Okay, here's the deal. I haven't had a solid sleeping pattern since I was about 15 years old. Yes, that's half my life. Sleeping well is supposed to be a good part of fitness and bodybuilding, and the only part that is lacking for me. Therefore, I've decided to use this forum to change that bad habit.

The challenge is as follows:

- Set a time at which you want to lie in bed (for me: 23:00)

- Set a time at which you want to get up (for me: 8:00)

Make sure you allow yourself enough time to brush your teeth, shower, and stuff like that before you go to bed. I'm going to start preparing at 22:00.

I've been punishing myself for not going to bed on time, by not allowing myself to work out the next day (for me, that's punishment). I'll be keeping that up.

Anyone want to join in and improve their sleep?

I`ll be the first one to join you for this.

I really need to start getting my 8 hours of sleep every night. All week i`ve only had about 5.5 to 6 hours and yesterday I got 3.5. My body is shutting down.

Time I want to be in bed : 22:30
Time I want to wake up : 06:30

I am in....

sleepy sleep @ 10am
rise and shine @ 6am

great idea. sleep is so important to fitness and overall mental health

I am totally in on this....
in bed 11:00 PM
Awake 5:30 AM

Going to use ZMA

This is one I really need too! I'd like to join in.
11 p.m. - 6 a.m.
What about weekends? I can't do the same time on Sunday mornings. Am I already disqualified??

I do need to be better about my sleep!

This is one I really need too! I'd like to join in.
11 p.m. - 6 a.m.
What about weekends? I can't do the same time on Sunday mornings. Am I already disqualified??

:lol:

Sunday mornings are an exception. Cheat day! ;)

:lol:

Sunday mornings are an exception. Cheat day! ;)


Hooray!! :) I'm ready!

Hooray!! :) I'm ready!

Good luck! :tu:

I'm showered and ready to hit the sack! I'm looking forward to see how you guys will do in a few hours!

Nighty night! :cool:

had my Friday night Bistro tonight (cheat day). Some Guinness, pizza (john stone orginal, HA) and some chips. I off to bed! 47 minutes late....

Okay, that went as expected: I woke up twice during the night because I drank too much soy milk before going to sleep, have to change that tonight. I woke up at 7:00 dreaming that my armpit was heavily licked by a horse, it was painful. :lol:
I snoozed and got up at 7:30. I think I'm not going to do that from now on, so my normal get up time will probably be 7:00. :tu:

Count me in guys!!!

Most of the time I try to go to bed by 11pm and wake up at 7am... but sometimes I have to work late like today, I got off at 1am so I'm trying to get 8hrs every night. We'll see how it goes :D

ooh damn!!! 4.02am :( I'm goin to bed now :D

ooh damn!!! 4.02am :( I'm goin to bed now :D

Why does your status say ONLINE then? It's 4.27am by your time! :mad:

Get some sleep man! Don't get into the negative spiral like many people...

I did get 8 hours of sleep yesterday. Didn't go to bed as early as I should of but I still got my 8 hours. :)

I went to bed around 1 am (yea should of been 11pm) but I did wake up at 9am. So I did acheive 8 hours sleep. On Friday and Saturday I think I will go to bed around 10 pm and wake up around 7am to give me self a hour extra.

My main concern is during the work week. When I do not get enough sleep I am not sharp and often cruise on auto pilot. The plan will be to start a routine. Around 9:15pm - 9:30pm I will brush and floss :) , clean up the room a bit and either start trying some mediatation to relax my mind or read a book to induce sleep.

That's my plan!

Okay, you bunch of slackers! ;)

The challenge is NOT to get enough hours of sleep, because I always do that. The challenge is to set a time at night and a time in the morning at which you go to sleep and wake up. The only way you can deviate from those times is either by going to bed or getting out of bed early.

If you want to get a good sleeping rhythm, it's essential that you get up at the time you would get up when you would've gone to bed on time. That way, you will be tired enough at night.

Sorry to sound stern, but I want this to work for me, and for that I need only the most dedicated people! :lol:

Okay, you bunch of slackers! ;)

The challenge is NOT to get enough hours of sleep, because I always do that. The challenge is to set a time at night and a time in the morning at which you go to sleep and wake up. The only way you can deviate from those times is either by going to bed or getting out of bed early.

