Inverted sleep schedule — how to re-adjust?
Question:
Actually, moving the sleep/wake cycle "backward" can be done, and with the right strategy it isn’t hell. Light therapy works for me – for the first few days of getting up earlier than usual, I feel terrible but if I have light treatment in the morning I adjust to it within 2 – 3 days and afterwards I’m fine. The website for you is at http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/1123/dsps.html Watch me post this only once! I’m getting good at this. Su-Laine s…@po-box.mcgill.ca
Response:
This isn’t helpful advice, but an amusing story relating to this subject: Once I got a spider bite, or some sort of bite, under my arm, and I had a reaction and it started to abscess, so I went to the doctor & got some shots, including a shot of Benadryl. When I got home about 3:00 in the afternoon I was so worn out & groggy that I decided to take a nap. I was planning to go to Disneyland the following day with some friends, and one of them was going to call me that evening to give me the arrangements. I remember the phone ringing, and hearing my friend, but I decided to let my answering machine record his directions while I slept just a little more… So finally I wake up, listen to the message, and my friend said that we were all meeting at his house at 7:00 in the morning and we would carpool down to Disneyland from there. I looked at the clock: it was 7:15 — I overslept & missed them. Oh well, I decided, I deserve a good time; I’ll just drive down to Disneyland by myself, & maybe I’ll run into my friends there. So I get in my car & head down the freeway to Disneyland (this is from the Valley). I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was still pretty groggy from the shots. In fact, I had only three complete thoughts as I drove down the freeway: – They were playing a medley of Led Zeppelin songs on the radio, which struck me as kind of "heavy fare" for morning radio… – About 20 minutes later I noticed the traffic was surprisingly light; in fact, most of the cars seemed to be heading north. I had always thought it would be the other way round… – The third thought that came to me, just before the exit to Disneyland, was: shouldn’t it be getting lighter out, instead of darker? …and for a split second, I experienced complete, utter and total confusion. I actually thought the sun was going the wrong way. I didn’t know what time it was, what planet I was on, or even who I was. I actually let go of the steering wheel, and looked at the people in the cars around me to see what I was supposed to be doing. An instant later, of course, I realized what had happened: I had slept for 4 hours instead of 16, and during the whole drive down to Disneyland I had assumed it was Saturday morning, not Friday night. I turned around, drove back home, & got a good night’s sleep — but not before I called my friend to tell him what had happened, & then *very carefully* set my alarm clock for 6:00 am…. In article <4skl6o$…@castor.usc.edu>, able…@castor.usc.edu says… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->erob…@earthlink.net (e robson) writes: > I have the exact same problem…though with me I usually sleep around 3am and >get up around 1pm. I have tried to switch, but to no avail. The minute I am off > work or on vacation, it goes back. I think for some people, it is just their na >tural sleep schedule. However, if you want you slowly readjust your sleep sched >ule hour by hour until you are back to normal. No matter how much you >want to sleep at off hours, you cant. Stay on it for a while and it shoudl chan >ge. BUt, I wish desperately there were more real jobs for those like us…it >would make it much easier…the night is such an awesome time. >Deanna >>During my final semester of grad school my schedule >>slowly became inverted, as I found it much easier to >>work at night. By the end of it all, my natural cycle >>had settled into going to sleep at 8 AM and waking >>up around 3 or 4 PM; taking a nap around midnight… >>Now that it’s all over, it’s no longer a useful schedule, >>but I’m having a great deal of trouble getting back >>onto a "normal" sleep schedule. In fact, the time that >>I get tired seems to be slowly moving forward again. >>Any suggestions? >>e >>___________ >>The boat has to look like a boat; >> the sail doesn’t have to look like a boat. >> -David Mamet >>___________
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Deanna Ableser wrote: > erob…@earthlink.net (e robson) writes: > >During my final semester of grad school my schedule > >slowly became inverted, as I found it much easier to > >work at night. By the end of it all, my natural cycle > >had settled into going to sleep at 8 AM and waking > >up around 3 or 4 PM; taking a nap around midnight… > >Now that it’s all over, it’s no longer a useful schedule, > >but I’m having a great deal of trouble getting back > >onto a "normal" sleep schedule. In fact, the time that > >I get tired seems to be slowly moving forward again. > >Any suggestions? > >e > I have the exact same problem…though with me I usually sleep around 3am and get >up around 1pm. I have tried to switch, but to no avail. The minute I am off work or >on vacation, it goes back. I think for some people, it is just their natural sleep >schedule. However, if you want you slowly readjust your sleep schedule hour by hour >until you are back to normal. No matter how much you >want to sleep at off hours, you cant. Stay on it for a while and it shoudl change. >BUt, I wish desperately there were more real jobs for those like us…it >would make it much easier…the night is such an awesome time. > Deanna
I would add that my neurologist says you can ONLY go forward, never backward (at least if you have problems adapting your sleep schedule). He is recommending to me that I try to advance my bedtime 1.5 hours later each night until I’m at the time I want to go to bed, which should be AT LEAST 8 hours before I want to get up. I’m also having a very hard time doing this at present, so I’m interested in anyone else’s experience. BTW, my diagnosis du jour is: "Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome" (DSPS). GB — __ / / ___ The "GeeBee" | ________________ award-winning racing plane () from the 1930’s & 1940’s. | () |==) gee…@ix.netcom.com | () ____/==========/___/ () // / // / // / / / _________/
