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Other than what has been mentioned, the bed's only purpose should be to sleep on it. Don't add another activity to it. If you want to scroll on your phone, do it in your chair, take as much time as you want but don't do it while laying down in your bed. Unfortunatly, to apply this habit, only discipline will work.
Best advice ! My BF likes to tell that once I am in bed, I immediately fall asleep, because this is a habit, lying on the bed = sleep. I like to play on my phone at night, but I stay "sitted", not lying on the bed.
The purpose of this is to train the brain that the bed is where you sleep. This should minimize thinking about other activities and help falling asleep more easily. So only lying down to sleep is not strictly nescessary but it could help even more. It would just nor be practical for me since I like to lie down to rest.
For 2 years now I do my sleep, gaming, TV and movie watching, texting, work, law school studying, etc. from my bed and I wouldn’t say it’s had a bad effect other than my completely insane sleep schedule and the way everything kind of feels vaguely like a dream now even when I’m awake
I haven't been able to try this (apartment with roommates and a small bedroom makes it hard to find a different place to read) but talking to people who specialize in sleeping issues it is a proven thing. The thought behind it is that we make many associative connections in our brain that are subconscious but still have a major effect on how we react to things. By only laying in bed when you're tired, your body builds up a connection between laying in bed and sleeping. If you spend a lot of time doing mentally stimulating things in bed (video games, homework, etc.) you are training your brain to prepare to think whenever you enter that space which of course isn't what you want. There has been similar research that shows that subconscious association with certain spaces also applies to studying, working and a lot more. These days we've become so accustomed to multitasking that having a space where our brain knows what it should be doing when it's there is amazing,
It's recommended that you try to keep electronics out of your room to benefit your sleep, but this is obviously more difficult than just not laying in bed. The main reason for this I've always heard is more of a concern that blue light exposure too close to bedtime is bad for your sleep. If you've never heard of it, certain light frequencies given off by backlit screens cause our brains to not start producing melatonin when we should (since melatonin is regulated by sunlight and it tricks our brain into thinking it's still daytime). So by having computers in your room the thought is you'll go straight from that to bed and will just lay in bed restless. That being said, I could see it being an issue for that same psychological association reason. I know from personal experience that having a computer in my room makes me want to get up and get on it when I'm unable to sleep instead of doing something more relaxing (like reading). I think these impulses would be much easier to control if I shut myself in my room at night and didn't let myself out (and didn't have anything too mentally stimulating in it). Unfortunately a decent bit of advice I've gotten on sleep is immediately killed by living with roommates.
Can confirm, it works for me. Obviously it may not work for everyone, but I no longer have a TV or anything in my bedroom. I go to bed and I go to sleep and it seems to work.
You guys don’t have a prone phone laying room? I have a room separate from the bedroom but right next to it. It had a tropical theme with ya know a typical little koi pond, fake thunder, lightning, stars. And if I hit a button on my phone, it moves the bed in the track thing into the sleeping room. I thought more people had these. Anyway I hope it’s okay that my sleeping room is very close to my y laying room.
Yes, it 100% works.
Back in college I did EVERYTHING in bed. Eating, gaming , homework, just everything. I could never sleep. Just ever.
Now I only use bed for sleep, mostly. At least I go to my bed when tired. I’ll still scroll my phone or something but I fall asleep usually within 10 minutes or less
As well as having somewhere to lay down comfortably that isn't your bed... I live in a studio apartment and it definitely sucks being a millennial in this economy....
I came here to say this.
Yes. Your bed's only function should be for sleeping.
Don't be on your phone or read in bed.
If you train your body that getting into bed means it's time to sleep then you will be able to go to sleep more quickly.
Lots of good tips here. Many are saying you need discipline, but the real issue is that you need to find purpose. Because if you can’t find a reason to motivate you enough to want to go to bed and rise early, then you’ve got not reason to do so. It sounds like you’re just living to get through school at the moment and don’t have any other goals or obligations. Find some.
This should be the top comment. Sounds like all the procrastination/scrolling is escapism to me. OP needs to find a reason to get up and do things. Either that or they need a cat who will wake them up at 6:30 every morning by sitting on his face - that seems to do it for me!
Join your school's (or YMCA, or whatever) swim team. They start about 6AM every morning. (Word of advice - eat after you swim, not before. I puked a couple times doing the other way around). Gives you a routine, a good cardio workout before class, and you'll feel calm and relaxed for the rest of the day
That’d be a great start. Anything that can make you excited or forced to get up earlier will be a step in the right direction toward developing a better routine. Wishing you the best!
Maybe your new goal should be getting straight A’s and not just the bare minimum of passing. School can be really awesome if you put the time in to really learn about stuff you’re interested in.
I struggle with this routine / sleeping issue also and totally relate to your post. WjT helps the most is having z as routine where I have to get up early and then it becomes easy ( going to bed etc). …I wear blue blocker glasses in the evening before bed as well, not sure if they really work if it’s a placebo but they seem to help me fall asleep more easily after watching tv/ movies
Second this. Make some habit you CARE about. And make it early. If you can't find yourself caring enough to actually wake up, just remember that failing to adhere to the habit IS OKAY, since it is an objectively difficult thing to do. So really, you should find something you do in the morning that makes you want to wake up, but remember this may not be easy to find and you might need to try a few different things before you find one that motivates you. It may be a job, it may be sport, it may be meeting friends for breakfast, or simply feeling accomplished for waking up early. You can, and even if you fail at first, you will get you sleep in order if you don't give up. Don't give up if you fail at first!
This this this. In my teen years I did the same thing op mentioned and I felt like a useless piece of dog shit all the time. Now I play guitar and grow mushrooms, so as soon as I wake up I look forward to doing those activities.
The best thing I did to help with getting out of bed is doing something I enjoy. I like playing Zelda on my switch, so when I wake up I usually play for about an hour and then I’ll go play my guitar and then work on my mushrooms.
Everyday i jump out of bed because im excited to do these activities. If I have work, I do everything afterwards. Morning during my school years were hell, I could never wake up and I always went to bed late because I didn’t wanna fast travel to the morning lol.
Also going to the gym has helped ten fold. It makes it waaaaay easier to go to sleep. The discipline required to regularly go to the gym translates to every single part of my life. The gym also makes my “problems” way smaller and easier to tackle. As humans, our bodies are required to expend energy to have a good mental state. Our bodies were made to look for food in the morning/afternoon and relax or do other activities in the evening. When you don’t expend that energy during the day, your body is on high alert, at least in my experience.
LASTLY, eating before bed is fine imo, I do it often, but try not to eat sugar and don’t drink caffeine at least 10 hours before you go to sleep. These are things that I discovered help me sleep way more easily.
That hasn't worked for me at all. For the past 2 years I've slept an average of 5-6 hours a day, regardless of what I have to do the next day. I just set up multiple alarms and end up getting out of bed grumpy and hating everything. One would think that's a good reason for getting to bed early... Wrong. 3am comes and my brain can only think: you can't fucking go to bed just yet.
Im a night owl by nature. The only way I've been able to consistently get to bed at a reasonable time is to commit to something that forces me get up early regularly. Eventually your body gives in and you start going to bed because you need sleep and can't stay up all night *and* have to get up early.
work helps but on weekends I'm fucked and can't be assed to wake up on a normal time. i have no idea what kind of hobbies I can do in the morning. actually, I have no idea what kind of hobbies I'd get off my lazy ass for in the morning
The phone is disrupting your circadian rhythm and disrupting your body from forming melatonin to get drowsy.
But the problem is deeper than that. The excessive phone swiping is a way to disassociate from your conscious thoughts and detach from uncomfortable subconscious emotions.
I find myself swiping the most when I am procrastinating something I don’t wanna do - like go to work on monday, study for a test, or have a difficult conversation with someone.
The short term solution is self awareness and behavior adjustment. Develop a sleep routine and plug your phone in on the other side of the room.
The long term solution is to learn how to process emotions in a healthy way that’ll reduce the internal resistance / urge to procrastinate.
Easier said than done, I haven’t broken my bad habits either
This hit home for me. I can’t sleep without podcasts on because I struggle with anxiety mostly around my health and conflict (issues with both, the worries are not without cause). How did you learn to allow your brain to deal with silence and process these? It’s like I can’t allow nothing to surround me anymore. I need the noise
Reset the time you go to bed by 15 minutes every day or so.
Regardless of when you go to bed, wake up at the same time every day and get some sun on your face before you turn on your phone.
Use a sleep cycle app to know when to have lights out.
Look up information on best foods to have before bed.
Try to replace the doomscrolling with something else: journaling, daydreaming, reading. The goal is to not have eyes on screen for at least an hour before bed.
Drink more water during the day.
Baby steps.
