Reversed sleep schedule

[UberScout]

I actually hate when this happens, I hate having backwards schedules because when daylight hits only then do I need sleep. I'm sipping coffee right now just trying to stay awake.

Can anyone relate?

 

[Misery]

I can do worse than that:

I have a ROTATING sleep schedule. It doesnt really stop.

Right now I'm entering the "night" side of the cycle, but not quite there yet. So I got up at like 5PM and will go to bed at... er... 8 AM? It gets a little confusing.

Granted it wasnt entirely intentional to be that late just yet. I had been getting up around 1PM two days ago. But then a plane trip happened, and that shoved it forward faster than normal, so it was 5PM today.

I dont really get sleepy though. But still, having it be constantly shifting like that is annoying. Causes trouble.

 

[onlything]

I can do worse than that:

I have a ROTATING sleep schedule. It doesnt really stop.

Right now I'm entering the "night" side of the cycle, but not quite there yet. So I got up at like 5PM and will go to bed at... er... 8 AM? It gets a little confusing.

Granted it wasnt entirely intentional to be that late just yet. I had been getting up around 1PM two days ago. But then a plane trip happened, and that shoved it forward faster than normal, so it was 5PM today.

I dont really get sleepy though. But still, having it be constantly shifting like that is annoying. Causes trouble.

Ah, travel-related sleep problems. It reminds me of that sleep disorder where a person would sleep for more than the average 8 hours per night and then stay awake longer than the average 16 which ends up in a sleep cycle which is more than 24 hours long. That would be highly troublesome as well.

 

[Misery]

Ah, travel-related sleep problems. It reminds me of that sleep disorder where a person would sleep for more than the average 8 hours per night and then stay awake longer than the average 16 which ends up in a sleep cycle which is more than 24 hours long. That would be highly troublesome as well.

Actually that's pretty much what it is. It's just that if I have to travel, that particular day gets pushed forward even more than it normally would be.

But even not travelling, I will continue to cycle. Just not in huge 5 hour increments.

 

[tducey]

I'm usually a good sleeper but went through jet lag for a couple weeks following a recent vacation. Over it now though.

 

[Night Owl]

Yes I am like this too...right now I am wide awake after being so tired all day. I think my sleeping pattern would be...sleep at 5am and wake at 1pm every day....if I had not had to force myself to get up at socially acceptable times. Even if I were to get up really early, everyone imagines I will be really tired and have an early night...but no....I will get to sleep about 5am just the same. I have spent my weekends just trying to catch up on sleep all of my life!

 

[Gracey]

I tend to sleep in what I call rolling shift pattern.

A little similar to @Misery above.

Mine appears to have little to do with how long I’ve been awake.

Over the years I have tried various ‘sleep training’ methods with little success.

I have no desire to get addicted to sleeping tablets or other alternative (illegal) drugs.

It’s been this way for as long as I can remember.
(School/college/work was a nightmare)

My circadian rhythm isn’t set like some people.
Just the way it is.

 

[SusanLR]

I'm an Owl, too.
I get sleepy at 4 am and sleep until noon.
I just can't get to sleep earlier than 3 am.
If I have to make some appointment in the mornings, I'm wiped out.
Thankfully I'm retired and can sleep until noon most of the time and set appointments for
late afternoons.

It's a fact some people's circadian rhythms are opposites.
Early Birds and Night Owls.

 

[Progster]

I really don't have any choice about when I sleep because I work both morning and evening, so I'm in bed by midnight, but I use to work afternoon/evening only and my sleep schedule was something like 2am to 10am.

 

[JDShredds]

Hahahaha... sorry. I'm laughing with you, not at you. This plagued my life all the way until my late 20's. I had either/or a reverse (nocturnal) schedule, or a rotating schedule. I genuinely believe my body clock is tuned to 25 hours. Always has been.

In my teen years and 20's, I was usually the guy people had to make special arrangements to visit because I wasn't awake during what I liked to call "normal people hours."

The last few years I've gotten a grip on it. I like to rise in the morning (it takes a dedicated decision, an alarm clock, discipline, correct house temperature AND coffee to make this work for me). But if one day I decided "I'm going to let my BODY call the shots." Yeah no, my schedule would rotate incessantly. But I hate that. For one: I can't be productive or get anything done with that kind of schedule (and that's hard enough for me as it is), and two: a lack of consistency in my schedule leads me to destabilization, more problems with mood disorders/depression, and a lack of predictability in my day to day rituals (which help keep me sane).

Night owl in heart and body, but my brain says walk it off and rise with the birds. And I do. Reluctantly and grumpily.

 

[Gracey]

I can still rise to greet a glorious sunrise,
If I just happen to be in that phase of my continuously changing sleep cycles.

I can wake to a set alarm in the morning initially,
I can’t explain why; after maybe a week or two, I no longer hear this alarm, or I’ve pressed the off button in my sleep ?


After which follows a fear of not waking up, guilt over letting others down, frustration on wondering what the hell is wrong with me and if left to fester,
can result in staying awake so as not to miss an appointment, meeting, interview, work etc.

 

[Night Owl]

I can still rise to greet a glorious sunrise,
If I just happen to be in that phase of my continuously changing sleep cycles.

I can wake to a set alarm in the morning initially,
I can’t explain why; after maybe a week or two, I no longer hear this alarm, or I’ve pressed the off button in my sleep ?


After which follows a fear of not waking up, guilt over letting others down, frustration on wondering what the hell is wrong with me and if left to fester,
can result in staying awake so as not to miss an appointment, meeting, interview, work etc.

I too can sleep right through an alarm...I had to set two in my bedroom..one really far from the bed so I had to walk to it to turn it off ... but still had to resort to getting people to ring me on the phone me as well....! I ended up having to get up before my other half left for work and drink endless coffee, so i could get the kids up and ready for school. I was undiagnosed then and had no idea why i couldnt just be like everyone else. I also felt huge guilt and worried so much about getting to places I also stayed awake all night.!.
Then forward to becoming a grandma and seeing the same pattern in my grandson, who was later diagnosed with autism! He no longer has to attend school in the morning's as he was literally falling asleep in class! So school is trailing just afternoon sessions for a while...he is a much happier little boy!. Seeing his struggles mirrored my own,and all that I hid from the world and caused me to realise I may also be autistic. I no longer work and I can get up later whenever I want to, but knowing I am in bed, while my partner is sitting alone for a huge chunk of the day makes me feel I very guilty.

 

[Gracey]

My husband was/is up and out to work with the dawn chorus.
He could ring me, I’d rarely hear it.

I did try the alarm at the other end of the room.
Didn’t hear it they only continue for so long.

One of the best alarm clocks I found was my babies - when they were new born,
Or an old-school type alarm clock with two metal half circles on top and an arm that continuously vibrates between them.

It was only effective because it startled the life out of me.
I was awake because my fight or flight response was triggered

Effective but Not advisable




I’m pleased to read your grandson is much happier now. Great news

 

[Night Owl]

Yes ... I recognise the old style alarm clock....that was the second one in the corner of the bedroom ! Babies always woke me up too !