If you want to get a good sleeping rythm, it's essential that you get up at the time you would get up when you would've gone to bed on time. That way, you will be tired enough at night.

Sorry to sound stern, but I want this to work for me, and for that I need only the most dedicated people! :lol:

Well you also have to consider that this is a weekend. People tend to stay up later. I'm sure everyone will fall on track once Sunday nights rolls around.

Well you also have to consider that this is a weekend. People tend to stay up later. I'm sure everyone will fall on track once Sunday nights rolls around.

:tu:

Okay, someone called me during my evening shower... going to bed right now... :cool:

Snowman - where do you live. I see you posted at 5:05pm!

^^ lol indeed ...

I'm going to bed by 12am tonight :D

Why does your status say ONLINE then? It's 4.27am by your time! :mad:

Get some sleep man! Don't get into the negative spiral like many people...


One of the post caught my attention and was reading it :o

Thanks for the reminder man :tu:

Snowman - where do you live. I see you posted at 5:05pm!

The Netherlands, so the time difference is 6 hours. :-) 5:05pm would be too early, even for this challenge! :lol:

This morning, I woke up at 7:47am (I'll post am or pm because you guys seem to find that easier, for me, it's the other way around :D ). I woke up once, around 4:00am, because I had to pee. I won't drink anything after 8:30pm today!

I'm up for this challenge... although maybe I should have been up for it a little earlier.

I start a temp job on Thursday and will have to be there for 8:30am. So I need to leave the house at about 8am. So I'll aim for 7am waking.

I want to wake up naturally if I can, but I'll set my alarm for 7am as a safety measure. I'll aim to be in bed by 10pm and then if I wake up earlier than 7, all is good.

I guess I will have to make alterations when I go out late, but I much prefer daytime activities so that shouldn't happen as much as it does with other people.

Friday night I was a little off 11:30 p.m. - 6:30 a.m.
Saturday night I was coming down with a cold and a sinus infection, so I was sleeping on and off from 11 p.m. to 10 a.m.!

I'm going to the doctor tomorrow, and I may have to change my sleep challenge to 10 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. at least for a week or 2 for the purpose of getting better.

I'd like to thank my boss for returning from vacation to cough all over me.... :lol:

Is it too late to join? I have had sleep cycle problems all my life. And I am stuggling to get back after a summer of until 3:00AM's/

My game plan is in bed by 10:30, asleep by 11:00 and up at 7:00. I am already late. But I ma in bed the earliest I have been in months.

Is it too late to join? I have had sleep cycle problems all my life. And I am stuggling to get back after a summer of until 3:00AM's/

My game plan is in bed by 10:30, asleep by 11:00 and up at 7:00. I am already late. But I ma in bed the earliest I have been in months.

Welcome Justitia!! We just started Friday night (yea great night to start) most important for me is the work week.

Glad you joined, Justitia!
It's never too late to join in, I want this challenge to last for many weeks, maybe even months, until I'm totally back on a normal sleeping schedule. One tip: getting up is the most important thing. Even if you go to bed too late, still get up at the time you would have gotten up. That way you force yourself into the rhythm. Good luck! :tu:

I had a visitor last night, so I couldn't get to sleep until midnight. Slept till 8:00am, so at least I did get in eight hours. It's abs day anyway. ;)

I could not sleep very well last night and woke up too early, before 5. Boooooooo! Bad. :( I didn't think of a punishment for myself, 10 lashes with a wet noodle? Or perhaps being sick and not being able to sleep when I want to is punishment enough.... ;)

I could not sleep very well last night and woke up too early, before 5. Boooooooo! Bad. :( I didn't think of a punishment for myself, 10 lashes with a wet noodle? Or perhaps being sick and not being able to sleep when I want to is punishment enough.... ;)

Awwww poor you! Just make sure you don't sleep in the afternoon, so you can get to sleep tonight! Get well soon! :tu:

Okay, I have a nephew sleeping over, so I probably won't be in bed until 1:00am. I'll get up at 8:00am so I can go to bed in time tomorrow.