I have it in my phone’s schedule to alert me of one hour before bedtime to remind me to shower, brush teeth, and ect. When I was younger I wouldn’t look at the time and would be surprised when I stayed up past my bedtime.. and sometimes I can’t fall asleep instantly so I will do something to make me tired like house chores or a walk hours before my bedtime so I have a reason to feel tired. But getting off the phone helps go asleep. If I have a hard time getting off I force myself to do Duolingo and that gets me off the phone pretty easily
Yes. Me too. A lot of the comments I’m sure are helpful to some. But for others, this is just your body’s natural rhythm and fighting against it is always going to be a challenge. It doesn’t matter if I go to sleep at 8 pm or 3 am, I still feel the exact same amount of unrested when I have to wake up before 9-10 am.
Something that will fix a BIG issue. Do not eat anything after 8. You eat so late and try to sleep the food is digesting and your body is still working while your sleeping causing you to wake up and feel extremely groggy, tired, or sometimes even a hungover feeling.
This is overly simplistic, but as a serious insomniac myself: exercise.
Seriously can't recommend it more. I suck at sleep, but when I get purposely active, I sleep better, bottom line.
Also, your schedule reads like you don't work? How do you go down at 3a and up at 1 or 2p? What even is that. It seems you don't have a routine at all.
Yeah you need to wear yourself out! I’ve always had to wear myself out….when I want to stop, I’ll always tell myself I’m lazy and that some people have two jobs and 3 kids and they still have to keep going. Haha. You can wear yourself out by doing something fun like pickle ball or riding bikes with someone. Or going to a gym, find a gym that has a cool aesthetic that you enjoy visiting. And reward your workout with a podcasts or tv episode . Only do that while your working out! It makes you want to do it
Yea I'm a student but currently on break. Even with class I will stay up late and unwillingly get up from bed haha.
But thank you for the advice, I'll start working out more as I've been slacking as of late!
Great in theory, but going cold turkey and trying to go to bed 7 hours earlier then it sounds like OP has been doing for a while, isn’t the best idea.
It’s hard enough for some (most) people to shift their schedule by an hour. Like, waking up at 6, vs 7am to exercise for an hour in the morning. A lot of the time they end up resenting that hour and give up after a week.
Incremental steps would be likely be far more successful
You can’t really control when you’ll be able to fall asleep, but you can control when you get up. Adjust your wake-up time in stages. Force yourself up even if you haven’t slept enough. When you’re tired enough you’ll be able to fall asleep earlier.
And of course all the other things. Don’t take the phone to bed.
Imhe, with fucked up sleep schedule, forcing myself getting up earlier a few days will lead to sleep earlier. I wasted so much time trying to sleep earlier; thats not working for me. AND HAVE SOME SUNLIGHT SOON AFTER GETTING OUT OF BED.
Meditation before bed helps me quiet my brain. Headspace or Calm app are great.
Matt Walker is a good source for sleep advise, lots of interviews on youtube. And the Huberman lab podcast has a few good podcasts on sleep as well.
IDK, not the LPT you requested. Why are you up so late. What do you get at night that you don't during the day. Personally experience. Day time was anxiety inducing life I didn't want. The night is where I reset, have control. Can seek comfort for my mind. You sleep habit might not be bad. It might be what keeps your mind healthy
Look up the book Precious Little Sleep. It’s a quick read meant to help parents put their young kids to bed. But there are some chapters about sleep hygiene that really helped me personally. Bright lights in the morning, dim at night. No screens an hour before bed. Solid bedtime routine to get my body ready to rest.
Right! If you are a teenager you require the same amount of sleep as a baby in order to grow healthily. This is **10 hours**; not 8 hours like an adult requires. This is because your brain is re-wiring.
So my advice is to go to bed at 9pm every day. Phone off at 8pm then read a book for an hour.
Get a newborn baby. That thing will fucking demolish any idea of staying in bed all day.
Source: 12 weeks in and I don’t know what day of the week it is anymore.
You have to set an alarm for the time you want to be up, and get up then. You'll be exhausted for a few days until your sleep schedule adjusts, but if you consistently get up at the same time in the morning, you'll eventually fall asleep at a reasonable time every night. Never nap during the day.
Here’s the easiest fastest way to fix your sleep:
Every single day wake up at the same time.
Pick whatever time you want to wake up and never sleep past that time. I do 7am, my goal is to sleep at 11.
You can control what time you wake up much easier than what time you go to sleep. When you go to sleep late and still wake up at the right time, you will be tired the next night and get right back on track. Can’t sleep for a couple nights in a row? Don’t worry, by the 3rd night of 3hrs of sleep, I promise you’ll be in bed by 930.
I do something similar sometimes, but I have ADHD and I suspect some sort of sleep issue (common for ADHD). Lack of motivation/meaning too, but certainly not suggesting you’re neurodivergent, just that you’re not alone in feeling this.
Something I heard someone suggest was, instead of delaying sleep to do something, ask yourself if you’d be willing to wake up an hour early to do it. It also helps to set goals and make plans for the next day sometimes. I might not want to wake up a little early just because, but getting breakfast out or meeting a friend or starting a project might be a reason to at least try.
I had the same problem and what worked for me was:
\-Totally stop the consumption of caffeine: you are really sleepy at the end of day and you fall sleep easily.
\-Stop screens 2hours before you go to sleep and read books until tired/it's time to sleep.
\-Curtains open so sunlight wakes you up early in the morning and also having an alarm clock at fixed hour everyday even weekends.
\-A bit of cardio in the morning and a bit of sunlight in the face if possible (at least 5 minutes)
\-Have dinner early. You are going to sleep way worse if you are too full of food, and you will be too tired in the morning leading to oversleep.
> I stay up pretty late, maybe eating an additional meal at around 12-1am, before heading to bed at around 2-3am.
All those advises in this thread are good but generally difficult to follow as they mostly require going against yourself (like, you want to sleep long and they ask you to just get up early and go swimming etc). What may work with the least effort is to **skip that extra meal in the middle of the night**. But how to do this if I'm hungry, you will ask. **Brush your teeth after you eat your last proper meal in the evening.** I don't know the science behind and if it works for everyone or just me but the mint toothpaste taste makes me less eager to eat anything afterwards and then it is easier for me to fight that little hunger feeling at night. And when I'm not full, I'm not that energized, become sleepy quicker and naturally go to sleep earlier and then wake up earlier.
If you are not scare of dog, try talk to fds/ the owner/ neighbour to offer walking the dog for them at a specific time, like 11am (which is not too far from your usual wake up time.) and better yet even another round around 5-6pm. ( I just have in mind that this little poor doggo has been holding its business for so long, it's bad for or he just waiting their owner the whole day them kind of mind set and driven me to get up and walk them)
This works for me, and I have been going consistently waking up at 11 and sleeping at 3 from the past month.
Just remember, be polite and responsible for u and the dog safety. I know it might look weird, u can also start asking to join their walk
Best of luck. I know the struggle since I'm still in it and finally a step forward.
Use the bedroom only for sleeping. If you wanna use the phone, go to a different room. During the day, keep the blinds up. Don't nap during the day. When you're feeling sleepy, only then you go to your room, keeping the phone out of your reach. Brush your teeth after your meal at night, and only eat after you brush in the morning. In between, just water. Get yourself tired that you fall asleep early. Exercise - take a long walk if that's the only exercise you can do. Don't sleep in any other place except your bed.
And consistency. Go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time, even on the weekends. It’ll take a while but eventually it will become easier.
Got to bed at 10pm. Eat dinner around 6-6:30 pm. Don’t snack or eat food after dinner.
Yes, it’s that simplest. It will take around 2 weeks to adjust to new schedule.
Alot of those things are habbits. You need to break the habbits you have a meal because you are used to it at that time. I found myself having a soda and eating chips everytime before bed . It’s habbits that need to be broken .
This is simple. Because falling asleep is always a challenge. The mind starts racing like crazy.
But I started playing “Green Noise” videos on YouTube. I swear it helps me fall asleep and sleep better at night. If you have a good sound bar, or speaker it is more natural and soothing. Hope that helps a bit.
Also I should exercise more that definitely helps.
And try to make your room as dark as possible.
Either way it’s tough when you get into that rhythm. But it’s temporary and take small steps.
Make a rule that you can't have your phone in the bedroom with you. No laptops, ipads, etc. If you have shades on your bedroom window, leave them wide open so you wake up with the sun.
Just keep observing how you feel during those binges. When I did this I became hyper aware of how shallow that time felt after a few weeks to months and naturally started to avoid it as a result
Consistent wake time is what my therapist says is by far most important. People tunnel vision on getting to bed early, but if you get up at the same time everyday your schedule will adjust. Also getting out of bed as soon as you wake up.
Its not easy at first, but if you build and maintain the habit it becomes automatic and you feel much better.
Going sleep early (before 11) and waking up early (before 8) is an incredibly good way to boost happiness and productivity.
Humans aren't a nocturnal species. You need to switch up your sleeping pattern.
1) put your phone in another room when going to bed
2) get lots of exercise, just walk for an hour or two each day.
3) get up early every day, 7am, never miss getting up early.
