Nocturnal lifestyle not propitious to my schoolin'. My lifestyle is runing my life.

<p>So I have always gone to sleep late.2 or 3 in the a.m. (and sometimes 4). Although these times are kind of ridiculous with 8:30 classes, with enough will power I would wake up and then nap later in the day. Sometimes I would just sleep until the afternoon since I feel half-dead without 9 hours of sleep. Anyhow since Friday night I have been going to sleep at 7 a.m. and waking up no earlier that 3:30 p.m. I don't do any school work although it is piling up, so I regret this schedule even more. How the heck do I get back into robot-human (JK) mode...ya know early to bed early to rise... I think I am going to quick fix it tonight with nyquil, but I know it won't work for a lengthier time. What to do, what to do?</p>

<p>Drink a lot of coffee in the morning : )</p>

<p>I go to bed at 3 a.m due to work and have a 9:30 class in the morning. Coffee always helps me function during the rest of the day.</p>

<p>If you want to get your sleep schedule back in order you can start sleeping a few hours earlier each day. Lets say you go to bed at 7:30am. Why not shoot for 4am the next day? Then once you have that down, try shooting for 2am?</p>

<p>Wake up to some cardiovascular exercise a couple of days a week. Gradually, build up to cardio five or six days a week - add some weight training on alternating days. Change your eating habits to incorporate more leafy greens, lean meats, and NO caffeine drinks.</p>

<p>If you're still reading this, I also recommend cutting out any nicotine/alcohol. Cutting out drugs goes without saying.</p>

<p>Welcome to my world. I've had this "problem" my whole life, and I'm an adult (and a parent). </p>

<p>I think it might have a genetic component because my adult son has the exact same problem. It's not really accurate to call us night owls because I can go to sleep earlier if I want to, but I've acquired this habit to stay up late. I also prefer it because I like being up when everyone else is asleep. We have both chosen a lifestyle where we can sleep in the morning and work during whatever hours we're awake. This might be something to consider. If you can't change your sleeping habits, you should look for classes (and a career) that starts later in the day. </p>

<p>However, it IS healthier to go to bed by midnight, at the same time every night, and to wake up at the same time every morning. (I can count the times in my life I've accomplished this on my 10 fingers.) If you can manage this, you'll have so much energy and will be so productive, and you'll be one of those annoying people who are always in a good mood.</p>

<p>If you figure out a way to do this, please let me know. </p>

<p>By the way, yes, it is possible to get by on coffee and 5 hours of sleep every night when you're young but it definitely takes its toll on your body. You might not care now about looking 20 years older, not to mention all kinds of health problems, but you will.</p>

<p>Going to bed at 2-4am is not a "nocturnal lifestyle", it's a college lifestyle. I never go to bed before 12am, and if I do that's early for me. If you can't get up for 8 or 9am classes, schedule your classes later... not a big deal. I start classes on MWF at 12:40, so if I went to bed at 4am that'd be atleast a full 8 hours of sleep.</p>

<p>When I wanted to get back to the early-bird schedule I pulled an all-nighter the night before; that exhausted me enough to push me to go to sleep pretty early after classes ended (7 PM one-time actually but you can stick it out stilll 9 PM or whatever). Perhaps too simple to work but worth a try.</p>

<p>I find that if I set an alarm, I have it set it at least 15 feet away from me. Any closer and I'll hit the off button. I usually have no recollection of hitting the off button after I wake up 2 hours later.</p>

<p>Best way to fix this cycle immediately is to not sleep- that's what I did. My sleep schedule for finals was horrible, and I just pulled an all-nighter and slept at like 11 PM the next day- it really worked, and I was back to a normal sleep schedule in one day</p>

<p>I was you about 2 months ago. The thing that really helped me was the semester change, this semester's classes are extremely easy, with very little homework, and I'm finding that without any homework to put off, Computer/TV/Reading gets boring after a few hours and I have nothing left to do but sleep.</p>

<p>It wasn't entirely that the homework itself was keeping me up to wee hours, I could've easily gotten it all done by 10-11 (but who does that?!?), it was the nagging feeling in the back of my mind that told me I had a ton of homework caused me to put it off, and thus I would start the work later and later in the night. Eventually, 3 AM became the norm, and I was crashing pretty badly. So my advice is that, if your current classes are piling the homework on, try, if possible, to set up next semester's classes and make them far less demanding, it really helped me. </p>

<p>Failing that, the exercise advice was very good. 1-2 solid hours of running and weightlifting will make sleep a very attractive option come 10-11 PM.</p>

<p>I also tend to stay up late, but I get up early too. It's not unusual for me to go to bed between 12 - 1 am, and get up at 6:30 am. I found that when I stopped drinking soda I slept better at night and felt better throughout the day. Do you drink a lot of soda?</p>

<p>I also tend to stay up late ( high school student).</p>

<p>I may go to sleep around ( 1-3am), wake up around 6:30am. I would really like to start going to bed on school nights around this time ( time I posted comment).</p>

<p>I stay up late, but I usually wake up before noon or around noon.</p>

<p>If I have something important to tend to, I don't sleep. :)</p>

<p>I would suggest pulling an all-nighter and then going to sleep at the time you want (you'll be so tired by the evening, you'll be able to fall asleep whenever you want to) and then waking up at the time you want. You might suffer for a day but you'll be able to reset your sleeping schedule.</p>

<p>I had the same problem. I'm a night owl.</p>

<p>The key is to keep busy during the day. Don't take long naps (longer than an hour and a half) in the middle of the day; complete all of your school work (writing papers, homework, etc.) during daylight hours -- so between 8 am and 10 pm. If you have to leave your dorm room in an effort to do this and go to a computer lab, do so. Set yourself a limit of 12 am -- actually you may want to start with a later limit (like 2 am) and work your way up.</p>

<p>It's a long struggle. I'm in graduate school and I am just beginning to actually get in bed by 12 midnight most nights, and that's because I commute to school and have 10 am classes and I'm usually up in class or doing other work from 9:30 to 7-9 pm, and I am exhausted by 12 am.</p>

<p>(I'm up until 2 today, but it's spring break.)</p>

<p>I'm a grad student and try every day to get myself to go to bed by 2 AM, so I can force myself to wake up at 9 AM and be at work by 10.</p>

<p>I think I've succeeded about eight times in a year and a half.</p>

<p>(Failed today.)</p>

<p>That's not "nocturnal" that's just called life. There are many days when I go to bed at 2-3 and have to wake up at 6:30 or so to finish my reading for a class. Just drink copius amounts of caffeine and deal with it.</p>