One night owl asks can you change your body clock?

[Alexa]

Hi everyone,

well it's half past midnight here and as usual these days I can't sleep!

I am research student i.e. very flexible hours working at home and I find that I consistently drift into a pattern of late nights and late mornings. If I try to go to bed earlier I lay awake listening to my BF snore for hours but come the morning I would practically kill for another hours sleep! I always ignore my good intentions and lie in, any alarm is simply turned off...

Thing is, I'd love to be a lovely, functional, busy morning-type person. Do you think you can change your natural body clock and if so how?

Also, my whole family (except my Mum) are just like me

Perhaps I should just go with the flow and work late?

[julirama723]

Re: One night owl asks can you change your body clock?

I'm a night owl too, but unfortunately, I have to get up early. The biggest factor with this?

DON'T SLEEP IN!

The first day will be hard, but you've got to get up early, whatever time you set for yourself. Do not take a nap, even if you're tired.

The key here is not that you wake up late, but that you go to bed late. Your body is programmed to want to sleep a certain number of hours, and will set its timer accordingly. The first few days you'll still be awake quite late, but eventually your body will begin to tell you that you're ready for bed sooner than you think!

I am a TOTAL night owl, and in school and college, I was able to keep up my ways, staying up until 1 or 2am, and getting up for class at 9am. NOW, my bf gets up at 5am for work, and basically I do too. But the flip side is that we go to bed around 9pm.

If you're trying to figure out how to stay up late and wake up early--that's a recipe for disaster...or at least exhaustion. So, start waking up EARLY (don't ignore the alarm!) and eventually your bedtime will adjust.

[Alexa]

Re: One night owl asks can you change your body clock?

Good advice,

but the problem is I turn into a monster in the morning, I would literally do anything to just turn off the alarm and sleep longer! When I was a teenager I used to put the alarm clock in a bag, in a box on a high shelf so by the time I got to it I'd be awake and wouldn't want to go back to bed! This doesn't work anymore.

I need someone to walk in clanging dustbin lids together, throwing water at me and dragging me out of my pit.

But I know you're right, I need to force myself up. Urghhhh.....

I read somewhere it is pointless to try to become a lark if you're an owl, but people with early starting jobs would disagree I guess.

Right, I'm off to try and get to sleep. I'll set my alarm for early (ish)

[Ayria]

Re: One night owl asks can you change your body clock?

I've always had trouble sleeping pretty much. Last December I started working overnight with my bf and it was so easy, and I loved having a whole day open after getting out of work at 8am-noonish. The only issue is you do *try* to sleep earlier and so you miss out on prime time tv shows, news, other people's going out times, etc. I quit in August but my bf still works at 1am, so I try to sleep but lay there sleepless a lot too. I think if I increased my activity level by a lot during the day I'd probably sleep better at the end of it.

[Lady_Hawke]

Re: One night owl asks can you change your body clock?

I'm a night owl too. Its 3:56 am by me right now, I do need to get to bed.....and be up by 6:50 am! ARGH!!!!!! let me know if it works changing your inner clock....I can not even imagine myself as a morning person. The sun sets and I come alive!
I remember this poem someone put on my desk at work years ago.....I felt bad for the bird but laughed and laughed. I thought I'd share.....


THE MORNING POEM (R)

I woke early one morning,
The earth lay cool and still
When suddenly a tiny bird
Perched on my window sill,
He sang a song so lovely
So carefree and so gay,
That slowly all my troubles
Began to slip away.
He sang of far off places
Of laughter and of fun,
It seemed his very trilling,
brought up the morning sun.
I stirred beneath the covers
Crept slowly out of bed,
Then gently shut the window
And crushed his fcuking head.

I am not a morning person.

[Alexa]

Re: One night owl asks can you change your body clock?

Ayria - that is a serious night shift!

Lol! I like the poem Lady Hawke. I could never stay up that late and get up at 6.50am!

I'm going to try Juli's idea, I know it makes sense. Though I was kind of hoping someone would say 'don't try, it's not worth it'! I will also try some stuff I found on the web - too have a nice hot bath and what my sister told me - no TV for an hour before bed (apparently it can set up the wrong patterns in the brain for sleep).

I'll let you know how it goes!