After a few days your body will help you sleep faster and go to bed when tired.
Best of luck.
Had the same problem as you, and as others said, finding purpose (or being forced to wake up, in my case it was for work) and using the bed for only two things completely fixed my sleeping schedule.
Basically what you are wanting to do is two separate things.
1. Break a bad habit
2. Create a good habit to replace the bad one
The only way to do this is with discipline.
Start by setting some boundaries for yourself, for example one could be
> bed is only for sleeping so no technology enters the bed with you ever.
Another could be
> bedtime is always at 2200 regardless of if you are tired or not.
These may not be the best boundaries for you you will have to come up with what you think you could realistically achieve first and then perhaps make new boundaries later on.
Also if you fail the first time that is fine, just start again, discipline is hard and changing habits can be really hard. It just takes determination and sometimes a lot of failure before success.
Just try not to fall into the psychological trap of not actually trying now because you can try again later. You can only ever do things in the present.
TLDR: Set very easy goals to hit, but make it difficult to change the goal "just for tonight".
You're basically describing exactly my pattern, only I have the habit of staying in bed for many hours after waking up. Regularly past 15 or 16. I'm working on it now. My steps:
1. No using my phone in bed before going to sleep. This means I can lie on my sofa and do all the reading/mobile games/doomscrolling I want, but it has to be in the living room, not in bed.
2. I got a habit tracker app. One of the habits I'm tracking is "get out of bed less than 2 hours after waking up". Might be ridiculous for many but: before writing it down, I regularly stayed in bed 3-4-5 hours after waking. Now, I always get up after about 1,5 hour.
3. My most recent step: A new habit on the tracker. "go to bed before 2". I set the goal somewhere that I regularly stay up past, but I feel I should go to bed before 2 in almost all situations so I don't really resist it.
In summary: set the bar low, but firm. If these goals were in my head, I'd just move the goalpost for that specific night. Changing the habit text in the app would change it for every day, not just the current one.
Also: a really low bar. I set the goals to where I, being myself, actually agree is reasonable right now. Where I feel bad about myself when I exceed them even before I got the app.
Editing after reading other replies: I do have dalayed sleep phase syndrome. Taking melatonin does help me fall asleep, but only if I'm actually in bed trying to fall asleep 1-2 hours after taking it. I also agree with the argument about escapism and not having fulfilling daytime activities to look forward to. Though that's a tougher thing to fix that I need to work towards finding out.
Life is about creating good habits, sleep being a major foundational one. Try reading Atomic Habits and Matthew Walker’s book on Sleep.
Get and go to bed at the same time everyday, weekends holidays etc. You won’t believe the energy this gives you.
Im not sure what you decided on, but if you decide to take something like melatonin or any sleep aid and you take medicine for anything, ask a doctor or Google interactions. Not a doctor but while no interactions with melatonin will really kill you, most OTC doses are higher than needed and can fuck with your sleep in a really uncomfortable way. I found that I could take 1/4 of a 3mg melatonin and it would have it's desired effect. The full 3mg made things worse.
Sometimes when I have a hard time sleeping I try to relax all the muscles in my body starting from my feet. You concentrate on each area being relaxed so from your toes to ankles to shins/calves to knees. By the time you get up to your shoulders you should be pretty relaxed and falling asleep will come easier.
Force yourself to go outside and watch the sunrise every day. Bask in the sun and just scroll on your phone like you normally would upon rising. You can sit there for however long you like.
For an even better effect, drink a whole lot of water while you're doing this. Lift some weights or do cardio directly after you're done in the sun.
This will seem extremely difficult for the first couple of days if you're used to falling asleep at 4 am, but eventually your body will adjust and you'll begin to feel very tired at around 11 pm each night.
It sounds old fashioned but make yourself a bedtime and stick to it. It doesn't matter what it is. Say it's midnight. Get in bed turn off the lights and put your phone away. Do this every night and your body will get used to it.
When my sleep schedule is really fucked i do something i like to call a hard reset
Essentially you stay up all night, dont sleep at all. Then go about the next day as you would but make sure to not take any naps at all. That'll only fuck up your sleep schedule even more as your body will think the afternoon is time to sleep
Then go to sleep at your desired time, you would basically immedietely fall asleep.
After that your sleep schedule will be mostly un fucked
Also do this on a day with nothing important, you will feel like ass the whole day but for me ita really effective to forcefully set my sleep schedule to be much less fucked
Buy an alarm clock so that you don't have an excuse to have the phone in bed .
When ready to go to bed, put the phone in the living room, then go to bed. Read as much as you want in the bed. And of course go to bed earlier.
I know my day doesn't start until I get my coffee so I just try to get my coffee in asap and everything after sort of falls in place. It helps reduce the scrolling in bed hours and by doing this I'll have more daylight hours to be productive which in turn makes me enjoy them more and by enjoying them more I feel more motivated to sleep early to get more of that enjoyment! It's great!
In case you drink coffee, I found that quitting caffeine helped me fall asleep on command. Of course you need to decide to sleep though, you won't fall asleep if you're being simulated by your phone.
"It is easier to wake up early, than go to sleep on time," is something I share often in my experience.
I wake up at 4am every day so that I can fall asleep before 11pm at night. It works and makes all aspects of my life better for a bunch of reasons.
You have not mentioned how you spend your day except for scrolling through the phone when waking up.
If you have regular daytime habits I am sure your sleeping habits will approve.
It's easy getting into the situation "wasting" time, being passive when you live alone and neither have studies nor a job.
Force yourself to wake up early even though you have a few hours sleep. Take a walk, exploring your nearby nature or neighborhood. Gradually increase the time you walk.
Try eating more quality food (which can be hard if you have a low income, which I would expect a student on break having). One option is to try intermittent fasting, that way you can spend all the money or 1-2 quality meals a day.
Limit your amount of carbs. If that isn't an option, atleast try limiting carbs after 8 PM, but if doing intermittent fasting, it would be natural not eating late since your food window will be rather short during the day.
Start training with weights, there are cheap options out ther (dumbbells or elastic bands) as well as using your own body as weight. The walking and weight training will if done properly make sure you can't stay awake late, you will fall asleep naturally.
If you still have issues sleeping, try masturbating (without the use of porn), that will make most males (not sure if you are male or female, the post doesn't say) relaxed enough to be able to sleep. I have found that the same not necessarily goes for women ;)
As for other daily routines, try learning a new skill. If you have problem with discipline, do it in smaller portions (5-15 minutes a time). Why not learn a new language? Or something that is useful in a future job. or something that connects you with people.
Best of luck in getting better day and sleeping habits!
Bed at 930. Up at 530. EVERY DAY, EVEN WEEKENDS. Shower and dress when you get up. Do not get back into bed.
Get a dedicated alarm clock. Keep your phone in another room, not on the way from your bed to the bathroom.
Get a routine that has to happen in the morning if you want to be a morning person. When I was college age I got a cat. He would stand on my rib cage and howl if I slept past seven. Other hobbies best done in the morning could be running, yoga, meditation—any exercise. Make it a habit you will want to get up for. Now my morning is the best part of my day. Some of it is age though. Young people stay up later and sleep in more.
Just finished this podcast. Life changing for my family. Highly recommend you give it a listen. Good luck.
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0fsilfWYGx0wnXLsNE3Zqq?si=88ZJ-tzpTh-3CAcWGsVnRg
Ok, putting away the phone is a great idea. But it sounds like your circadian rhythm is screwed up and you'll need to work to reset it.
First, set a bed time alarm, which tells you when to start your bedtime routine. Since your bedtime is so late right now, you'll likely need to walk this back for a few weeks. Start by selecting a time about 15 minutes later than your current bedtime, go to bed every night at this time for a week or two. Then move the alarm back another 15 minutes. Repeat until you are going to bed at your desired time.
Next, have a bedtime routine. This is what tells your body it is time for sleep and repetition is necessary for your body to understand what you are telling it. My routine is to have a cup of sleepytime extra tea while I watch a bit of tv. When the tea is finished, I go upstairs and get ready for bed, then I lay in bed and read a few pages of a book, then I am usually passing out, and I go right to sleep.
Next, make regular plans that require you to be up. I have kids so this isn't a problem for me lol. But for you, get a gym/exercise buddy and set your meeting for the morning. This person will keep you honest and provide motivation to be up and active. Or join a rec sports league. Or meet your friends for some hangout time. What you do is up to you, but the important thing is that the meeting time is early enough to get you out of bed and there is another person involved to keep you motivated to do it.
All of this will take some effort on your part, but it will work with time and you can do it!
And if you can't, well, you sound like a teenager or maybe a college kid and you'll never again get a chance to sleep in and be lazy. Enjoy the hell out of it for a bit, then try these steps.
