[TheGMan]

I have a serious sleep problem. I avoid sleep as much as I can until I really have no choice and it pretty much messes up my whole life and ability to get anything done.

it's not that I have insomnia. I can go to sleep and even am really tired but I fight my body and just never want to.

I do this even though I know that it will only cause problems and make me feel worse, end up sleeping at times when I should be doing other things, be irritable, eat on a crazy schedule and so on.

My intentions are mostly that I want to stay up late to "get things done" as I DO have things I have to work on that are probably easier to do late at night. However late night always turns into early morning until the day/night as gone. Inevitably this happens for several days so that i basically do nothing for long periods of time.

It just doesn't make any sense to me because I would prefer sleeping normally, as long as I can get something done while I am awake. I like sleep/napping as a hobby, lol. But for whatever reason I spend all my time/energy fighting off sleeping or sleeping when it catches up to me.

 

[gaz]

Sometimes i feel like not sleeping, not always becasue of insomnia but because i feel that life is passing me by so fast, and i think that by sleeping i'm wasting time. I feel ill with lack of sleep though.

 

[Thomas Paine]

Have you been using caffeine or eating a lot of candy? Caffeine can still affect your ability to sleep even after it feels like it's worn off. I was told never to drink caffeine after 3pm because it would affect your sleep.

Maybe it has nothing to do with caffeine - just taking a shot in the dark with something I know about.

 

[Madison_Rose]

I do that too, only when I'm particularly low. I say to myself, "right, I'll lie down and go to sleep," but it doesn't last five minutes before I have to switch on the light and distract myself with a book or the internet. I think it's a fear of just being alone with my thoughts, letting them run riot.

Two suggestions: get a good book and a reading light that you can switch off without getting out of bed. Watching TV in bed wil just keep you awake - it's the flashing light and movement. A book is more relaxing - it will keep your mind distracted until you fall asleep with your face in it

Alternatively, spin yourself a happy fantasy when you're lying waiting for sleep. easier said than done sometimes, I know, but give it a go. Try not to give headroom to thoughts that are going to bother you.

 

[LostPancake]

This happens to me also - I dread turning away from all my distractions (ahem, Internet) to confront trying to get to sleep. But it's definitely easier on the days that I get enough exercise. That helps a lot with the underlying anxiety.

Also when I was younger staying up late after everyone else had gone to sleep was the only real alone time I could get, and I'd stay up way later than I should have just for that. Made me really tired in high school though.

 

[euphoria]

I assembled a team of top scientists from all major countries in the world to analyse your problem. It took 48 hours of caffeine-fuelled intense research and calculation, but today I can present our solution to your problem: more sleep.

 

[jim695]

I have experienced real bad insomnia in recent years. I will sometimes go up to 2 days without any sleep.

I have a whirlwind of thoughts as I lay down and try to sleep and since I live alone, laying there by myself makes me feel just that much more lonely. I had become almost terrified of the silence and took to putting the radio on while I try to fall asleep. It provides false company as I lay there alone and it helps to take my mind off of my negative thoughts so I can more easily fall asleep.

It can be a terrible ordeal especially after a couple days or more with almost no sleep. You feel horrible afterwards and can hardly think and function.

 

[TheGMan]

I assembled a team of top scientists from all major countries in the world to analyse your problem. It took 48 hours of caffeine-fuelled intense research and calculation, but today I can present our solution to your problem: more sleep.

Thanks, but this is like me saying I have a cure for your social anxiety: be more comfortable in social situations.

 

[TheGMan]

This is interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_syndrome

 

[TheGMan]

Also when I was younger staying up late after everyone else had gone to sleep was the only real alone time I could get, and I'd stay up way later than I should have just for that. Made me really tired in high school though.

Part of it is this. I need to stay up late both to have alone time, and I work better late at night. The problem occurs when I am slow getting started and then I don't really focus on things until many hours go by. Then I end up in the next day frantically trying to do stuff but inevitably crashing. I guess I have a preference for being up late as well as a need. It just doesn't work out the way I need it to.

 

[Thomas Paine]

Part of it is this. I need to stay up late both to have alone time, and I work better late at night. The problem occurs when I am slow getting started and then I don't really focus on things until many hours go by. Then I end up in the next day frantically trying to do stuff but inevitably crashing. I guess I have a preference for being up late as well as a need. It just doesn't work out the way I need it to.

Maybe you should just work on not getting yourself into that situation. I know it's hard, but worth it.

 

[imt]

Build a schedule where you will have more hours to complete work in a day and adapt to it, rather than deprive yourself of sleep until you crash (which is horrible).

 

[redtogo72]

I have problems sleeping too. I wouldn't mind so much if I could at least be productive late at night.

 

[Some Russian Guy]

I know that feeling, I'm a total night owl. I went to bed at 6am last night.

me - at 7:30 am
but i'm not proud of it
It seems that i'm unable to get a full night sleep if I go to bed before 3 am.
If i'm tired or feel depressed and i go lie down before 12 am i usually wake up in 2 hours.

 

[Symon]

I used to have a sleep problem and it wasn't until i was on sleeping tablets that I understood what was happening.
The Gp gave me the tablets, but I wouldn't take them until 4 in the morning. Sreveral weeks of this and it dawned on me that i really need to GO to bed earlier and not STAY up.
I got myself so depressed that I thought that if I stop up then tomorrow will take longer to come, that way I have longer to wait for another crap day to start as time seems to pass ore slowly when you are awake than asleep.
Over a few weeks I managed to get myself to bed earlier and earlier and once my body had got used to it I slept fine without the tablets, it just needed the frame of mind to realise that tomorrow is going to happen one way or another.

Paul