=0CB4Q8wIwAA#

Again, worth a shot.

[eerr]

Get sun early in the day.

[Nadaka]

Getting sun through your window is good. Unfortunately it isn't something I can do because I would also get spotlight through my window all night as well.

Put your alarm clock on the other side of the room, so you have to get out of bed to turn it off. Make sure  you have a secondary alarm clock set no more than 15 minutes later in the next room. This makes sure you actually get out of bed instead of randomly smacking the alarm clock.

Try to get some exercise as soon as you wake up, followed by food.

Try to cut your caffeine intake down gradually, the exercise and real calories will help get and keep you awake with less caffeine.  I was at one point drinking about 6 code red plus a monster energy drink every day. Now I am down to 2 soda and some ice tea. Make sure you get your blood pressure tested, over consumption of caffeine plus other bad habits can be very dangerous.

[IronyOwl]

Quality can be as important as quantity; if there's something disrupting your sleep, your body won't get the rest it needs and you'll end up "sleeping" for longer than the amount of rest you're getting.

Light and sound can both impact how restful your sleep is, as can just about anything that makes you uncomfortable (cold, restricting clothing, etc.). Check to see if there's anything that might disrupt your sleep, like a humming computer you usually leave on or traffic outside your house early in the morning. If your blinds aren't good simple sunlight might even be messing with you.

Of course, this assumes that the problem is that you need more sleep than you should, not that your body is being lazy in getting up on time. I'd assume an alarm clock would mostly do the trick for the latter.

[uber pye]

set a light to shine in your face and a alarm of loud music and have somthing fall on you

hook all these up to a alarm set to go off when you need to wake up

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

lights and sound are optional falling thing can vary in weight

[hemmingjay]

Get checked out by a doctor for chronic fatiigue, iron deficiency and depression. Most people don't even know they have these problems and are relatively simple to correct. Hope it helps.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Take a daily multivitamin, you might be suffering from some deficiency. Unless you hate breakfast cereal, that's a simple way to get a broader range of vitamins.

Wean yourself off the caffeine. If it helps, realize that if you are a high caffeine user you function exactly as well on high caffeine as a low-user functions on a low dose. You can wean yourself from it and use it only when you need it. Caffeine will disrupt sleep patterns, it doesn't just keep you from sleeping.

I second the "alarm clock across the room" advice. If you need to, set a second alarm for 5 minutes after the first. I also like to set my bedroom clock 15 minutes ahead so I fool myself into getting up a little earlier. Yeah, I'm both a grifter and a rube.

Get a routine going for bedtime and morning. So at night, don't exercise / eat / use stimulants / read / play games past a certain time. You want to let you brain and body wind down, so listening to music or watching TV is okay. Depending - I can't listen passively to music so it's just as bad as reading for me. In the morning, hop in the shower right away and eat and get your stuff done in order. It helps. It's also kind of like always locking your door behind you from the outside so you never forget your keys.

Eventually if you force yourself into a schedule it will become habit. It may take years. Realize that your current schedule was probably formed from years of habit! I had to stop playing this one game because it completely wrecked my sleep schedule in only a week and it still hasn't recovered. So sometimes your habits will shift dramatically due to some other impact.

You will need more sleep if your mind and/or body has been heavily strained. This includes stress. It means you actually need more sleep in finals week than otherwise, and people tend to get LESS sleep! Crazy. If you have this option, try getting massages. If you have health care, you might be able to get weekly or biweekly massages for a fairly low fee. Where I live, massage is about $50 per hour. If I had health insurance, and a doctor prescribed massage, I could get them for maybe $15 or $20 per hourlong session.

And then my regular health advice. Get 30 minutes of heavy-breathing exercise every day, get an hour of sweat exercise at least once a week. Drink 6-8 glasses of water a day. Cook your own food instead of eating out, eat slowly, eat with friends. Get some sun, but don't bake. And stop reading beauty magazines - they will only make you feel ugly

[Cassicotca]

Used to sleep about 5h, since new year been sleeping 11-12h feels good. Nothing wrong with have a good nights sleep everyday.

[Sowelu]

I've got about three hours worth of alarm clocks every morning, a window right above my bed (I'm in Seattle so there's only so much it'll help), and blood tests and general stuff a couple weeks ago revealed no obvious deficiencies and very good blood pressure.

I'll try that 'don't forget to eat dinner' and 'exercise in the morning' thing...and I'll give a shot at putting an alarm clock in my bathroom, so it's easy to go straight from wake up -> shower.

I suspect I'd do better if I wasn't on the PC until just before bed every night...but there's not much helping that (and it doesn't explain why I sleep worse on days whem I'm away from my computer).  Have certainly noticed that I sleep way worse and get up way later when it's cold in my room, though.

Thanks guys.

[eerr]

To be fair, someone else solved a similar problem with melatonin pills.

[nenjin]

So is the problem you "can't" get up, or that, when put to the challenge, you'll always sleep in even after 8 hours?

One thing that gets me out of bed rather than napping longer, is something I want to do. Like, can't wait to get up to do. Putting off that thing you want to do (the PC, the game, the project) will give you a reason to bounce out of bed earlier.

Think of it like Saturday morning cartoons, when you were still young enough to want to get up to watch them.

[Sowelu]

So is the problem you "can't" get up, or that, when put to the challenge, you'll always sleep in even after 8 hours?

One thing that gets me out of bed rather than napping longer, is something I want to do. Like, can't wait to get up to do. Putting off that thing you want to do (the PC, the game, the project) will give you a reason to bounce out of bed earlier.

Think of it like Saturday morning cartoons, when you were still young enough to want to get up to watch them.

In general, I sleep through every damn thing.

Also, hard to look forwards to work.  No matter when I wake up, that's pretty much when I need to head in.  The earlier I go in, the earlier I come home, which is nice.  So earlier is always better.  But...it's no Saturday morning cartoons.  (I'd watch MLP:FIM at work if I could get away with it, but I can't.)