Well it's 12:40 AM and I am not asleep. I went to sleep as stated last night at appx 11:30 but I woke up at 3:00AM and could not get back to sleep until after 4:00AM then when I awoke at about 7:30 I was dead tired. Did not get out of bed until 9:30. Not good.

Today is a teaching day for me and I teach in the evening. SO I am always wired afterwards and it is hard for me to get to sleep. Plus I ended up eating my dinner very late and my last protein shake even later.

The senester just started and I have to work out this schedule better. I plan to wake up at 7:00 AM as I have to skidaddle out of the building before they turn the power off for emergency repairs.

First night I went to bed at 10pm, but didn't get to sleep until much later. Then I was too tired to get up, so I didn't emerge from my bed until 11am. Not good.

Today I've taken on good advice and I woke up at 8am. I want to get up earlier, but I couldn't go further than from 11 to 8 in one day - that's already 3 hours less sleep. Tomorrow I'll get up at 7am.

I'm so tired. I'm going to be exausted all day long. It's so tempting to go back to bed. Maybe just for 5 minutes. I won't even sleep; just close my eyes... NO! :jumping:

Hang in there you guys, the first days are terrible, but think of the lovely sleeping rhythm you'll have once you pull through! :tu:

Awwww poor you! Just make sure you don't sleep in the afternoon, so you can get to sleep tonight! Get well soon! :tu:

Hey thanks for the sympathy! I needed some. ;)

I took a 30 minute nap yesterday afternoon. :o I was super tired. And then I went to bed a few minutes after 10, and got up at 6. Yay!

And I feel a lot better today too-- there's nothing that's as delightful as breathing through your nose. :lol:

I've got a splitting headache, so I'm going to hit the sack early. 22:03pm local time.

I've got a splitting headache, so I'm going to hit the sack early. 22:03pm local time.

And then my gf called and I went to bed after midnight. :mad:
It used to be the other way around, so I won't be mad at her. ;)

I slept 10:30-6. I still feel crappy, I think I could sleep a lot more right now....


And then my gf called and I went to bed after midnight. :mad:
It used to be the other way around, so I won't be mad at her. ;)

Sometimes it's more important to have a nice phone call with your girlfriend than to sleep! :cool:

I slept 10:30-6. I still feel crappy, I think I could sleep a lot more right now....

Sometimes it's more important to have a nice phone call with your girlfriend than to sleep! :cool:

Yes, and in this case, it was. ;) I'm going to visit friends tonight, which will probably result in a late night as well. :p
At least now I really feel the urge to go to bed on time...

11.19 almost time to go to bed :D

12.15 I'll try to post when I get up in the morning :D

good night guys.

Okay, that was a very cool evening with some Pride action and some good conversation. Closing time: 4:00am! :p OUCH! :lol:

Tried to get up at 8.00am but felt like so much crap that I snoozed for an hour. Tonight I'll hit the sack at 23.00pm again (did you notice I'm using a 24 hour am/pm system? :lol: just to make sure everyone gets it ;) ).

I'll try that 24 hour system...
Went to bed at 22:15 and got up at 06:45. That wasn't my goal times, but I got MORE sleep, and I really needed it!

I'll try that 24 hour system...
Went to bed at 22:15 and got up at 06:45. That wasn't my goal times, but I got MORE sleep, and I really needed it!

Way to go! :tu:

Tonight I'm back in business, I'm sooooo tired!

Last night I was in bed before 10pm. I'd been looking forward to it all day, because I'd got up really early. I was tired... practically the walking dead.

But it was hot. And humid. And there was thunder. And there was lighting flashing in my eyes.

It was gone midnight before I got to sleep and I woke at about half six. I'm now exhausted and looking forward to getting a better nights sleep tonight.

It was not good being half asleep on my first day at work.

It was not good being half asleep on my first day at work.

That sucks man! Hope next night will be better, so you can make up for that first day. :tu:

Ok, so I slept 00:30 til 06:30. :(
I had a rehearsal and didn't want to go to sleep afterwards! I have a hard time winding down after rehearsals...

Thank you Mr Snowman, and your good wishes obviously helped. Last night was much cooler, and although there was some stormy weather again, it only briefly woke me up at about 4am. I merely acknowledged it and went straight back to sleep. At 6:30am I woke naturally and felt fairly awake. I was much more alert today and feeling good.