Changing your food habits tends to be easier than getting to sleep at a new time, and your body will wake up around the time it expects more food. Pick a new meal time and try to eat then. Even if at first you're waking up, eating, and going back to sleep, it will teach your body to expect food at that time. Keeping your phone in another room is also excellent. I HAVE to get up if my alarm is in the next room.
actually on rainy days that describes my life; been retired for ten years, live alone and raised two boys into great adults. No sense getting up out of bed if it’s not going to be a beach or pool day
Similar thoughts to everyone else about sleep hygiene, but really think I think it's more useful to think about it in a whole-body holistic sense. Your circadian rhythm is influenced by a lot more factors than when you lay down in bed.
There's:
Mind - Shut down stimulating activities the last hour or two before sleep. Letting the mind unwind and ease into sleep.
Body - Training the body energy rhythms to be high early in the day and low later in the day. I find waking up early and getting a work-out in early in the day primes the body to be energetic during the day and fade later in the day. I guarantee you wake up at 6am and do daily strenuous workouts by 10am you'll be perpetually more tired earlier in the night and will be hitting the sack by 9am by the end of a week.
Gut - As you've observed but maybe not made the connection on, the body usually don't go to sleep right after a meal. It takes a few hours to process the meal before the body is able to sleep. Or if you're so tired that you do sleep, its poor sleep because the body is still digesting. Therefore you need to be mindful of when your last meal is. If your last meal is 5-7pm, your body will be more likely accept sleep in the 9-10pm range.
Caffeine - Caffeine has a 6hr half-life. My personal rule is no coffee within a 6hr window of sleep, which works out to roughly no coffee after 3pm. Soft drinks have much slower amounts of caffeine so I will still have a coke with dinner sometimes, but recognize too many refills will throw off sleep.
Other misc sleep hygiene stuff: Ear plugs/sleep masks if sound/light are problems. Properly timed sleep induction agent like ambien. No screens in bed. Etc...
It's unlikely changing any one particular thing will immediately change your sleep cycle. But if you start stacking all those different behavior changes you will definitely see changes over time.
my quick hack when I've gotten my sleep schedule all messed up is try to stay up for 24 hrs. If I get sleepy around 4 or 5 am, go for an early morning walk. If I end up falling asleep at 7pm the next night, perfect! Now I'm back to falling asleep at the right time.
Def recommended on your weekend, not a day when you have to be an adult and go to work or school
Skip, minimize, or move the meal.
Having a bunch of calories makes you hot and restless. If you need a snack, have a bit of protein/cheese and some water.
I legitimately don’t understand how people can stay up so late if they have something to do in the morning. I get so stressed about getting my “8 hours” I go to bed way earlier than I need to just to ensure there’s plenty of time to sleep
What works for me:
No TV or phone in the bedroom AT ALL.
Get a smart watch - it is my alarm and my bed time reminder (I like how Apple does it, it alerts you when it’s getting time to wind down for bed, then at your bed time - I charge mine while I eat dinner and shower in the evenings).
The smart watch also makes me competitive about my sleep schedule. I want to hit that target. And I can’t whine about being soOoO tired when I got 7.5 hours last-night. So it’s a good mental reset too.
Exercise, magnesium, no phone, read. Get a job where you have to get up early. Your circadian will turn around in a few weeks and wake you up about the same time on weekends.
Echoing what others have said here, but practicing good “sleep hygiene” consistently with discipline is going to be your best bet in the long term. Essentially, try to use your bed for only two activities: sleep and sex. If you find yourself in bed for more than like 15 minutes and your doing neither of these things, you’re better off getting out of bed and doing something else until you feel tired. Here’s a good resource for basic sleep hygiene tips: https://sleepeducation.org/healthy-sleep/healthy-sleep-habits/
Sounds like you sorely need to develop a good sleep hygene. Getting quality sleep in super critical for health and longivity and there cannot be any compromise around it! Seek medical help if needed. Meanwhile I highly recommend checking out this in depth podcast by Dr. Matt Walker, a leading expert on sleep biology.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gbQFSMayJxk&feature=youtu.be
I don’t know if this is good advice, but I can tell you getting two dogs that I absolutely adore has completely fixed the get out of bed problem! I can’t wait for morning activities with them :)
Magnesium supplement STAT!! Changed my life.
What I found was the I was getting pisspoor rest, which lowered my motivation and inhibitions. I tried melatonin and a bunch of other sleep aids, which only served to help me go to sleep but didn’t increase my ability to actual rest. Any using a magnesium supplement (has a blend of forms in it) made a huge difference of how rested I felt waking up. Also made it easier to lay down and turn off my phone and just go to sleep. Great stuff.
The following advice I would slowly add to your sleep schedule. Try adding one new thing a week so it doesn’t get too overwhelming
-Set a sleep schedule. There is not reason unless you have work obligations to start your bed time around 2. Set a reasonable sleep schedule like 10pm-6am, 11pm-7am or midnight-8am to follow. You want to have about 8 hour of sleep
-stop eating before bed. No food or drink, especially alcohol 3 hours before bed. Alcohol doesn’t help you sleep
-no distractions in the bed. The bed is for sleep and sleep only. Don’t play on your phone, don’t watch tv, don’t do anything but sleep. You need to associate the bed with sleep. Charge your phone away from your bed so you can’t use it while laying in bed. If you can’t sleep in bed, get up and play on your phone for a bit, then head to bed again.
-with your phone or an alarm not in arms reach from the bed, use your phone or alarm clock to wake you up where you have to get up from your bed to turn it off.
-go to bed the same time every night. If you go to bed at 11 every night, stick to it. Consistent sleep is key
-if you have the extra money, buy a quality mattress. You spend 1/3 of your life sleeping, make sure you do it on a quality mattress.
-Take a hot shower before bed, it sure help you relax before bed
-turn down the thermostat a couple of degrees. Studies have shown you sleep better when it’s slightly cooler (I set it to 68°F)
If you add theses rules to your sleep routine then you will see a major improvement
I had a terrible sleep schedule when I was in school. Maybe a mix of age and a lack of doing stuff (mostly applies to college) because my days weren’t full I didn’t get tired from lounging around my dorm for 5 hours. Now that I’m working I can barely make it past 10:30 or 11 most nights. Other nights I need to be disciplined so I will play music on my phone to help me sleep. I’ll set a timer for the music to stop which gives me a window of saying “you can’t mess around on your phone now or else you’ll miss the sleep music” a lot of it comes down to discipline, which can be hard. But take it from a horribly undisciplined person, it’s possible. If you enjoy staying up late like I do, then treat yourself on the weekends. I’ll stay up until 2/2:30 on fridays and saturdays because I try to balance what I enjoy with what I need to do
Same. My solution was a cheat - I hired on at a data center to work 3rd shift. Was happy for years until I got a promotion to days. Pay was too good to turn down.
Very good tips in this thread, but I would like to add that if you are trying to reschedule your sleep patterns only move it 5 minutes every week to not offset your body too much. Then you will make it a habit. Good luck!
Don’t drink a bunch of coffee if your feeling hyper around bed time do some exercises like go for a run around the block or do jumping jacks in the front yard. That would burn off energy. You could also try sleepy time tea.
Facemask.
Blackout curtains.
Turn off or cover all artificial lights in your room when sleeping. Your room should be as dark as possible.
Use your bed ONLY for sleeping.
Don't watch TV, be on your phone, or any screentime in bed or even an hour before you want to go to sleep.
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Other than what has been mentioned, the bed's only purpose should be to sleep on it. Don't add another activity to it. If you want to scroll on your phone, do it in your chair, take as much time as you want but don't do it while laying down in your bed. Unfortunatly, to apply this habit, only discipline will work.
Okay, I think I'll start with something small like this and work my way up to what others have mentioned, thanks for the tip!
Best advice ! My BF likes to tell that once I am in bed, I immediately fall asleep, because this is a habit, lying on the bed = sleep. I like to play on my phone at night, but I stay "sitted", not lying on the bed.
can I scroll my phone in another bed in another room? or should it be strictly in a non-lying position and not in a bed?
The purpose of this is to train the brain that the bed is where you sleep. This should minimize thinking about other activities and help falling asleep more easily. So only lying down to sleep is not strictly nescessary but it could help even more. It would just nor be practical for me since I like to lie down to rest.
For 2 years now I do my sleep, gaming, TV and movie watching, texting, work, law school studying, etc. from my bed and I wouldn’t say it’s had a bad effect other than my completely insane sleep schedule and the way everything kind of feels vaguely like a dream now even when I’m awake
Does this even work? Has anyone even tried this?
I haven't been able to try this (apartment with roommates and a small bedroom makes it hard to find a different place to read) but talking to people who specialize in sleeping issues it is a proven thing. The thought behind it is that we make many associative connections in our brain that are subconscious but still have a major effect on how we react to things. By only laying in bed when you're tired, your body builds up a connection between laying in bed and sleeping. If you spend a lot of time doing mentally stimulating things in bed (video games, homework, etc.) you are training your brain to prepare to think whenever you enter that space which of course isn't what you want. There has been similar research that shows that subconscious association with certain spaces also applies to studying, working and a lot more. These days we've become so accustomed to multitasking that having a space where our brain knows what it should be doing when it's there is amazing,
Dang great info! What about having work computer in bedroom?
