Sleep, the innocent sleep, sleep that knits up the ravel'd sleeve of care

to sleep after 10 am in the morning is not good in my opinion. How can you be tired for the night?
I am an early riser as it happens and go to bed at midnight.

If you want to turn this around, I suggest you don't take a nap during the day, if you are in the habit of doing so.

Then set you alarm for an hour earlier than you are waking of your own accord and get up immediately it rings.

The next day set it an hour earlier than the previous day.

If you are tired earlier in the evening, go to bed then.

This works for me, so I hope it will for you too.

I've suffered from sleepless nights for years and tried everything. I start work at 5am and need to get up at 4am so I often go to work without any sleep. During this last year I decided to try all the things I've already tried a million times before and my sleep pattern has got so much better. I think it's a combination of taking VitD, decaf tea and a lavender spray put on my pillow. I'm not really a fan of the lavender smell but put up with it anyway. I can still get the odd sleepless night but my sleep has improved greatly and I'm averaging about 5 and a half hours a night and sometimes I even get 7 which I don't think I've had since I was a teenager. I also think getting out for a walk during the light hours is a must, we do get some in Glasgow, even if it's in the rain I walk for 30 mins a day. I did notice you said that you felt tired and went to bed, read for a while and when you put the light out couldn't get to sleep. I found if I did this I didnt get to sleep either but if I just tried to sleep straightaway I did. I think it was because I made myself overtired. Good luck, I hope you find whatever works for you soon.

I can't sleep so just hoovered

Pity you can't move into a different time zone such as OZ or NZ! just now!
Why not use your "awake" time usefully as Winston was said to do and join the "Night Owls" thread?
It will help take your mind off any problems you may have!
Sweet Dreams
OoRoo

I frequently have spells like this take advice from the thread if it bothers you but you are getting a good restful sleep so not really unhealthy

GoldenAge

LadyHonoria - you're right, it's not healthy - there's lots of research into the damage to mental health caused by the sleeping patterns of shift workers. Essentially you should sleep when it's dark, and be be awake and functioning when it's light. Your body needs natural light and this last year when people have been without holidays in the sunshine has shown itself to have been damaging to our levels of vitamin D3. Advice given to clients - Prepare to go to bed at 1000 pm. No reading on or off a screen unless it's a paper back and something light - no thrillers. In bed at 11.00 with the light off. Set the alarm for 7 or 8. If you don't fall asleep, get up and walk about, then back to bed, repeat until you fall asleep. When the alarm goes off at 7 or 8 get up - even though you're tired, you must get up and do what you have to do - do not allow yourself to nap in the day and follow the same pattern as the previous day. In about four days you will be sleeping normally in the night and awake in the day. This change to your body rhythm is in your hands. Melatonin will help but you shouldn't take this unless you get it from your GP. Good luck.

I went to bed at 9 last night because I felt tired. I read for a while - I'm getting into the 'Golden Age' crime fiction of Ngaio Marsh so nothing demanding, and in paperback form. And as somebody else said about herself, as soon as I put the light out and my head hit the pillow I was wide awake. According to Xi Jinping (the Huawei fitness monitor round my wrist) I eventually dropped off at 3.49am and then slept soundly for 8 hours. There's nothing wrong with my actual sleep, it's getting to sleep at a sensible time that's the problem!

Seajaye

I have had issues with sleep pattern previously, all connected with anxiety. Perhaps Covid isolation/ loneliness, and boredom may be affecting your brain patterns. I found some daily exercise, a daily routine for the day to include a regular breakfast time and bedtime, and not eating late at night. Make sure your bedroom is a TV, laptop, phone free zone. It's worth reading up on resetting body clock and sleep hygiene.

I think Covid isolation has a great deal to do with it. I could cope in the summer. Not so much in January.

Download Insight timer it’s free. Use Sleep Hypnosis with Jony Baker it works for me x

Where would one buy Mango Kush from, I wonder.

I wish i could sleep until midday. What a luxury.
If the op want to sleep that long, then good luck to her.
When the lighter mornings arrive I think your sleep patterns will change. But yes, do try to get out for a walk at some point during the day. Do you go out at all?

Tooyoungytobeagrandma

I got rid of my husband, worked really well for my sleep pattern

I can see what a help that might be but I can't do it in my current domestic arrangements. And there's no way I'm getting rid of the Management.

J4ne

I think it does matter, that we are awake for most of the daylight hours, for vitamin D absorption. A broken hip I do not want!

I do have my Vitamin D supplement, as a shielding person, thanks to the Scottish government. Is that available in England too? Of course Vitamin D deficiency is a big problem in Scotland anyway, with the short (and often dreich) days in winter. Long, lazy summer evenings in summer make up for that a lot but a Glasgow January can be a wee bit grim! The sun has shone brightly for the last couple of days, mind.

Catlover21

Chill, don’t worry about it. You just happen to be keeping the same time as the west coast of America. They will all be asleep when you are! To get back to UK time you will probably get jet lag! If it’s not bothering anyone else there isn’t a problem

Back in the day when I was married to an American and visited in-laws in Upstate NY a couple of times a year I found the best solution to jet lag was to return on the Sunday night redeye and go straight to work on arrival, trying to get through the day as well as possible before going to bed at London bedtime. But my body has slowed down a lot since then.

Thank you for all the suggestions. I'll certainly try the ones that don't cost an arm and a leg!