The time is now 20:30 and it's beginning to feel late. I'm going to get ready for bed in a few minutes. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.

The time is now 20:30 and it's beginning to feel late. I'm going to get ready for bed in a few minutes. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.

I guess my friend The Abonimable Sandman was up to his old tricks again, eh? He's been hitting my eyes for the past few minutes, as well. Guess I have to hit the sack, too. Nighty night people! :tu:

I guess my friend The Abonimable Sandman was up to his old tricks again, eh? He's been hitting my eyes for the past few minutes, as well. Guess I have to hit the sack, too. Nighty night people! :tu:

I woke up at 7:56am, great! :-)

Went to bed at about 23:30, woke up at 8:00. Hadn't I been terrorized by a mosquito, I might have slept well. Now, I woke up by the sound of my alarm clock. I feel like stuff that comes out of your behind. I'm too tired to even do abs.
Now I'm going to look up that mosquito and put its head on a stake for other mosquitos to see. :mad:

I've been following my planned sleeping pattern to a T up till yesterday.

Friday
Bed: 11:30pm
Wake 8:30am
- Nap : 10:30am till 2:15pm

Saturday
Bed : 10pm
Wake : 8:30am

And this morning I feel awesome.

I've been following my planned sleeping pattern to a T up till yesterday.

Friday
Bed: 11:30pm
Wake 8:30am
- Nap : 10:30am till 2:15pm

Saturday
Bed : 10pm
Wake : 8:30am

And this morning I feel awesome.

Great! That's what this challenge is all about! :tu:

Fell asleep around midnight, woke up at 7:45am.

Gonna try if my knees can handle a morning cardio session! :D

At about 9pm I begin to want to go to bed now. I get ready gradually and am in bed usually by 10pm. Last night I think I got to sleep about half ten. I woke up at about half six.

Last week I was waking up about 11am every day and gradually getting to bed later and later. My job has helped of course. But it is only a temporary job so we'll see what happens in a couple of weeks when I finish working.

I want to be good for at least a month, then it should have become a habit.

Keep it up everyone.

21:11 and I'm feeling pretty tired. Gonna hold out until 22:00, take a shower and hit the sack. Hopefully I'll be better rested tomorrow than I was today...

How's the rest doing?

It's Saturday morning so I didn't bother with my alarm clock. I woke up naturally at 7:30am feeling fully rested. This shouldn't be difficult to keep up during the next week because I'll be working. After next week, however, my work will be over and I won't have to get up at a certain time - so the real test will begin.

I've been hitting my sleep time goals only 3 days out of 7. I've been having big meetings at work and sometimes these require getting up much earlier so I can actually get some work done, since the deadlines don't go away. Also some later nights in there.

I'm finally all better from my sinus infection and bronchitis, yay! Well, pretty much all better-- I'm still kind of tired.

Trying to get back in the groove...

Damn, this challenge is more challenging for me than I first thought. Thanks to some wedding and birthday parties, I'm totally wasted at the moment (from lack of sleep, not alcohol).

Time to set the bar back up again: 23:00 to bed, 8:00 up!

:tu:

I never realized how flexible I had been with my sleeping habits until I took on this challenge. I would usually get 7-8 hours but have different bedtimes to accommodate that. I had 3 days on track again last week.

And last night I just couldn't sleep because I was upset, so I only got 3 hours. :p

I've got to get back on this challenge. I have just had terrible sleeping habits. And it messes up everything, not just makes me tired. It messes up my food my workouts, I have been too tired to do weights for almost a month now and I am now not eating clean for 9 days.

SO to restate my goals, I want to be in bed by 10:00 and asleep by 10:30 and up by 6:30 so I can hit the gym at 7:00 for ealry Am cardio.

Unfortunately, it is 11:30 now so I am already late but I will get up at 6:30 anyway. I was watching the Bob Dylan special at my friend's place. I can't miss that!! Dylan, by one of my favorite directors, Martin Scorcese :cool: And it will be the same tomorrow night. (Two part show.) But I will stick otherwise.

