Are you a chronic night owl? Have you been able to use your biological clock (Circadian Rhythm) to make your days/life easier?

[MoiveMarcus]

How far have you got with circadian rhythm? There is loads of content/resources that teaches how to use/miniplate your biological clock so you can change your own sleeping hours/get better sleep. Has anyone tried to implement changes to give themselves better days & mornings?

[Hidden]

Hi I generally sleep (when I can sleep) during night time hours, but could do with trying to sleep a bit earlier. Not so easy when anxiety is high and trying to stay awake as long as possible. Would be interesting in reading the literature you mentioned regarding changing body clock.

[MoiveMarcus in reply to Hidden]

do you think its your anxiety or sleep schedule/habbits that stop you from sleeping when you want to? ive done quite a bit of work looking into both i would be happy to share whats worked for me

[Hidden in reply to MoiveMarcus]

Hi. As I have a fear of sleep itself I guess it's my anxiety and fear that is causing the problem. Some nights are better than others. Also as I don't use alcohol as a coping mechanism anymore it is harder to initially fall asleep. Although being on bisoprolol due to a bout of afib does make me tired at times which kind of helps. Anything you can suggest gladly appreciated, thanks.

[rjb112 in reply to MoiveMarcus]

" ive done quite a bit of work looking into both i would be happy to share whats worked for me"

Hi, I'd love to hear what you have found and what has worked for you.

Thanks

[secrets22]

Sleep has always alluded me,and no matter what i do nothing has changed.x

[Hidden in reply to secrets22]

I find it relaxing to have the radio on quietly, when trying to sleep. I try to listen to what they are talking about, rather than think about my anxiety, and eventually it works and I fall asleep. Maybe worth you trying that!

[rjb112]

"How far have you got with circadian rhythm? There is loads of content/resources that teaches how to use/miniplate your biological clock so you can change your own sleeping hours"

I've not been able to change my circadian rhythm or change/manipulate my biological clock or sleeping hours.

I'm a chronic Night Owl and have been for very many years.

It has not seemed amenable to change.

If anything, my body wants to go to bed later and later. There's a strong tendency for that.

Even to the point of going to bed at 5 am or 6 am

Have you found anything to be successful at changing this and improving sleep and sleep schedule/Circadian Rhythm?

thanks

[MoiveMarcus in reply to rjb112]

hello, i understand you situation as i was once stuck there too, yes changing my rhythm now allows me to enjoy my days, i was in a rally bad place and felt quite depressed so i knew i had to make a change, i feel more productive but i did have to change my lifestyle quite significantly, fill my days with hobbies, enjoy the out doors more, stop watching late night tv even computer games etc, if you want i can share with you by message what i did?

[14andahalfandstable]

I tend to go to bed around midnight, sometimes 11 pm if I know I have to get up early in the morning, I read for about an hour, or until I find I'm dropping the book or am just having difficulty actually reading any more, then I listen to a guided sleep meditation on youtube via my phone. If left to my own devices I will wake/get up between 9/10 or 11 am and get up about an hour later, I normally don't want to get up unless I have places to go etc. I never feel refreshed in the morning, I am on 40 mg Amitriptyline at night, for pain mainly, and 10 mg Escitalopram in the morning, I do try to take them every day, I was on 100 mg Amitriptyline but the dry throat thing was getting on my nerves. If you can help me at all I would be really grateful. Thank you Dee

[MoiveMarcus]

hello! it sounds like you have a pretty stable sleep pattern, which is not only at a great time but also for a decent length! i don't have any experience with that medication and not to sure what kind of pain your in, im not sure how i can help, from what i understand some medication can cause lack of "refreshment" or a feeling of that kind. do you have any other issues with your sleep?

[Love4Doxies]

I am trying a reset, yet again. I've tried and will try anything; light therapy that astronauts use, sleep journal/tracker, naps/no naps, ambien, restirol, melatonin, and many more. I've been doing a reset for about a week with getting up around 6-7 am, limiting to only one nap of 30 min or less, etc. Problem I encountered is I'm still only sleeping a total of about 4 hours a night and typically waking up at least once. So after about 4 days of great productivity and success I hit a wall and due to lack of sleep became extremely sleep deprived, aggravated my narcolepsy, was delirious and ended up having to spend 1.5 days in bed. I just keep trying, but its been nearly 11 years of insomnia and I'm feeling defeated and lost. I just try and keeping looking for someway to find what works for my body and mind. Hang in there, its worth a shot.

[Metabobbly in reply to Love4Doxies]

Pretty well everyone wakes up every so often possibly in 90 min cycles. The issue is whether you get back to sleep or not.

I find it really quite complex, but I think I now understand the basic systems that are operating. However, I would not wish to give advice without understanding a lot more about anyone I am suggesting things for.

What I would say is that the time you take various supplements is really important. If I take melatonin (which I do a lot of the time) I take if after I have initially gone to sleep. What I would guess applies for you is that you are not producing enough melatonin so sleep maintenance fails and then when you wake the Cortisol Awakening Response kicks in to make it nigh on impossible to get back to sleep.

My view about melatonin differs from many of the medics in that I think it has a GABAergic effect on the neurons particularly in the hypothalamus via the Cerebral Spinal Fluid. What that means is that to have an effect will pills you need quite a high dose maintained for a period of time to build up concentration in the CSF.

There are non medical interventions you can do with sunlight. It is important to remain that the vast majority of people's eyes have non image based light sensing ganglions in the retina that pick this up.

This video does a reasonably good explanation of that with suggestions on how to handle sunlight:

youtube.com/watch?v=oUu3f0E...(Not working as expected?)

Better watch that than me try to explain it.

I do think, however, that it is clear that older people produce less melatonin and that is an issue even if you get all the circadian stuff right.

[MoiveMarcus in reply to Love4Doxies]

Hello, I wanted to ask are you suffering from insomnia or a circadian rhythm disorder (generally)? and do you suffer from narcolepsy at the same time? does stress or anything also aggravate these conditions? have you met a health care professional? id love to help but without being clear on your situation I'm worried to speak from my experience, which only really comes from circadian rhythm disorder (DPSD), insomnia and sleep anxiety. i have also gone though failed resets and its usually an awful week, and even if they were successful i only really get a decent sleeping pattern for about a fortnight after and then reverting to my usual habits so to speak