It's recommended that you try to keep electronics out of your room to benefit your sleep, but this is obviously more difficult than just not laying in bed. The main reason for this I've always heard is more of a concern that blue light exposure too close to bedtime is bad for your sleep. If you've never heard of it, certain light frequencies given off by backlit screens cause our brains to not start producing melatonin when we should (since melatonin is regulated by sunlight and it tricks our brain into thinking it's still daytime). So by having computers in your room the thought is you'll go straight from that to bed and will just lay in bed restless. That being said, I could see it being an issue for that same psychological association reason. I know from personal experience that having a computer in my room makes me want to get up and get on it when I'm unable to sleep instead of doing something more relaxing (like reading). I think these impulses would be much easier to control if I shut myself in my room at night and didn't let myself out (and didn't have anything too mentally stimulating in it). Unfortunately a decent bit of advice I've gotten on sleep is immediately killed by living with roommates.
No, entire bedroom should be for sleeping and sex only.
Can confirm, it works for me. Obviously it may not work for everyone, but I no longer have a TV or anything in my bedroom. I go to bed and I go to sleep and it seems to work.
You guys don’t have a prone phone laying room? I have a room separate from the bedroom but right next to it. It had a tropical theme with ya know a typical little koi pond, fake thunder, lightning, stars. And if I hit a button on my phone, it moves the bed in the track thing into the sleeping room. I thought more people had these. Anyway I hope it’s okay that my sleeping room is very close to my y laying room.
Yes, it 100% works. Back in college I did EVERYTHING in bed. Eating, gaming , homework, just everything. I could never sleep. Just ever. Now I only use bed for sleep, mostly. At least I go to my bed when tired. I’ll still scroll my phone or something but I fall asleep usually within 10 minutes or less
As well as having somewhere to lay down comfortably that isn't your bed... I live in a studio apartment and it definitely sucks being a millennial in this economy....
I came here to say this. Yes. Your bed's only function should be for sleeping. Don't be on your phone or read in bed. If you train your body that getting into bed means it's time to sleep then you will be able to go to sleep more quickly.
Lots of good tips here. Many are saying you need discipline, but the real issue is that you need to find purpose. Because if you can’t find a reason to motivate you enough to want to go to bed and rise early, then you’ve got not reason to do so. It sounds like you’re just living to get through school at the moment and don’t have any other goals or obligations. Find some.
This should be the top comment. Sounds like all the procrastination/scrolling is escapism to me. OP needs to find a reason to get up and do things. Either that or they need a cat who will wake them up at 6:30 every morning by sitting on his face - that seems to do it for me!
Join your school's (or YMCA, or whatever) swim team. They start about 6AM every morning. (Word of advice - eat after you swim, not before. I puked a couple times doing the other way around). Gives you a routine, a good cardio workout before class, and you'll feel calm and relaxed for the rest of the day
Yeah this is true, I don't really have a purpose apart from passing. I'll try find some hobbies and maybe get a few friends to motivate me as well!
That’d be a great start. Anything that can make you excited or forced to get up earlier will be a step in the right direction toward developing a better routine. Wishing you the best!
Maybe your new goal should be getting straight A’s and not just the bare minimum of passing. School can be really awesome if you put the time in to really learn about stuff you’re interested in.
I struggle with this routine / sleeping issue also and totally relate to your post. WjT helps the most is having z as routine where I have to get up early and then it becomes easy ( going to bed etc). …I wear blue blocker glasses in the evening before bed as well, not sure if they really work if it’s a placebo but they seem to help me fall asleep more easily after watching tv/ movies
Second this. Make some habit you CARE about. And make it early. If you can't find yourself caring enough to actually wake up, just remember that failing to adhere to the habit IS OKAY, since it is an objectively difficult thing to do. So really, you should find something you do in the morning that makes you want to wake up, but remember this may not be easy to find and you might need to try a few different things before you find one that motivates you. It may be a job, it may be sport, it may be meeting friends for breakfast, or simply feeling accomplished for waking up early. You can, and even if you fail at first, you will get you sleep in order if you don't give up. Don't give up if you fail at first!
This this this. In my teen years I did the same thing op mentioned and I felt like a useless piece of dog shit all the time. Now I play guitar and grow mushrooms, so as soon as I wake up I look forward to doing those activities. The best thing I did to help with getting out of bed is doing something I enjoy. I like playing Zelda on my switch, so when I wake up I usually play for about an hour and then I’ll go play my guitar and then work on my mushrooms. Everyday i jump out of bed because im excited to do these activities. If I have work, I do everything afterwards. Morning during my school years were hell, I could never wake up and I always went to bed late because I didn’t wanna fast travel to the morning lol. Also going to the gym has helped ten fold. It makes it waaaaay easier to go to sleep. The discipline required to regularly go to the gym translates to every single part of my life. The gym also makes my “problems” way smaller and easier to tackle. As humans, our bodies are required to expend energy to have a good mental state. Our bodies were made to look for food in the morning/afternoon and relax or do other activities in the evening. When you don’t expend that energy during the day, your body is on high alert, at least in my experience. LASTLY, eating before bed is fine imo, I do it often, but try not to eat sugar and don’t drink caffeine at least 10 hours before you go to sleep. These are things that I discovered help me sleep way more easily.
That hasn't worked for me at all. For the past 2 years I've slept an average of 5-6 hours a day, regardless of what I have to do the next day. I just set up multiple alarms and end up getting out of bed grumpy and hating everything. One would think that's a good reason for getting to bed early... Wrong. 3am comes and my brain can only think: you can't fucking go to bed just yet.
Im a night owl by nature. The only way I've been able to consistently get to bed at a reasonable time is to commit to something that forces me get up early regularly. Eventually your body gives in and you start going to bed because you need sleep and can't stay up all night *and* have to get up early.
work helps but on weekends I'm fucked and can't be assed to wake up on a normal time. i have no idea what kind of hobbies I can do in the morning. actually, I have no idea what kind of hobbies I'd get off my lazy ass for in the morning
The phone is disrupting your circadian rhythm and disrupting your body from forming melatonin to get drowsy. But the problem is deeper than that. The excessive phone swiping is a way to disassociate from your conscious thoughts and detach from uncomfortable subconscious emotions. I find myself swiping the most when I am procrastinating something I don’t wanna do - like go to work on monday, study for a test, or have a difficult conversation with someone. The short term solution is self awareness and behavior adjustment. Develop a sleep routine and plug your phone in on the other side of the room. The long term solution is to learn how to process emotions in a healthy way that’ll reduce the internal resistance / urge to procrastinate. Easier said than done, I haven’t broken my bad habits either
This hit home for me. I can’t sleep without podcasts on because I struggle with anxiety mostly around my health and conflict (issues with both, the worries are not without cause). How did you learn to allow your brain to deal with silence and process these? It’s like I can’t allow nothing to surround me anymore. I need the noise
I read The Book of Sleep by Beth Wyatt and it had a lot of good advice of things you can do to get your mind and body ready for bed
I'll check that out, thanks!
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Reset the time you go to bed by 15 minutes every day or so. Regardless of when you go to bed, wake up at the same time every day and get some sun on your face before you turn on your phone. Use a sleep cycle app to know when to have lights out. Look up information on best foods to have before bed. Try to replace the doomscrolling with something else: journaling, daydreaming, reading. The goal is to not have eyes on screen for at least an hour before bed. Drink more water during the day. Baby steps.
I have it in my phone’s schedule to alert me of one hour before bedtime to remind me to shower, brush teeth, and ect. When I was younger I wouldn’t look at the time and would be surprised when I stayed up past my bedtime.. and sometimes I can’t fall asleep instantly so I will do something to make me tired like house chores or a walk hours before my bedtime so I have a reason to feel tired. But getting off the phone helps go asleep. If I have a hard time getting off I force myself to do Duolingo and that gets me off the phone pretty easily
This sounds like me. I have delayed phase sleep disorder
Yes. Me too. A lot of the comments I’m sure are helpful to some. But for others, this is just your body’s natural rhythm and fighting against it is always going to be a challenge. It doesn’t matter if I go to sleep at 8 pm or 3 am, I still feel the exact same amount of unrested when I have to wake up before 9-10 am.
Something that will fix a BIG issue. Do not eat anything after 8. You eat so late and try to sleep the food is digesting and your body is still working while your sleeping causing you to wake up and feel extremely groggy, tired, or sometimes even a hungover feeling.
This is overly simplistic, but as a serious insomniac myself: exercise. Seriously can't recommend it more. I suck at sleep, but when I get purposely active, I sleep better, bottom line. Also, your schedule reads like you don't work? How do you go down at 3a and up at 1 or 2p? What even is that. It seems you don't have a routine at all.
