Sleeping patterns

[shazza]

Being a uni student and having no job, I have had no structure to govern the hours I sleep for many years now. But going to bed extremely late and rising late in response began before uni, such as in the school holidays where the computer and internet was hypnotising. In recent years I have realised the truth behind the classic proverb by Benjamin Franklin, 'Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.'

So I now battle with my potentially terrible sleeping patterns. From about late March to early May this year I had done a pretty good job, where I would go to bed about 11pm or 12am and wake up at 9am. I felt more productive, happier having more daylight, less anxious and generally more content. It's a wonderful feeling.

Sadly, with the onset of the last essays due, I have fallen victim to some pretty terrible sleeping patterns. Winter has made me rather lethargic and apathetic about a lot of things, and the procrastination of essays has made me return to a bed time of 2am, 3am and 4am. And I've been getting up now about 1pm or 2pm, regardless of me setting the alarm to 10.30am; I'll always just press snooze until it shuts off in my apathetic and tired state. It's shit. The day is almost over and I feel terrible.

To combat this, last night I slept on the couch (with my kitty) as opposed to the comfort of my bed. I got up at 11.30am which is sort've cool, but nearly not enough. I believe once I complete everything from uni, some stress will subside and I will have more time once more for self-improvement and the like.

So, what time do you guys usually sleep and wake? Do you have fluctuating sleeping patterns such as myself? Do you feel better in correlation to Benjamin Franklin's proverb, or do you prefer being a night owl? And for fun, do you guys have a song on your phone for an alarm. Mine is Beatles - I'm Only Sleeping! The lyrics fit me perfectly!

[abunaidesu]

The school semester just ended, but I was getting by on four to five hours of sleep every single night for the last few weeks leading up to finals. My dad's friend gave me a job in his restaurant for the summer and the hours are horrendous; I usually don't get home until midnight. But even now, five to six hours per night is enough to get me through the day without inundation of lethargy.

[Jeff]

I've been going to sleep past 1 lately. Internet and/or my various projects (such as the website) keep me up when I don't have to get up early for class. During the semester though, I'm usually in bed by about 11:00.

[Oslo]

Yeah, I truthfully never schedule classes for myself before 11:30 if I can help it. I will go to all sorts of extremes (giving myself night classes *shudder*) just so I don't have to get up earlier than necessary. That being said, I've been getting a lot better with my sleeping patterns; I managed to voluntarily start waking up around 9:00 each morning this past year. Like Shazza said, sleep just helps. Easy as that.

Hell Week just about killed me, though. It's that period when every class of mine expected that final paper to be handed in. I've never done all-nighters for school before and I ended up doing a couple, and let me tell you... hell. It was pure hell. Hell, hell, hell.

Ah needs mah sleeps. :O

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

I used to wake up at 5.00 or 6.00 AM in order to go to school or some other place where I'd post at TPM. That required going to sleep at 7.00 PM or something. But now I have haggled with my doctor too long and they forced me to wake up only at 8.00. Serves me right, now I can watch TV longer and stuff.

[DivineAll]

My sleeping patterns vary depending on what's going on in my life. However, I tend to make sure that I at least try to sleep before 2 in the morning and don't wake up past 9 in the morning, because I've worked late night before at my old job, and I tend to oversleep way too much for my liking if not woken up by an alarm.

[DarkestLight]

Post collegiate life has allowed me to maintain a very unorthodox sleep pattern. I remember that in college pre legal drinking age, I'd be in bed by 1. Post drinking, I'd not sleep for nights at a time-whether it was partying or studying or travelling. If I did go to sleep, I for some reason cannot sleep past 11 am. My body literally starts to ache, and I have to get up.

Nowadays, the body pains come if I sleep more than 7 hours in the winter and 5 hours in the summer. Yes-that means that if I pass out at 11 pm (like last night) I'm up at 4 and won't be sleepy 'til round 11:30-12 again. Sleep patterns are a wonderful thing.

[Asilynne]

I have to get up at 6am on the weekdays and 5am on the weekends for work, so Im often sleepy by 7-8pm, though normally I dont go to sleep til around 9-10pm. Sometimes Ill stay up near 11pm or 12am and those are the days I end up hating myself for XD And even though Im not a morning person, after a couple hours of working and getting my blood moving I dont feel like Im dragging as long as I eat.

When I was working two jobs it was much worse though, Id get up around the same time for first job, come home around 3:30pm, shower and then nap til 4:45pm so I could get to the second job by 5pm. Id get home around 10:15pm, eat a quick dinner and maybe stay up til 11-12 then go to sleep and do it all again the next day. It was hell but you can get through anything if your working towards something good.

[Telume]

My sleeping patterns are pretty nutty. I go to slee usually around 2:30 AM to 3:00 AM, though recently I've gone to sleep at around 3:30 to 4:00 and one night I even went to bed at 5:00.

I blame the fact all my classes are at night lol.

[classy_cat18]

I try to get to bed before 3 a.m. hits. I succeed most of the time nowadays, unless I've missed something fun on Adult Swim or I've been sucked into the world of the Internet. But it's not unheard of for me to go to bed after 4 a.m. and still be unable to sleep until the sun rises.

I used to have my iPod docked on my alarm clock and set to wake me up to Asian Kung-Fu Generation's "Rewrite". And turned up loud. Very effective.

[Little_Pikachu]

When I was at uni and such my sleeping patterns were pretty retarded. I would go to bed 3 - 6am and sometimes be up for class, sometimes wouldn't bother. During the holidays I would easily stay in bed until 4 or 5pm. At the time my theory was that I had nothing better to do so I might as well sleep.

When I strted a real 9-5 job I was so tired all the time I usually fell asleep at my desk and was close to getting fired on multiple occasions, luckily the work I did in the afternoon when I woke up was so pro they never took it further than a warning, but I was seriously bad, I thought I might have had Narcolepsy. But truth was I just wasn't used to being up and having to concentrate at that time of day and I was still trying to live my student life style by going to bed late (although it was more like 1-2). I had to start taking caffine tablets, I never really thought they worked before, but I guess I was just never that tired before, because they really did work and kept my head up. It took me a long time to get to the point where I was actually able to go to bed and get a decent nights sleep and actually feel better for it in the morning, but eventually I managed.

Now during the week I usually go to bed sometime between 10:30 and 12, my alarm goes off at 6:30, but I tend to abuse the snooze button for about an hour until I actually get up. Getting up is no where near as much as a struggle as it used to be though. At the weekends, if I have nothing to do I'll stay in bed until maybe 10-11, but I don't mind getting up early if there's a reason.
Although most my week days are spent at my depressing job, I still feel better just to be getting out the house and doing something with my days. If I had the choice I wouldn't go back to how I used to be.