Uggh, so here it is 3:45 AM and I just woke up. This happens to me every time I go to sleep early...I wake up in a few hours. (I actually did not go to sleep until a little after midnight.) And I usually eat something (not good --but I did not now -- I took a diet soda.)

ANyone else have this problem?

Anyway, I will try to fall back asleep again.

Uggh, so here it is 3:45 AM and I just woke up. This happens to me every time I go to sleep early...I wake up in a few hours. (I actually did not go to sleep until a little after midnight.) And I usually eat something (not good --but I did not now -- I took a diet soda.)

ANyone else have this problem?

Anyway, I will try to fall back asleep again.

Serves you right for starting that dumb blondes thread. ;) All kidding aside...

Yes, I have the exact same problem. I don't want to sound like a broken record, but it is KEY you get up at the right time in the morning. You'll have one or two hard days, but then the rhythm kicks in. Good luck! :tu:

My sleeping pattern still sucks. I went to bed after midnight, and woke up at 5am. Well, at least I had this really great dream, I was playing basketball and kicked ass... :lol:

Well, it took another half hour before I could go back to sleep and when 6:40 came, I could not get up. I know I'm not supposed to do this but I am 57 (and 1/2) years old...and I had way too little sleep the night before. So I reset the alarm for 7:15, then 7:45 and got up at 8:00. I have to take a friend to the doctor. So no morning cardio for me. 3 days now not good food or workout days...I believe it si due to sleep problems. So I will try again toniight (but I won't be asleep until 11:30 --Bob Dylan and Martin Scorcese...you know).


But I can't swear off the blonde thread...you know... I have a responsibility as a thread starter :D

But thanks for the encouragment snowman!

Well done Justitia for taking up the challenge. I was doing very well for 3 weeks, and then a few days ago messed up.

I've found that if you have the odd day when you stay up late, and you get up at the right time still, it's quite easy to stay on track. But as soon as you have a string of late nights, it becomes much harder to right yourself again.

I knew that I would have trouble once I had no reason to wake up early again, and I proved myself right. A few days ago I was so interested in what I was doing, I stayed up until about 3am. And I woke up late.

Since then I've been getting to sleep at about 2am and waking about 11am. This is more sleep than I normally need, but I think I am waking up much more slowly than I normally do so I'm in a really light sleep at the end.

When I get up this late I get very little done, and I become frustrated. All my meals, for example, go out of sync and I have trouble fitting all the calories into the day. Let alone getting all my work done.

Tomorrow, I shall take the plunge again and set my alarm for 8:30am.

It;s after 1:00. I've been feeling better with more sleep. Tried to get home in time to go to bed at close to goal time. Didn't make it. HAve to get up early in the Am to do cardio before driving 75 miles to pick up my car from repairs. Then I have to go down 50 miles the other way when I come back for some hearings. Yuchhh

I am getting worse again...it is almost 3:30 AM and I am just in bed. I had a bear of a stress day today and tonight my close friend and I watched a DVD (Monster) and then a 4 hour heart-to heart talk. We are doing this all the time... It's like we are in college..discussing the meaning of life, relationships our own friendship etc. It's like we just can't stop talking with each other..we enjoy it so much and want to tell each other so much. SHe is 30 years younger than me..but we click incredibly....I haven't had a friend like this in decades... But it is destroying sleep for both of us. We try to stop, we commit we will but we never do.. I feel like a teenager. :D

I am getting worse again...it is almost 3:30 AM and I am just in bed. I had a bear of a stress day today and tonight my close friend and I watched a DVD (Monster) and then a 4 hour heart-to heart talk. We are doing this all the time... It's like we are in college..discussing the meaning of life, relationships our own friendship etc. It's like we just can't stop talking with each other..we enjoy it so much and want to tell each other so much. SHe is 30 years younger than me..but we click incredibly....I haven't had a friend like this in decades... But it is destroying sleep for both of us. We try to stop, we commit we will but we never do.. I feel like a teenager. :D

That's just plain cool and worth losing sleep over! :tu: Monster is quite impressive, isn't it?

Ugh, I got about 4 hours last night... allergies are really keeping me awake!

Justitia, that's such a fun reason to have less sleep... a good friendship!! Sounds great!

And Monster was an excellent movie...

Yeah, Monster was a great movie..it was the second time for me (saw it in the theaters.)

