Sorting out my sleep pattern

[gooblax]

I've set myself a challenge of trying to improve my sleeping pattern this year. So far I haven't made any progress

Now, by no means do I have the worst sleep schedule. I don't think it's too unreasonable actually. But it just needs to be a bit longer.

Currently:

• I get an average of 6.5 hours a day (including sleeping in on weekends).
• I wake up ~5:30 on weekdays (in summer there's plenty of daylight by this time).
• I'm tired every morning, which gets gradually worse up til Friday.
• Usually I get a bit dizzy-tired in the evenings.
• Sometimes get 'surprise blinks' (where I blink, wonder "what happened to the lights?! Oh... I blinked.")
• I don't take naps unless things really go pear-shaped.
• I typically have no trouble falling asleep, and little trouble sleeping through the night.
• I have trouble deciding to go to bed when there's stuff I want to do / stuff I'm procrastinating on / I'm feeling unhappy.

Goals:

• Wake up 5:00-5:30 including weekends. (I may have to change this when I go overseas for 3 months... not sure what the office schedule will be like there, plus it won't be as light in the mornings.)
• Stop feeling so tired.
• Get more stuff done.

Just need to figure out how to fix that bold dot point.

 

[GaryQ]

Currently:

• I get an average of 6.5 hours a day (including sleeping in on weekends).
• I wake up ~5:30 on weekdays (in summer there's plenty of daylight by this time).
• I'm tired every morning, which gets gradually worse up til Friday.
• Usually I get a bit dizzy-tired in the evenings.
• Sometimes get 'surprise blinks' (where I blink, wonder "what happened to the lights?! Oh... I blinked.")
• I don't take naps unless things really go pear-shaped.
• I typically have no trouble falling asleep, and little trouble sleeping through the night.
• I have trouble deciding to go to bed when there's stuff I want to do / stuff I'm procrastinating on / I'm feeling unhappy.

Goals:

• Wake up 5:00-5:30 including weekends. (I may have to change this when I go overseas for 3 months... not sure what the office schedule will be like there, plus it won't be as light in the mornings.)
• Stop feeling so tired.
• Get more stuff done.

Just need to figure out how to fix that bold dot point.

You seem to have things down pretty well...

There are only so many hours in a day Gooblax! I think from your previous posts that you have a pretty active and busy life so maybe getting more stuff done in a day might be a bit unrealistic although possible.

You state an average of 6.5 hrs/day including sleeping in on weekends. Is it possible you're not getting enough sleep hours during the week if you wake up tired? They state that the average recommended daily sleep for an adult is 7 to 8 hours. If you're waking up tired you might need more sleep during the week. Especially if you are more tired as the week advances. More sleep equals better efficiency. You might find you actually need less hours to accomplish the same tasks if you are not as tired. sufficiently charged batteries provide better output.

And for Heaven's sake give yourself a break. Keep sleeping in on weekends they are made for R & R the first one being rest. Only insomniacs should be awake at 5:30 on a weekend.

The bold point is probably going to be the hardest challenge. Especially when you have to be awake by 5:30 during the week. But I think you can manage to pull it off if you set a "get ready for bed earlier" schedule and give yourself time to wind down before bedtime. You'll have more sleep, less active hours that will probably be more productive and maybe even have the energy to get a bit more done in a day. Alarms are not only useful for waking up in the morning. They are great for reminding us of things like maybe I should get ready to call it a day.

Good luck and keep us updated as usual

(says the guy with bad sleeping habits/patterns and unproductive days)
Gary

 

[gooblax]

Thanks Gary.

I don't really have that much going on at the moment other than work, and the 'extracurricular work thing' (that I haven't been doing anything for :facepalm.
It's just all the procrastination time that I need to be using more productively, and also not procrastinating with going to bed. I definitely need to sort out my during-the-week sleep hours but I just can't seem to kick the procrastination habit.