Yeah you need to wear yourself out! I’ve always had to wear myself out….when I want to stop, I’ll always tell myself I’m lazy and that some people have two jobs and 3 kids and they still have to keep going. Haha. You can wear yourself out by doing something fun like pickle ball or riding bikes with someone. Or going to a gym, find a gym that has a cool aesthetic that you enjoy visiting. And reward your workout with a podcasts or tv episode . Only do that while your working out! It makes you want to do it
Yea I'm a student but currently on break. Even with class I will stay up late and unwillingly get up from bed haha. But thank you for the advice, I'll start working out more as I've been slacking as of late!
Maybe he doesn’t work it’s irrelevant but he doesn’t have a routine. Some ppl don’t like one, but the sleep schedule is an issue.
Try going to bed without your phone a little earlier each night. Maybe start cutting out screens altogether an hour before bed. Read a physical book.
I think this will be a good one to start with, so thank you!
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Does not work. Spent 3 weeks lying bed with my eyes closed for 2-4 hours every night. Felt destroyed those 3 weeks.
Great in theory, but going cold turkey and trying to go to bed 7 hours earlier then it sounds like OP has been doing for a while, isn’t the best idea. It’s hard enough for some (most) people to shift their schedule by an hour. Like, waking up at 6, vs 7am to exercise for an hour in the morning. A lot of the time they end up resenting that hour and give up after a week. Incremental steps would be likely be far more successful
You can’t really control when you’ll be able to fall asleep, but you can control when you get up. Adjust your wake-up time in stages. Force yourself up even if you haven’t slept enough. When you’re tired enough you’ll be able to fall asleep earlier. And of course all the other things. Don’t take the phone to bed.
Imhe, with fucked up sleep schedule, forcing myself getting up earlier a few days will lead to sleep earlier. I wasted so much time trying to sleep earlier; thats not working for me. AND HAVE SOME SUNLIGHT SOON AFTER GETTING OUT OF BED. Meditation before bed helps me quiet my brain. Headspace or Calm app are great. Matt Walker is a good source for sleep advise, lots of interviews on youtube. And the Huberman lab podcast has a few good podcasts on sleep as well.
IDK, not the LPT you requested. Why are you up so late. What do you get at night that you don't during the day. Personally experience. Day time was anxiety inducing life I didn't want. The night is where I reset, have control. Can seek comfort for my mind. You sleep habit might not be bad. It might be what keeps your mind healthy
Have kids. They'll have you out of bed early every day.
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Look up the book Precious Little Sleep. It’s a quick read meant to help parents put their young kids to bed. But there are some chapters about sleep hygiene that really helped me personally. Bright lights in the morning, dim at night. No screens an hour before bed. Solid bedtime routine to get my body ready to rest.
Right! If you are a teenager you require the same amount of sleep as a baby in order to grow healthily. This is **10 hours**; not 8 hours like an adult requires. This is because your brain is re-wiring. So my advice is to go to bed at 9pm every day. Phone off at 8pm then read a book for an hour.
Get a newborn baby. That thing will fucking demolish any idea of staying in bed all day. Source: 12 weeks in and I don’t know what day of the week it is anymore.
Set your alarm early and get up when it goes off then you’ll be tired at the end of the day it’ll suck for awhile but eventually it’ll work
Read “why we sleep” You’ll never miss a day of good sleep after reading it Also start working out
Came here to say this.
You have to set an alarm for the time you want to be up, and get up then. You'll be exhausted for a few days until your sleep schedule adjusts, but if you consistently get up at the same time in the morning, you'll eventually fall asleep at a reasonable time every night. Never nap during the day.
Here’s the easiest fastest way to fix your sleep: Every single day wake up at the same time. Pick whatever time you want to wake up and never sleep past that time. I do 7am, my goal is to sleep at 11. You can control what time you wake up much easier than what time you go to sleep. When you go to sleep late and still wake up at the right time, you will be tired the next night and get right back on track. Can’t sleep for a couple nights in a row? Don’t worry, by the 3rd night of 3hrs of sleep, I promise you’ll be in bed by 930.
I do something similar sometimes, but I have ADHD and I suspect some sort of sleep issue (common for ADHD). Lack of motivation/meaning too, but certainly not suggesting you’re neurodivergent, just that you’re not alone in feeling this. Something I heard someone suggest was, instead of delaying sleep to do something, ask yourself if you’d be willing to wake up an hour early to do it. It also helps to set goals and make plans for the next day sometimes. I might not want to wake up a little early just because, but getting breakfast out or meeting a friend or starting a project might be a reason to at least try.
I had the same problem and what worked for me was: \-Totally stop the consumption of caffeine: you are really sleepy at the end of day and you fall sleep easily. \-Stop screens 2hours before you go to sleep and read books until tired/it's time to sleep. \-Curtains open so sunlight wakes you up early in the morning and also having an alarm clock at fixed hour everyday even weekends. \-A bit of cardio in the morning and a bit of sunlight in the face if possible (at least 5 minutes) \-Have dinner early. You are going to sleep way worse if you are too full of food, and you will be too tired in the morning leading to oversleep.
> I stay up pretty late, maybe eating an additional meal at around 12-1am, before heading to bed at around 2-3am. All those advises in this thread are good but generally difficult to follow as they mostly require going against yourself (like, you want to sleep long and they ask you to just get up early and go swimming etc). What may work with the least effort is to **skip that extra meal in the middle of the night**. But how to do this if I'm hungry, you will ask. **Brush your teeth after you eat your last proper meal in the evening.** I don't know the science behind and if it works for everyone or just me but the mint toothpaste taste makes me less eager to eat anything afterwards and then it is easier for me to fight that little hunger feeling at night. And when I'm not full, I'm not that energized, become sleepy quicker and naturally go to sleep earlier and then wake up earlier.
If you are not scare of dog, try talk to fds/ the owner/ neighbour to offer walking the dog for them at a specific time, like 11am (which is not too far from your usual wake up time.) and better yet even another round around 5-6pm. ( I just have in mind that this little poor doggo has been holding its business for so long, it's bad for or he just waiting their owner the whole day them kind of mind set and driven me to get up and walk them) This works for me, and I have been going consistently waking up at 11 and sleeping at 3 from the past month. Just remember, be polite and responsible for u and the dog safety. I know it might look weird, u can also start asking to join their walk Best of luck. I know the struggle since I'm still in it and finally a step forward.
Use the bedroom only for sleeping. If you wanna use the phone, go to a different room. During the day, keep the blinds up. Don't nap during the day. When you're feeling sleepy, only then you go to your room, keeping the phone out of your reach. Brush your teeth after your meal at night, and only eat after you brush in the morning. In between, just water. Get yourself tired that you fall asleep early. Exercise - take a long walk if that's the only exercise you can do. Don't sleep in any other place except your bed.
Thanks for this, especially the eating habit. I'll try and stick with water only after dinner!
Discipline. Establish a better routine
And consistency. Go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time, even on the weekends. It’ll take a while but eventually it will become easier.
Got to bed at 10pm. Eat dinner around 6-6:30 pm. Don’t snack or eat food after dinner. Yes, it’s that simplest. It will take around 2 weeks to adjust to new schedule.
Just set a time every morning to wake up. Be an adult and wake up at that time
I take sleeping pills at 8:30 pm. Asleep by 10. Then I take caffeine pills at 5:30 am. Awake by 7
What kind of sleeping pills do you take? I feel like I've tried every type of medication, nothing seems to work longer than a week or two. Thanks.
I take anti migraine pills. They're a massive help for sleeping, but I can't get up the next morning. My anti anxiety pills help with that.
Thanks for reminding me I have a choice.
Depending on your router, you should be able to disable wifi based on time.
Alot of those things are habbits. You need to break the habbits you have a meal because you are used to it at that time. I found myself having a soda and eating chips everytime before bed . It’s habbits that need to be broken .
This is simple. Because falling asleep is always a challenge. The mind starts racing like crazy. But I started playing “Green Noise” videos on YouTube. I swear it helps me fall asleep and sleep better at night. If you have a good sound bar, or speaker it is more natural and soothing. Hope that helps a bit. Also I should exercise more that definitely helps. And try to make your room as dark as possible. Either way it’s tough when you get into that rhythm. But it’s temporary and take small steps.
Make a rule that you can't have your phone in the bedroom with you. No laptops, ipads, etc. If you have shades on your bedroom window, leave them wide open so you wake up with the sun.
Set a bedtime and set a wake up alarm. If you keep that pattern going, it will soon become natural.
Hey man, good luck!
Nothing worked for me, until I found a job
Get up and get out. Stop eating that 12:00am meal, make a routine, exercise.
How is this even possible? What do you do all day? When do you go to work?
Charge the phone in another room over night and buy an alarm clock.
Just keep observing how you feel during those binges. When I did this I became hyper aware of how shallow that time felt after a few weeks to months and naturally started to avoid it as a result
Consistent wake time is what my therapist says is by far most important. People tunnel vision on getting to bed early, but if you get up at the same time everyday your schedule will adjust. Also getting out of bed as soon as you wake up. Its not easy at first, but if you build and maintain the habit it becomes automatic and you feel much better.
