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in reply to Hours of sleep I get on an average weeknight

I keep hearing about people who used to have sleep schedules like I currently do (4 to 5 hours during week, 10 on weekends), and all of them say that I would feel better on 7 or 8 a day. I thought, "great -- I'll give that a try!"

However, I ran into one big problem. I could not go to sleep. I would get 8 hours of sleep (say, 12-8am). I would wake up, go to class and work, do my homework, surf the Internet; and, finally, try to go to bed again around midnight. But, I couldn't. I would lie in bed with my eyes closed until 4am or so. No matter how hard I try, sans the use of substances, I could not achieve a stable 8 hours-a-day sleep schedule. Doing the 8 hours a night thing would mean my schedule being constantly rotated as my body wants to stay awake for 20 hours after getting 8 hours of sleep. Only after going 5 days on 20-25 total hours of sleep can I actually crash on the weekend and get a good night's rest.

Maybe this will all change once I leave college, but for right now I am a slave to my screwed up circadian rhythm (or, lack thereof).

Jeremy
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Re: Re: Hours of sleep I get on an average weeknight
by Trinary (Pilgrim) on Mar 02, 2001 at 06:23 UTC
    Unfortunately, that's not the way I think it's gonna work out, at least it isn't the way it did for me.

    I do the exact same thing, and fit the job into it. I typically go to sleep sometime around 3:30am on weekdays, get up at 8:30, then on weekends I'm out really goddamned late, 4-5 at least, and crash until early afternoon. Mondays are pain, but I get through em. if i don't stick to this schedule, i don't sleep, and get annoyed at wasting time trying. =)

    Trinary

Re: Re: Hours of sleep I get on an average weeknight
by frag (Hermit) on Mar 06, 2001 at 04:16 UTC
    If you want to go to sleep early, try working out during the day. When your body is tired from exercise, your mind shouldn't race like that. (Unless you work out late at night, which might just invigorate you.) Do it regularly for a while and you should be able to train your body to a new sleep cycle. Also, maybe consider (changing|upgrading) your (bed|pillows).
Re: Re: Hours of sleep I get on an average weeknight
by flocto (Pilgrim) on Mar 06, 2001 at 01:03 UTC
    I try dayly to get more than 6 hours of sleep, but it usually doesn't work out. My main problem is that i have serious problems leaving my workstation. On weekends I just try to stay up as long as somehow possible and than sleep so long that it actually makes me tired again ;) It's kinda hard to fall asleep at midnight on sundays when you got up at 1pm, but I can push myself that far.. And sometime I gonna find a job and a boss that let me work/sleep whenever I feel like it (as long as I bring the results they want).. Any offers? *grin*
    Regards, octopus
    --
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