Change Me Into A Morning Person Please!

I want to be a morning person. It would be better for my work and better overall for myself. However... I cannot even contemplate sleep until nearly midnight. I take tylenol pm every night and still have difficulty falling asleep. In the morning I find it extremely difficult to wake up early. My ideal sleeping hours seem to be somewhere around 12 am to 9 am, give or take some in both of those times. Often I only need 8 good hours of sleep if I get it uninterrupted.

Often I wake up around 4-6 am and am awake for two or more hours before falling back asleep.

Does anyone else have these problems? Are there any good ways to fix this? It feels like I am naturally just a night person at this point in my life. I'm self employed, so I don't have to be up at any certain time... thus I allow myself to sleep when it feels best to me. But, it would be better if I could comfortably adjust this.

Wow I almost thought I had typed this out. I'm in the same boat where I've gotten myself so out of whack that I'm no longer a morning person. I am very fortunate that my employer is accommodating of me, but it is obvious that I should try to be a early riser to fit in with the rest of the employees.

I'm partly concerned that I'm just not getting restful sleep the longer I have to deal with UC. There is some degree of hopelessness in the morning trying to actually get out of bed since I'm often dreading the commute to work.

I'm like that too. Sooooo tired at like 7:30 pm thought but then get a second wind and am at my most productive in the late evening. Always have been. My ideal job would start at 10am... Unfortunately, as a teacher, I need to be at school around 8am. I force myself to go to bed around 10pm so I can get up at 6am but it's not natural for me.

I think part of the trick is consistency at bed time - find something that helps put you to sleep, (for me it's reading.. ) try to get off the tylenol (body it probably too used to it)

Or just embrace that you have the luxury of following your natural bodily clock! :)

Listen to your body's internal clock. Everyone has their own circadian rhythm. It can be reset over time, but it's difficult. But it's important to go to bed the same time every night and get up the same time. Your body will tell you how many hours you need. For me, I don't feel fully rested unless I get 9 hours. When I was younger, it was 6 hours. So it can change over time.

Check out what Bgirl and aguywithUC posted in the L-threonine thread. (Sorry if we hijacked it from threonine to magnesium.)

www.healingwell.com/community/default.aspx?f=38&m=2561514

Thoreau, do you have naps during the day at all? It's okay to have them but only very short ones, cuz napping too long can also really interfere with a good night's sleep as well.

You'll never totally change, for it's hardwired into your very being. I'm a night owl, came from night owl parents and extended family..yikes!

But, changing your habits will help tremendously, and you'll have to be 100% regimented to the schedule.

You can consider to try a sleep/wake-up light...Philips makes them.

I think I'm doing awesome by getting to bed before 3AM...working on it.

Happy zzzzz's.
q

I use soothing meditation type music to lull me into sleep.
Have downloaded some from Amazon and put it on CDs.
Have a cheap CD player near my bed and turn it on when I first get to bed and any time I get up during the night.

I try not to watch anything too disturbing like crime/violent shows on TV just before bedtime. Better if it's lite drama or comedy.
Agree about not eating/drinking for a few hours before bedtime.

If I wake up too early, I have some healing/meditation message sound tracks on an MP3 player I can listen to.
Usually put me back to sleep.

Thanks to everyone for replying to this. I had no idea I'd get 14+ responses to a simple question!

I'm a night person naturally, but my life would benefit from getting up earlier and working more while my customers are actually open! Haha. I'll try getting up at a regular time for a while and see if I can get in the habit.

It's funny that some people say not to eat for a few hours before bed. Eating puts me to sleep more than it keeps me awake it seems. If I can't sleep I go have a sandwich and some tea. It definitely helps.

I'd reply more but ironically I'm tired at the moment. It's been a long week. I've read through everyone's responses here and agree on a lot of things. Exercise, regular routine... and quincy's acceptance that we are who we are sometimes! haha. Thanks everyone!

So much for my 2 tips lol...another one is, a hot bath works for me everytime...super relaxing for my body and mind...give it a shot a few nights in a row if you're still struggling...best of luck!

Hahaha... age 2, huh Old Hat?

Duly noted about the Tylenol PM. I've always told doctors/nurses that I take it pretty regularly and nobody has said anything. I found it to be more of a necessity, but I'll be trying to wean myself off of it here now and see what happens. I was mostly just REALLY needing sleep to help heal and wasn't able to stay asleep, and the tylenol pm proved to allow me the sleep I needed. I haven't tried to get off it in a while now...

depends on who falls asleep first..lol.

or are you alone?

q

either way