When do you go to bed?

[Josh66]

Do you go to bed when it's 'time to go to bed', or when you're tired?


On work days, I go to bed when it's 'time' - and I usually lie awake in bed for like 2 hours. If I went to bed when I was tired, I would never get enough sleep (and I would probably be late for work a lot)... I usually don't get tired till around 3AM. I get up at 5:30AM for work.


I think I need a 36 hour day for my ideal sleep schedule to work...

edit
I have to work tomorrow, and "bed time" is not far away - and I am nowhere near tired.

 

[Trever1t]

early to bed, early to rise....whether I want to or not!

 

[rgregory1965]

Bed around 12-1 am....up at 830 am to work at 2pm-10pm

 

[Josh66]

But do you go to bed then because you're tired, or because the clock says you need to go to bed?

I know when I need to go to bed to get enough sleep to function the next day - the problem is that I'm not actually tired till hours after that.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

I could stay up forever. I am a night person, not a morning person.

I have to force myself to relax, and I usually go to bed around midnight to 1AM as well.
I have 3 alarm clocks to try to wake me by 7:30, to work by 9.

My old job started at 8AM. Hated it!
I was always late. By a few minutes.
Every job I ever applied for I told them I would always be there, but I would always be late (no more than ten minutes), and if you can accept that I'm your man.

I did walk out on one interview, years ago, because he was a stickler for punctuality. He is now one of my customers LOL

 

[manaheim]

I force myself to go to bed during the week around 10:30-11. On weekends... somewhere between midnight and 2. On balance, I never get QUITE enough sleep and I've trained myself on how to fall asleep quickly anyway, so I zonk out within minutes anytime I go to bed... even if I decide to hit the sack at 9.

You really gotta train yourself to fall asleep. I managed to figure it out when I was pretty young. I don't know if my method would work for everyone, but...

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

What is your method?

I can start falling asleep watching tv, but if I get up to go to bed, I will be awake for another half hour/hour.

 

[Josh66]

You really gotta train yourself to fall asleep. I managed to figure it out when I was pretty young. I don't know if my method would work for everyone, but...

What is your method?

Sleeping pills have always kind of scared me - I've never taken one, ever.

Beer doesn't work - that just makes me more active. I know what would work, but it isn't legal. :lmao:

In the place I work, attendance is the most important thing. Attendance is pretty much the only thing that will get you fired.

I KNOW that if I went on night shift, all of my sleep problems would be solved - but I don't want to go on night shift, lol.

 

[Josh66]

So, I'm almost done with my beer, and I'm just now starting to feel it... Do I drink one more and go to bed late - or go to bed now and hope I fall asleep soon?

Either way, I'm probably going to have a hangover ... ****ing cheap beer. I need to start drinking better beer again soon...

I know that I could stay up, but then I'll just be hung over and tired all day. I could do that 10 years ago - it's not quite that easy now, lol...

 

[Derrel]

I go to bed when I am tired. I used to have trouble falling asleep sometimes, but these days that is exceptionally rare. I need about 7 hours and 15 minutes of sleep. weird, how it has been that amount of sleep for many years, across a wide range of situations.

 

[camz]

Dude I mean this in the classiest sense. After I play with my toys, the kids and some online poker...I play with the wifey

 

[Josh66]

I just opened another beer - and I am almost certainly going to have a hangover (any good cures for that? ...Other than another beer.)

I'll call tonight an experiment. I'll stay up past my bedtime tonight and see how I feel tomorrow.

I haven't been late for work in over 2 years... I do spend a lot of time staring at the ceiling in bed though. I'm hoping that drinking beer and browsing the forums = staring at the ceiling.

edit
I try to go to bed around 10. Usually, I don't fall asleep till around 12...

 

[Josh66]

Dude I mean this in the classiest sense. After I play with my toys, the kids and some online poker...I play with the wifey

LOL, that would be nice, but she's out of town right now. Getting to sleep is definitely a lot harder when she isn't home.

 

[o hey tyler]

Never.

 

[manaheim]

You really gotta train yourself to fall asleep. I managed to figure it out when I was pretty young. I don't know if my method would work for everyone, but...

What is your method?

Sleeping pills have always kind of scared me - I've never taken one, ever.

Beer doesn't work - that just makes me more active. I know what would work, but it isn't legal. :lmao:

In the place I work, attendance is the most important thing. Attendance is pretty much the only thing that will get you fired.

I KNOW that if I went on night shift, all of my sleep problems would be solved - but I don't want to go on night shift, lol.

heh, ok...

So...

1. I always start in the exact same position, and it is never a position that is how I ultimately wind up asleep. Years ago I used to start on my back, though for some reason in a recent time of serious stress, I switched to my side. Couldn't tell you why.

2. I force myself to not think about anything. This is generally the hardest thing to learn how to do. Most people I know who have sleep problems generally have their minds going a mile a minute... and after particular rough days, this is the major challenge even for me, but the key is you must NOT think about things. You have to clear your mind. One thing I do sometimes is I try to focus very hard on the blackness I see behind my eyelids. Do nothing but stare at the backs of 'em and think about nothing but the blackness. It takes practice, but you can do it.

3. After a couple minutes, when I feel I'm starting to drift (I usually know it's happening because I stop thinking about nothing and start having REALLY bizarre thoughts that I can only assume are the precursors to dreams), I flip over onto whatever position I usually sleep best in (for me, my stomach, one leg hitched up, one arm under the pillow, one arm over it, head turned to the left), and pass out.

4. On ANY occasion where I am not able to fall asleep in 30 minutes or less, I get up and go watch some mindless TV for an hour and try again. TRYING to sleep is pretty much pointless. The harder you try, the less likely you are to zonk out, IMO. Better to go do something low-energy and low-attention.

I'm not sure, but I think a part of this is that I have a very specific and VERY consistent routine each night.

And again, I think all of this takes practice. It's not necessarily going to work on the first night.

A friend of mine actually learned to clear his mind through meditation, and once he had that down he could fall asleep in minutes where it used to take him a couple hours.

Frankly, I don't get how anyone puts up with it taking multiple hours to fall asleep. I'd rather get up and use the time and be tired the next day. Better odds of falling asleep when you're tired anyway.