fix my sleeping schedule

It’s been a couple of months since I’ve started this and there have been mixed results.

I’ve reached a point where I’m good at waking up when I need to. The vibrating alarm on my mobile phone works wonders when I have to use it, which isn’t that often because I tend to wake up naturally in the morning now. The downside to this is that I’ve completely lost my ability to sleep in, even when I have have the time, desire and sometimes even need for extra sleep. Bummer.

My biggest problem though, is actually going to bed. I’m really terrible about purring things aside and settling down, even if what I’m doing is utterly banal. This tends to lead to headaches the next day from lack of sleep, not to mention general lack of function.

So that’s what I’ll be working on for the next few months.

The first week of my actually having to get up in the morning has passed and I’m doing pretty well. I’m still not perfect on the whole midnight/eight schedule and I obviously managed to pick up some sleep debt along the way because I came back from class of Friday and crashed for four hours but overall I’m happy.

I even woke up before my (reliable) alarm clock went off a couple of times!

...that snooze buttons were invented by the devil.

Lets see… I have a plug in alarm clock that I can set at the foot of my bed, one that runs on batteries that I can put on my desk and I’m pretty sure my cell has an alarm function. Maybe then….

I had a lovely little plan where I’d gradually shift my bedtime and rising time earlier, until my waking and sleeping hours resembled that of a human being (instead of an alien with a 27 hour circadian rhythm). I was exceedingly diligent for a fortnight and a bit.

Then I got sick and slept 18 hours a day for three days and then it was the holidays and… well, the plan slipped away.

So I’m going cold turkey.

Midnight bedtime, eight o’clock wakeup. If I can manage that for a month I’ll shift it to ten and six (hahaha).

I’m also trying to change my “sleep hygiene”. No more snuggling up and reading in bed (even if it is the warmest and most comfortable place in the house); likewise with surfing the net. I’m also working on decluttering my bedroom to make it more “restful” and am looking for low level lighting that I can use later at night instead of the (bright and disruptive) overhead.

I have terrible sleeping habits; my hours are completely erratic. Starting in the second week of January I’m going to be forced onto a fixed schedule so I need to get this sorted post haste.

I’m going try to set a fixed wakeup time and gradually pull it back over the next few weeks. With luck my body will adapt enough that my bedtime will naturally shift back as well (although i don’t hit my stride until around 1am so i’m not actually hopeful).

And most importantly, no napping!!!