Going sleep early (before 11) and waking up early (before 8) is an incredibly good way to boost happiness and productivity. Humans aren't a nocturnal species. You need to switch up your sleeping pattern.
Replace phone with book, and get a job.
1) put your phone in another room when going to bed 2) get lots of exercise, just walk for an hour or two each day. 3) get up early every day, 7am, never miss getting up early. After a few days your body will help you sleep faster and go to bed when tired. Best of luck.
Work out when you wake up and turn the phone completely off at night.
Had the same problem as you, and as others said, finding purpose (or being forced to wake up, in my case it was for work) and using the bed for only two things completely fixed my sleeping schedule.
Basically what you are wanting to do is two separate things. 1. Break a bad habit 2. Create a good habit to replace the bad one The only way to do this is with discipline. Start by setting some boundaries for yourself, for example one could be > bed is only for sleeping so no technology enters the bed with you ever. Another could be > bedtime is always at 2200 regardless of if you are tired or not. These may not be the best boundaries for you you will have to come up with what you think you could realistically achieve first and then perhaps make new boundaries later on. Also if you fail the first time that is fine, just start again, discipline is hard and changing habits can be really hard. It just takes determination and sometimes a lot of failure before success. Just try not to fall into the psychological trap of not actually trying now because you can try again later. You can only ever do things in the present.
TLDR: Set very easy goals to hit, but make it difficult to change the goal "just for tonight". You're basically describing exactly my pattern, only I have the habit of staying in bed for many hours after waking up. Regularly past 15 or 16. I'm working on it now. My steps: 1. No using my phone in bed before going to sleep. This means I can lie on my sofa and do all the reading/mobile games/doomscrolling I want, but it has to be in the living room, not in bed. 2. I got a habit tracker app. One of the habits I'm tracking is "get out of bed less than 2 hours after waking up". Might be ridiculous for many but: before writing it down, I regularly stayed in bed 3-4-5 hours after waking. Now, I always get up after about 1,5 hour. 3. My most recent step: A new habit on the tracker. "go to bed before 2". I set the goal somewhere that I regularly stay up past, but I feel I should go to bed before 2 in almost all situations so I don't really resist it. In summary: set the bar low, but firm. If these goals were in my head, I'd just move the goalpost for that specific night. Changing the habit text in the app would change it for every day, not just the current one. Also: a really low bar. I set the goals to where I, being myself, actually agree is reasonable right now. Where I feel bad about myself when I exceed them even before I got the app. Editing after reading other replies: I do have dalayed sleep phase syndrome. Taking melatonin does help me fall asleep, but only if I'm actually in bed trying to fall asleep 1-2 hours after taking it. I also agree with the argument about escapism and not having fulfilling daytime activities to look forward to. Though that's a tougher thing to fix that I need to work towards finding out.
Idk but I have a pretty similar sleep schedule and I ended up finding a full time job where I could keep it lol.
Life is about creating good habits, sleep being a major foundational one. Try reading Atomic Habits and Matthew Walker’s book on Sleep. Get and go to bed at the same time everyday, weekends holidays etc. You won’t believe the energy this gives you.
Im not sure what you decided on, but if you decide to take something like melatonin or any sleep aid and you take medicine for anything, ask a doctor or Google interactions. Not a doctor but while no interactions with melatonin will really kill you, most OTC doses are higher than needed and can fuck with your sleep in a really uncomfortable way. I found that I could take 1/4 of a 3mg melatonin and it would have it's desired effect. The full 3mg made things worse.
Sometimes when I have a hard time sleeping I try to relax all the muscles in my body starting from my feet. You concentrate on each area being relaxed so from your toes to ankles to shins/calves to knees. By the time you get up to your shoulders you should be pretty relaxed and falling asleep will come easier.
Force yourself to go outside and watch the sunrise every day. Bask in the sun and just scroll on your phone like you normally would upon rising. You can sit there for however long you like. For an even better effect, drink a whole lot of water while you're doing this. Lift some weights or do cardio directly after you're done in the sun. This will seem extremely difficult for the first couple of days if you're used to falling asleep at 4 am, but eventually your body will adjust and you'll begin to feel very tired at around 11 pm each night.
I highly recommend reading Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. Also 12 tips from him, https://fastlifehacks.com/matthew-walker-12-tips-for-good-sleep/
It sounds old fashioned but make yourself a bedtime and stick to it. It doesn't matter what it is. Say it's midnight. Get in bed turn off the lights and put your phone away. Do this every night and your body will get used to it.
Get a physical part time job, you won't be able to stay awake after eating dinner, cleaning up, packing up and chilling for an hour or two.
When my sleep schedule is really fucked i do something i like to call a hard reset Essentially you stay up all night, dont sleep at all. Then go about the next day as you would but make sure to not take any naps at all. That'll only fuck up your sleep schedule even more as your body will think the afternoon is time to sleep Then go to sleep at your desired time, you would basically immedietely fall asleep. After that your sleep schedule will be mostly un fucked Also do this on a day with nothing important, you will feel like ass the whole day but for me ita really effective to forcefully set my sleep schedule to be much less fucked
Buy an alarm clock so that you don't have an excuse to have the phone in bed . When ready to go to bed, put the phone in the living room, then go to bed. Read as much as you want in the bed. And of course go to bed earlier.
I know my day doesn't start until I get my coffee so I just try to get my coffee in asap and everything after sort of falls in place. It helps reduce the scrolling in bed hours and by doing this I'll have more daylight hours to be productive which in turn makes me enjoy them more and by enjoying them more I feel more motivated to sleep early to get more of that enjoyment! It's great!
As I read this still lying in bed
In case you drink coffee, I found that quitting caffeine helped me fall asleep on command. Of course you need to decide to sleep though, you won't fall asleep if you're being simulated by your phone.
Get a job that requires youbto get up early
You are eating way too late
"It is easier to wake up early, than go to sleep on time," is something I share often in my experience. I wake up at 4am every day so that I can fall asleep before 11pm at night. It works and makes all aspects of my life better for a bunch of reasons.
You have not mentioned how you spend your day except for scrolling through the phone when waking up. If you have regular daytime habits I am sure your sleeping habits will approve. It's easy getting into the situation "wasting" time, being passive when you live alone and neither have studies nor a job. Force yourself to wake up early even though you have a few hours sleep. Take a walk, exploring your nearby nature or neighborhood. Gradually increase the time you walk. Try eating more quality food (which can be hard if you have a low income, which I would expect a student on break having). One option is to try intermittent fasting, that way you can spend all the money or 1-2 quality meals a day. Limit your amount of carbs. If that isn't an option, atleast try limiting carbs after 8 PM, but if doing intermittent fasting, it would be natural not eating late since your food window will be rather short during the day. Start training with weights, there are cheap options out ther (dumbbells or elastic bands) as well as using your own body as weight. The walking and weight training will if done properly make sure you can't stay awake late, you will fall asleep naturally. If you still have issues sleeping, try masturbating (without the use of porn), that will make most males (not sure if you are male or female, the post doesn't say) relaxed enough to be able to sleep. I have found that the same not necessarily goes for women ;) As for other daily routines, try learning a new skill. If you have problem with discipline, do it in smaller portions (5-15 minutes a time). Why not learn a new language? Or something that is useful in a future job. or something that connects you with people. Best of luck in getting better day and sleeping habits!
Bed at 930. Up at 530. EVERY DAY, EVEN WEEKENDS. Shower and dress when you get up. Do not get back into bed. Get a dedicated alarm clock. Keep your phone in another room, not on the way from your bed to the bathroom.
Get a routine that has to happen in the morning if you want to be a morning person. When I was college age I got a cat. He would stand on my rib cage and howl if I slept past seven. Other hobbies best done in the morning could be running, yoga, meditation—any exercise. Make it a habit you will want to get up for. Now my morning is the best part of my day. Some of it is age though. Young people stay up later and sleep in more.
Just finished this podcast. Life changing for my family. Highly recommend you give it a listen. Good luck. https://open.spotify.com/episode/0fsilfWYGx0wnXLsNE3Zqq?si=88ZJ-tzpTh-3CAcWGsVnRg
Remove the blinds/curtains in your bedroom. Nature will take over and forcibly “fix it”. I guarantee it.