My "get ready for bed" time is meant to be 9pm. It's already 9:41 and I'm up to "listen to a couple of songs on repeat until I can convince myself to go have a shower" time, having achieved nothing more than making dinner, doing dishes, and taking out the bin for garbage collection (although notably, the dishes is something that ordinarily doesn't get done on the same night as cooking... at least with the current state of 'ordinary').
I got 7.5 hours last night which was a win. Tonight's looking more like 7, assuming I don't grab anything electronic when I do get to bed.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I have a similar problem.

My current system is to set a "time for bed" alarm on my iPhone about an hour ahead of when I want to be asleep. With the morning wake/night sleep alarms on recent iPhones, that's not bad because it gives a distinctive alarm (lullaby) for the night setting which catches my attention because it's not like any other auditory signal coming from my phone.

Just go to the Alarms app >> Bedtime to set.

But I won't pretend it's perfect because like any alarm I can ignore it if I want to.

I think the real issue is often that there's not enough "ME" time and so we try to extend it as long as possible and then pay for it the next day.

 

[GaryQ]

Also to be noted there's nothing wrong with some downtime after a hard day's work, cooking and cleaning up.

Just a thought...
Maybe once you've resolved getting 7 to 8 hours sleep during the week on a regular basis you might have more energy and in turn have less of a desire to procrastinate in the evening.

At least you have the desire to work at it. that's very commendable! "One little step forward at a time is progress"

Gary
"Weird how it's so much easier to give than to take advice"

 

[gooblax]

I used to have an auto-shutdown set on my computer that helped with starting my get-to-bed routine, although I'm not sure if I can make it so that it only happens on certain days each week without installing third party software. It was infuriating to start with, but I eventually got used to it. I turned it off one time when my folks were visiting and never turned it back on.

I did pretty well last week with a 7.25hr/night average.

This week has been about 30mins less on average, and that's before tonight's weekly team phonecall (Thurs nights are usually 5hr ones thanks to the phone meeting). I'm already exhausted, and reckon I easily could've fallen asleep at 7:30pm tonight.

I keep promising myself a 'sick day' off work during the week when I'm feeling this tired and unproductive, but I can never bring myself to tell the boss. Then I also think of all the things I need to sort out if I'm having a day off (e.g. getting an ID card from a place that's only open during normal working hours so I can't get there if I'm at work).

 

[GaryQ]

Discipline requires too much discipline for me :facepalm:

Keeping track of how many hours sleep you get is a good idea, as long as you exclude weekends.

Day off excuse when you're really tired:
Just tell the boss you have a bad case of Anal Glaucoma..."Can't see my a** coming in to work today!"

 

[gooblax]

Keeping track of how many hours sleep you get is a good idea, as long as you exclude weekends.

I've got a fitness/sleep tracker now so that reduces guesswork. Previously I was doing lazy estimates but not keeping a proper track of it over time. Minimal effort

Ended up at work today despite the thought of not going. I'm glad I went today because there was a presentation to watch that I'd forgotten about. I also got an 'early mark' but if I factor in an approximate queue length then there's really not enough time to get to the government ID place, via public transport, before it closes. So that's still a no-go.

Day off excuse when you're really tired:
Just tell the boss you have a bad case of Anal Glaucoma..."Can't see my a** coming in to work today!"

:lol:

 

[GaryQ]

I've got a fitness/sleep tracker now so that reduces guesswork.

Cool!
but don't break it! Not sure I'd have a tool for that

 

[GaryQ]

Hey Gooblax,

Have you made any progress lately on getting more sleep?

 

[gooblax]

Have you made any progress lately on getting more sleep?

Nah unfortunately not this week. I haven't really been trying to be honest, and the roadworks have been closer/louder than normal which made it a bit more difficult to get to sleep.

I was going to take a mid-week morning sleep-in today but didn't want to tell my partner about it (online, we talk every morning before I go to work and when I get home from work) so had to get up at normal time anyway. Not sure what I thought I was going to achieve there, because the anxiety of telling my boss I'll be late or not going (even though I know he'll have no problem with it) is at least as unhelpful for going back to sleep as two cups of coffee.
:coffee2::coffee2:

 

[gooblax]

This has been my worst week for sleep in a long while. Not sure what the actual hours have been because my fitness tracker isn't syncing at the moment, but average is probably <6. Super tired, it's 1am, need to have a shower, and be up at 5:30. There's more loud roadworks for added fun.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I've struggled with insomnia (or more accurately sleeping at night) most of my life.

