Comments | sarahravia: you mean some people have a scheduled time for sleeping?

sarahravia

you mean some people have a scheduled time for sleeping?

May 10, 2008 04:10

I tried to go to bed early last night in anticipation for working in the lab today @9am. And now I'm wide awake at 4am. What happened? When I got home from work yesterday morning I went to bed at 9 or 10am. Then up for an appointment at 2:30pm. And then back to bed at midnight or so. I guess my body is trying to sleep in 4 and 5 hour shifts ( Read more... )

Comments 4

hep May 10 2008, 17:28:04 UTC

have you ever thought about doing the uberman cyclic sleep schedule? (http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2002/4/15/103358/720) I did this in college (a kid, working fullltime nights at a photo lab, carrying a double load fulltime days.) and it works pretty well. I had a lot more clarity time (hours during the day where you are in peak mental condition reaching that feeling where everything around you is extra clear) then I do on a normal 8hr a night sleep schedule.

sarahravia May 11 2008, 08:49:23 UTC

cool article. Unfortunately, sleep deprivation can send me into a manic episode. I worry that beginning the process would give me "the crazy." I take Lamictal as my mood-stabilizer. Its job, really, is to lengthen the time between manic and depressive episodes. Since I only have two or three manic episodes per year, its not a major issue- now the depression comes significantly more often..hence the Effexor. But we all know about depression..because we are so pale and tragic!
That's cool that it worked for you. I don't know how you stayed sane!

divia May 10 2008, 19:33:30 UTC

I think your naps should be shorter. Maybe 30 mins to an hour, at most. Your long naps are keeping you from feeling tired by night time and by then your body thinks you're just taking another extended nap.

Try a 30 min nap or even a 45 min nap and see what happens.

sarahravia May 11 2008, 09:06:27 UTC

My problem is that I keep waking up after 4 hours of sleep.

I think I should keep a sleep diary.

Sleep by 10am fri
awake 2:30pm fri
asleep by midnight.
up at 4am sat.
Asleep at 9pm sat
Awake at 1:30am sun.

Yup. sleeping 4 hours twice a day and working 10 hour shifts in between. Luckily, I dropped to 3 days a week for work. And I just pick up a 4th day as needed. I should stay up for a bit now and go to sleep around 6am. That way I get plenty of time to sleep before I go to work at 9:30pm sunday.
If I could just STAY asleep...