Bad sleeper here too. Dog gets 2 long walks a day, I don't drink anything but water past 3pm, go to bed and read til eyes droop normally 11pm and 1-2 hrs later I'm lying awake again. This goes on all night long until I see 6.30-7am and I'm up again. Never have been a good deep sleeper, think my wee mind needs to turn off really. I'm even worse when I go on hols, etc, although I would take 3 hrs sleep a night if I could go on a lovely holiday now....next time shopping I'm trying the Pukka night tea that a gran suggested the other day.

Have your alarm go off at say 9 am and get up no matter what or how you feel. Go to bed at your normal time. Keep the same wake up time for 3 days and then gradually make it earlier only slightly though say 15 mins then 30 mins until you reach a time you feel is "normal" for you. It won't happen quickly, you have to give your body and mind time to adjust. Hope it works out for you.

I have the same problem and it has got worse during lockdown. I have now learnt to accept this and feel that this is just how my body clock is. I too am retired and so I never make appointments in the morning if I can help it and I like to get up leisurely and just do everything I need to do later in the day. Does it matter if you get up at 10am? My sister, of a similar age, has always been an early riser and by midday she is bored out of her mind. I prefer my lifestyle.

Have you tried getting up at 6:00am even though you haven’t slept. If you can reset your body clock this way it might work, although you might feel rather like a zombie all day and go to bed a little earlier. Also Lush Sleepy Body cream is lovely, my DM who is 98 swears by it, rubs some into her arms every night.

I thought it was just me with a sleep cycle out of synch. Maybe it’s something to do with aging? It’s very annoying not sleeping till 4 am or 5 am although I do get up around 10.00 am. I am taking an antihistamine at night now - not sure if they work and I’ve kept a kind of sleep diary for the last week in case I need to do sleep restriction. After 7 nights falling asleep at the hours above, I did actually fall asleep within half an hour of turning my light off around 1.15 am and woke naturally after 8 hours sleep. Maybe it is just a phase. Don’t worry about it but also I would set your alarm for a reasonable wake-up time so you don’t waste a while morning.

I've had the identical sleep pattern for some years LadyHonoriaD - way before lockdown - mine started because I have (amongst other issues) Sleep Apnoea and have to sleep with a mask attached to a machine. I found it claustrophobic and couldn't get to sleep with it on unless completely knackered &/or with a nightly Nytol! Luckily I work from home - I run a small business - and managed to 'flexi' my working hours to fit my dilemma - but it does cause problems tho most of the time it works. I have tried and tried to break the habit - I'm much easier with the mask now (after about 8 years I ought to be!) but I still get the occasional glitch. I'm mainly off the Nytol but still am stuck in the "sleep around 3am get up eventually at c. 11/12 am!" cycle. It used to be worse - and occasionally better - depending... but I can't work unless I've had enough sleep - so I have to sleep until I feel ready to cope. I'm 74. I have read ALL the articles and seen all the programmes re sleep and nothing helps break my cycle. My job is pretty sedentary I have to admit and currently I'm self-isolating and live very near the centre of town which doesn't help - I feel going for walks in this situation is what I need to do - but am wary of this as many of the locals take little or no precautions against Covid. Also I have asthma and find mask wearing a trial. So I just accept the situation and live with it, until I can find a solution...

In the last thread on this topic a special 'sleep tea' was mentioned that can be bought at the supermarket. Can anyone remember what make of it was and what it was called?

A few years ago there was a series of programmes on BBC about sleep. A couple of things I remember are that it is not the warm bath that makes you sleepy but the drop in body temperature that does the trick. Is your room too hot? Though you wouldn't want to be cold. Another thing was how to reset your body clock. Go to bed earlier than you have been doing. If you can't sleep, actually get up for half an hour and do something tedious before going back to bed. Also set your alarm for the time you want to get up and, regardless of how tired you are or how little sleep you have had, make yourself get up. It will be a very gradual process and will take weeks or even months, but apparently it works. It may be worth contacting a sleep clinic for advice.

LadyHonoria - you're right, it's not healthy - there's lots of research into the damage to mental health caused by the sleeping patterns of shift workers. Essentially you should sleep when it's dark, and be be awake and functioning when it's light. Your body needs natural light and this last year when people have been without holidays in the sunshine has shown itself to have been damaging to our levels of vitamin D3. Advice given to clients - Prepare to go to bed at 1000 pm. No reading on or off a screen unless it's a paper back and something light - no thrillers. In bed at 11.00 with the light off. Set the alarm for 7 or 8. If you don't fall asleep, get up and walk about, then back to bed, repeat until you fall asleep. When the alarm goes off at 7 or 8 get up - even though you're tired, you must get up and do what you have to do - do not allow yourself to nap in the day and follow the same pattern as the previous day. In about four days you will be sleeping normally in the night and awake in the day. This change to your body rhythm is in your hands. Melatonin will help but you shouldn't take this unless you get it from your GP. Good luck.

Breathe deeply and slowly like you are asleep and count backwards.

I would suggest getting into a routine of getting up earlier even if you've had hardly any sleep. A few days might get you settled into a pattern

I've never been a good sleeper either. I was on sleeping tablets repeatedly prescribed by the doctor when they did that sort of thing, for 25 years, from the age of 25 until 50. I didn't find they helped and only got about 4 hours of sleep anyway and had to get up at 7 am to get kids ready for school and then go to work full time myself. I did not feel tired anyway. So I just took myself off the pills and I did not sleep any worse. 30 years later I conclude that I am one of the lucky ones who do not require 7 or 8 hours sleep. Its a myth that we all need a lot of sleep in order to function.