I seem to naturally migrate to being awake at night and wanting to sleep during the day.

I wish I could say I have a perfect solution, but I don't. However, one thing I have learned is that trying to determine when I go to sleep at night is pretty much hopeless. As a result, what I have learned to do is focus on what time I get up, including weekends. By setting and enforcing an alarm (with pre-alarm to get me out of a sound sleep and a post-alarm if I don't get out of bed immediately), regardless of what time I fall asleep, sooner or later I get tired enough to fall asleep at a reasonable time.

You might give that a try. If nothing else, it takes some of the frustration out of uninentionally staying awake too late.

 

[Retired]

I seem to naturally migrate to being awake at night and wanting to sleep during the day.

Does that have anything to do with Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder or Sleep Inversion?

 

[David Baxter PhD]

My partially tongue-in-cheek explanation is that I was born in England and never got away from that time zone. Maybe there is some accuracy in that.

But I also spent time growing up in British Columbia, back in England for a while, and Ontario-Quebec, so maybe my brain just got fed up and invented its own time zone.

Whatever the reason, with no external restraints on my time, I will still migrate to nights, and that has always been true. When I was studying for my Ph.D. Comprehensive Exams, and later when writing my thesis, I quickly migrated to a schedule where I worked until about 3 AM and then slept until about noon, and I will still do that at times, e.g., when I'm ill.

 

[gooblax]

By setting and enforcing an alarm (with pre-alarm to get me out of a sound sleep and a post-alarm if I don't get out of bed immediately), regardless of what time I fall asleep, sooner or later I get tired enough to fall asleep at a reasonable time.
You might give that a try. If nothing else, it takes some of the frustration out of uninentionally staying awake too late.

I'm not sure that would really work for me. Weekends are the only days I don't do that at the moment, but my staying up at night isn't due to lack of tiredness at earlier hours of the night. If anything it's self-perpetuating - I feel tired so I just give into the procrastination that delays going to bed. But I guess it's a moot point since my schedule will be changing over the next couple of weeks.

 

[gooblax]

Reviving this thread because I'm having ongoing sleep problems again.
I have an auto shutdown on my computer (9:30pm), and find myself getting to bed at 9:50ish by the time I've had a shower.
On weekdays first alarm at 5am.

For a few months now I've been waking up most nights around 2am-4am with anxiety and it usually takes about an hour to get back to sleep (if at all).

The last few weeks I've been hitting snooze until 6am, packing breakfast and eating it at work. One morning I even missed my normal bus - haven't done that in years.
Then I stay in bed for ages on the weekend trying to make up for it (I still have the waking anxiety on weekends).

Just can't get my ass in gear and am feeling quite tired a lot of the time. Although not as bad as when I started the thread (not as many blink-confusion events).

I think it will help a bit once I can find a way to exercise more frequently. I'm still a bit hesitant to try the 10km cycle to work but have done a 7km without specific issues. Not sure if I should get a bike fit done before attempting it or just give it a go (I'd leave the bike at work for a few days then ride home later in the same week).

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Some of these may help:

How to Sleep Better

Gettng the Sleep You Need: Tips for a Better Night's Rest

Progressive Muscle Relaxation for Stress and Insomnia

Help With Sleep Issues: Downloadable Brochures

 

[gooblax]

Thanks. These kinds of issues are annoying because there are so many factors. If I'm going to take this seriously I'll need to do up a spreadsheet, decide which ones to start tackling and track progress. :/

 

[Daniel E.]

When I had to work night shifts (trying to sleep during the day with anxiety and barking dogs), melatonin (up to 10 mg) helped me for a while.

If all else fails (exercise, progressive muscle relaxation, etc), there are, of course, sedating meds that can help with sleep such as trazodone.

Remeron (mirtazapine) is the sleeping beauty pill among antidepressants But I did not think of it at the time, and it can easily be too much of a good thing regarding sleep.