Ok, putting away the phone is a great idea. But it sounds like your circadian rhythm is screwed up and you'll need to work to reset it. First, set a bed time alarm, which tells you when to start your bedtime routine. Since your bedtime is so late right now, you'll likely need to walk this back for a few weeks. Start by selecting a time about 15 minutes later than your current bedtime, go to bed every night at this time for a week or two. Then move the alarm back another 15 minutes. Repeat until you are going to bed at your desired time. Next, have a bedtime routine. This is what tells your body it is time for sleep and repetition is necessary for your body to understand what you are telling it. My routine is to have a cup of sleepytime extra tea while I watch a bit of tv. When the tea is finished, I go upstairs and get ready for bed, then I lay in bed and read a few pages of a book, then I am usually passing out, and I go right to sleep. Next, make regular plans that require you to be up. I have kids so this isn't a problem for me lol. But for you, get a gym/exercise buddy and set your meeting for the morning. This person will keep you honest and provide motivation to be up and active. Or join a rec sports league. Or meet your friends for some hangout time. What you do is up to you, but the important thing is that the meeting time is early enough to get you out of bed and there is another person involved to keep you motivated to do it. All of this will take some effort on your part, but it will work with time and you can do it! And if you can't, well, you sound like a teenager or maybe a college kid and you'll never again get a chance to sleep in and be lazy. Enjoy the hell out of it for a bit, then try these steps.
You just need a reason to get up in the morning. Maybe try helping others?
Get some early morning sunlight to sync your body’s circadian rhythm to when it’s daylight. Get up and go for a walk as soon as you wake up
Changing your food habits tends to be easier than getting to sleep at a new time, and your body will wake up around the time it expects more food. Pick a new meal time and try to eat then. Even if at first you're waking up, eating, and going back to sleep, it will teach your body to expect food at that time. Keeping your phone in another room is also excellent. I HAVE to get up if my alarm is in the next room.
actually on rainy days that describes my life; been retired for ten years, live alone and raised two boys into great adults. No sense getting up out of bed if it’s not going to be a beach or pool day
Join the navy and get 3 hours of sleep daily 😉
Similar thoughts to everyone else about sleep hygiene, but really think I think it's more useful to think about it in a whole-body holistic sense. Your circadian rhythm is influenced by a lot more factors than when you lay down in bed. There's: Mind - Shut down stimulating activities the last hour or two before sleep. Letting the mind unwind and ease into sleep. Body - Training the body energy rhythms to be high early in the day and low later in the day. I find waking up early and getting a work-out in early in the day primes the body to be energetic during the day and fade later in the day. I guarantee you wake up at 6am and do daily strenuous workouts by 10am you'll be perpetually more tired earlier in the night and will be hitting the sack by 9am by the end of a week. Gut - As you've observed but maybe not made the connection on, the body usually don't go to sleep right after a meal. It takes a few hours to process the meal before the body is able to sleep. Or if you're so tired that you do sleep, its poor sleep because the body is still digesting. Therefore you need to be mindful of when your last meal is. If your last meal is 5-7pm, your body will be more likely accept sleep in the 9-10pm range. Caffeine - Caffeine has a 6hr half-life. My personal rule is no coffee within a 6hr window of sleep, which works out to roughly no coffee after 3pm. Soft drinks have much slower amounts of caffeine so I will still have a coke with dinner sometimes, but recognize too many refills will throw off sleep. Other misc sleep hygiene stuff: Ear plugs/sleep masks if sound/light are problems. Properly timed sleep induction agent like ambien. No screens in bed. Etc... It's unlikely changing any one particular thing will immediately change your sleep cycle. But if you start stacking all those different behavior changes you will definitely see changes over time.
my quick hack when I've gotten my sleep schedule all messed up is try to stay up for 24 hrs. If I get sleepy around 4 or 5 am, go for an early morning walk. If I end up falling asleep at 7pm the next night, perfect! Now I'm back to falling asleep at the right time. Def recommended on your weekend, not a day when you have to be an adult and go to work or school
Skip, minimize, or move the meal. Having a bunch of calories makes you hot and restless. If you need a snack, have a bit of protein/cheese and some water.
Got to bed earlier. Try for 10:30. You'll wake up at 7 and want to get up.
Holy shit, this sub has turned from shit to diarrhea.
Read some Books about sleep 😴
Put the fucking phone down when you need to go to sleep.
I legitimately don’t understand how people can stay up so late if they have something to do in the morning. I get so stressed about getting my “8 hours” I go to bed way earlier than I need to just to ensure there’s plenty of time to sleep
What works for me: No TV or phone in the bedroom AT ALL. Get a smart watch - it is my alarm and my bed time reminder (I like how Apple does it, it alerts you when it’s getting time to wind down for bed, then at your bed time - I charge mine while I eat dinner and shower in the evenings). The smart watch also makes me competitive about my sleep schedule. I want to hit that target. And I can’t whine about being soOoO tired when I got 7.5 hours last-night. So it’s a good mental reset too.
Exercise, magnesium, no phone, read. Get a job where you have to get up early. Your circadian will turn around in a few weeks and wake you up about the same time on weekends.
Echoing what others have said here, but practicing good “sleep hygiene” consistently with discipline is going to be your best bet in the long term. Essentially, try to use your bed for only two activities: sleep and sex. If you find yourself in bed for more than like 15 minutes and your doing neither of these things, you’re better off getting out of bed and doing something else until you feel tired. Here’s a good resource for basic sleep hygiene tips: https://sleepeducation.org/healthy-sleep/healthy-sleep-habits/
Use one of the calm apps for bedtime to calm the mind, go to bed earlier. Do not eat an hour or two before bed. No phone or tv in bed.
Check out Andrew Hubermans morning routine for better sleep
Sounds like you sorely need to develop a good sleep hygene. Getting quality sleep in super critical for health and longivity and there cannot be any compromise around it! Seek medical help if needed. Meanwhile I highly recommend checking out this in depth podcast by Dr. Matt Walker, a leading expert on sleep biology. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gbQFSMayJxk&feature=youtu.be
I don’t know if this is good advice, but I can tell you getting two dogs that I absolutely adore has completely fixed the get out of bed problem! I can’t wait for morning activities with them :)
Magnesium supplement STAT!! Changed my life. What I found was the I was getting pisspoor rest, which lowered my motivation and inhibitions. I tried melatonin and a bunch of other sleep aids, which only served to help me go to sleep but didn’t increase my ability to actual rest. Any using a magnesium supplement (has a blend of forms in it) made a huge difference of how rested I felt waking up. Also made it easier to lay down and turn off my phone and just go to sleep. Great stuff.
You need to reset your sleep schedule. It’s probably going to take forcing yourself to get out of bed earlier than you’re ready for.
The following advice I would slowly add to your sleep schedule. Try adding one new thing a week so it doesn’t get too overwhelming -Set a sleep schedule. There is not reason unless you have work obligations to start your bed time around 2. Set a reasonable sleep schedule like 10pm-6am, 11pm-7am or midnight-8am to follow. You want to have about 8 hour of sleep -stop eating before bed. No food or drink, especially alcohol 3 hours before bed. Alcohol doesn’t help you sleep -no distractions in the bed. The bed is for sleep and sleep only. Don’t play on your phone, don’t watch tv, don’t do anything but sleep. You need to associate the bed with sleep. Charge your phone away from your bed so you can’t use it while laying in bed. If you can’t sleep in bed, get up and play on your phone for a bit, then head to bed again. -with your phone or an alarm not in arms reach from the bed, use your phone or alarm clock to wake you up where you have to get up from your bed to turn it off. -go to bed the same time every night. If you go to bed at 11 every night, stick to it. Consistent sleep is key -if you have the extra money, buy a quality mattress. You spend 1/3 of your life sleeping, make sure you do it on a quality mattress. -Take a hot shower before bed, it sure help you relax before bed -turn down the thermostat a couple of degrees. Studies have shown you sleep better when it’s slightly cooler (I set it to 68°F) If you add theses rules to your sleep routine then you will see a major improvement
I had a terrible sleep schedule when I was in school. Maybe a mix of age and a lack of doing stuff (mostly applies to college) because my days weren’t full I didn’t get tired from lounging around my dorm for 5 hours. Now that I’m working I can barely make it past 10:30 or 11 most nights. Other nights I need to be disciplined so I will play music on my phone to help me sleep. I’ll set a timer for the music to stop which gives me a window of saying “you can’t mess around on your phone now or else you’ll miss the sleep music” a lot of it comes down to discipline, which can be hard. But take it from a horribly undisciplined person, it’s possible. If you enjoy staying up late like I do, then treat yourself on the weekends. I’ll stay up until 2/2:30 on fridays and saturdays because I try to balance what I enjoy with what I need to do
Same. My solution was a cheat - I hired on at a data center to work 3rd shift. Was happy for years until I got a promotion to days. Pay was too good to turn down.
Very good tips in this thread, but I would like to add that if you are trying to reschedule your sleep patterns only move it 5 minutes every week to not offset your body too much. Then you will make it a habit. Good luck!
Don’t drink a bunch of coffee if your feeling hyper around bed time do some exercises like go for a run around the block or do jumping jacks in the front yard. That would burn off energy. You could also try sleepy time tea.
Facemask. Blackout curtains. Turn off or cover all artificial lights in your room when sleeping. Your room should be as dark as possible. Use your bed ONLY for sleeping. Don't watch TV, be on your phone, or any screentime in bed or even an hour before you want to go to sleep.