Being over tired

[Jazelle]

Has anyone experienced this scenario??
It's about 9:30 and your getting sleepy knowing you should start getting ready for bed and you decide (CHOOSE) to call a friend, visit a neighbor, or start a project. Pretty soon you notice....yuk...it's 11;00 -12;00 p.m. and now your overtired and CAN'T FALL ASLEEP!!!

I used to have a relative call me at 9:00 every night when I first started the program to keep me accountable for preparing for sleep. I even make a rule for myself...NO PHONE CALLS (incoming or outgoing) after 9:00 p.m.,(add to that tv and computer) and start my preparation for bed such as liesure bath, relaxation tape, and a LIGHT snack. No use for me to journal past 9 p.m. either as my brain is foggy.
Any suggestions to STICK TO a time schedule and
stop this terrible HABIT?? It's like my MIND won't shut off if I don't prepare for bed at the first notice of "wearing down" coming on!!

[Guest]

I hope I'm understanding your question. Here's my suggestion. What about when you're in the kitchen in the evening some time. It could be when you're cooking or even getting a drink... set the timer to go off at 9 (or whatever time you want). Then that's a concrete signal to yourself that it's time to wind down.

I am very good at staying up past that first feeling tired moment and hitting my second wind. It makes mornings really difficult.

I would really like to figure out how to still spend time with my husband and kids and still get to sleep by 10. Kids are all in bed by about 9. DH can fall asleep in front of the TV like it's a sleeping pill, lots of times it's minutes after the oldest gets to bed. Of course the TV's got the opposite effect on me. I could really use a bath and a cup of tea to fall asleep. He won't be sharing a bath with me every eve though. lol We do have a big tub but he won't get in it except on blue moons. He does like and need to go to sleep early but then I've stayed awake past my first nod and now I'm up and wired and still watching TV (though still tired). Anyone have any helpful suggestions for me too? I would love to feel rested in the am. Tomorrow won't be that way as it's nearly 12:30 am now!

[Guest]

After spending so many sleepless nights for years and likely some of it was due to staying on the computer or wanting to watch something on tv I have been sleeping and it's now something that I just will not alter for any reason. I have a routine and know if I want to sleep I must follow it every night as close as possible.

It's a matter of knowing what works and just sticking to the pattern, saying no to yourself if you are even thinking about starting anything after a certain time. I am usually in bed by 10pm at the latest and asleep before 11. If I don't follow my schedule I will suffer the affects and don't want to so that's what has worked for me. We can do anything if we really, truly set our minds to doing it.

I also take a combo pill of calcium, magnesium and zinc with 6 ounces of orange juice...1 pill with lunch and 2 more between 8 -9pm with the juice then. This works very well for all who use it.

Sweet dreams,

[Guest]

First let me just say that it's midsummer and my hubby and I both are blessed enough to be home and I don't work until nearly 11 tomorrow. So my writing this late at night is not such a huge ordeal. During the school year it would be. lol

I do have a wonderful routine though that I do on nights I need to sleep. I too take a calcium and magnesium combo along with a bit of valarian. I get nice and relaxed and fall peacefully off to sleep. I know now that when I get a good nights sleep and I eat right and exercise I feel so much better. I also am upping my Vit. D levels as they were rock bottom. Probably leading to my always being sick. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE... GET YOUR VIT. D LEVELS CHECKED BEFORE TAKING EXTRA VIT. D. You can overdo the Vit. D. There is a specific test you can take. Anyway, I am feeling much better these days and sleeping peacefully when I keep to my routine.

[Guest]

I have had this problem for a decade and a half now. This was originally a coping mechanism for me when i was in highschool. It was the only time i actually felt safe. I would stay up until 2 or 3 am and then have to wake up for 7 am to go to school and it kinda kept me in a brainfog for 15 years. It was important for me then but not so much now but i still do it.

Even with the program i was still struggling with it. I would try to force myself to go to sleep and that didn't work, I would resist it like the plague and some of my efforts actually backfired. What I realized is that I was shoulding on myself. I kept telling myself I should be getting to sleep earlier or else i won't be able to handle the next day. A double wammy there. One thing is that I was expecting to break the habit right then and there which is really not reasonable because habits are things we have done for awhile and it is more likely to stick to a habit until its changed. Secondly, I was saying i wouldn't be able to handle the outcome of the next day if i got to sleep late and that was a lie and it just placed more pressure on me and guilt when i didn't follow through. I had at 1 time created a sleep schedual and stuck too it for a week or 2 while i was at a hospital and had little to no distractions to use. The only problem I had however is that I still resisted it and once i left the hospital it just came right back and thats because I did not actually handle the thoughts that caused me to stay up really late in the first place. Over the last few weeks i've actually found something that has worked for me to the point where i actually want to go to sleep earlier and when i'm tired.

What i did was I had accepted that this was a habit, I accepted that it will take time to change, I also accepted that there will be many nights where i fall back into that habit but it was alright because i can still handle the next day, I might just feel uncomfortable but I've done it before and i can do it again. I must say, it was an amazing thing for me to do this. I feel more comfortable around sleep and instead of looking at the consequences of going to sleep late, my mind is automatically focusing on the benefits of getting to sleep early or when i'm tired. This makes me more calm overall, I am happier and more excited with life, I'm more hopeful and positive in general, my digestive system works better and I actually feel really satisified when i do follow through but still calm when i don't make progress.

It may sound strange and you may think that if you stop shoulding on yourself about this then your motivation will dissapear. Well your body is not going to stop wanting to get to sleep when it is tired. Your desire to feel better is not going to vanish either.

I actually found a book called "what to say when you talk to yourself" and it says to take all our negative thoughts surrounding a habit we want to change and to switch those to a positive and use those as affirmations and read them 3-4X a day for a few weeks. There is a certain set of guidelines that these positive affirmations have to fit in, in order for it to work. Check the book out and get back to us.


Mike

[Guest]

Hi,

In a innocent way you are Sabotaging your own efforts at getting down and sticking to a regular sleep time ritual or pattern.I've done it many times as well so don't take on yourself as blame or negative.Something they may help is to be aware and write it down for the next day list.My own example is a friend calling at 9:30 pm at night to talk about religion and things he was upset about !!!!That was my prep/relax time and I realized that and told that person not to call at that late hour any more.In the end that they stopped calling all together,implement a cut off time for any project at all works as well.