I plan to wirte about it on the movie club thread in the off-topic forums as a companion film to Unforgiven...(If I ever get time or sleep to write that at all.) But I think it is an interesitng comparison: female & violence and male & violence. But this is off-topic :D

So AWOL from this thread and sleep as well. I made it into bed by 10:10, my goal: to be asleep betewen 10:30 and 11:00 and it is 11:50. (Posting too much on JSF)

But I am going to sleep right now!!!

Night all!!! :tu:

So where is everyone???

I was doing really badly re: sleep. But here i am back again. I think with the Fall my SADS is setting back in which causes me to time-shift my sleep schedule and zap me of energy.

But I have a really good light box (emits light like the sun to make yup for the shorter daylight hours) and I just pulled it out. See how I do. Anyway, it's just past midnight and I am in bed, have taken my night meds and I am about to go to sleep the earliest I have in several days.

See you guys tomorrow.

Since I've started working at home again, I've been struggling with this one. It's so easy just to convince yourself to stay up a little later, when the timing of getting up isn't crutial.

I had one night when I felt tired at midnight; but I still stayed up until 3am - and since then I've been struggling to get back on track. I'm also tempted to work too late and then I can't wind down quickly enough. So I have to convince myself to relax more!

But I'm working hard on it. Today I set my alarm for 10am, and tomorrow I will set it for 9am. I want to get down to half 8, but no earlier because then I will get in the way of my brother getting up.

It's surprising the discipline this takes.

So I slept 8 1/2 hours last night and it felt sooo good. I woke up at around 1:30 Am (bathroom break) but I think I fell back to sleep before 2:00.

I woke up groggy never the less. I pulle dout my light box and sat in front of it during an AM ohone conference. I feel better already. If what you have is SADS, the light boxes really work.... (And I definitely have SADS.)

In bed at 11:50 -- going to sleep now...

Did sh*tty on sleep last night. WOke up at 1:00AM. I had not eaten my last meal b/c I got home so late and went to bed. (Just bad timing throughout the day--kept delaying everything and taking too long between meals, etc.) SO I got up an date my last meal and watched my hard drive defrag :eek: :rolleyes: while I ate it. Got back to sleep at 2:30 Am, woke up at 6:00 Am ate a banana, back to sleep an dwoke up at 9:30. Now it is almost 11:00AM and I am about to do my "early morning fasted cardio"

Got to do better than this.

Where is everyone...why aren't people posting? You can post how you did not make it not just when you did...that's the point of these challenges.....

I was doing great, actually 10-6 every night. Until this week! Saturday night I couldn't sleep-- not really a problem.

Sunday night I couldn't sleep.... now that's a big problem.

Monday night I chipped a tooth a little and stayed up late spending too much time worrying about something that is barely noticeable. I go to the dentist tomorrow to see if I did anything really bad.

Last night I had a rehearsal that went a little late and I can never go to sleep right after playing. But I slept quite well, actually...
That's because I'm so tired.

I always get up around 6 anyway, because I must do it to get to work. No choice in the matter.

Justitia, watching my hard drive defrag makes me feel like an insomniac at any time of day now because I had too many sleepless nights where I was waiting for the defragging to finish.
Hope you have a better night tonight!

Where is everyone...why aren't people posting? You can post how you did not make it not just when you did...that's the point of these challenges.....

You're absolutely right!

I've been totally sucking at going to bed early the last few weeks. I had some late nights because of birthdays and weddings and before I knew it I was back in Too Late City.

I'm going to hit the sack early again, starting tonight. :tu:

I'm very sorry you're struggling to sleep well, good luck! :tu:

I only post when I'm doing very badly! :lol:

Last night I was in bed by 10:15, but I woke up at 3. My sudafed wore off and my nose got stuffy I guess. :mad: I tried to get back to sleep, which wasn't working so I just got up. It was ok-- it made it really easy to get going and go swimming. Unfortunately, my eyes are now dry and tired. Amazingly, the rest of me is not tired at all.

Well, my sleep is up and down. I hit bed on time but I don't fall asleep. But I am gogin to try to go home and get to bed and take a sleeping pill. I have a long day tomoroow and Tomorrow is a weight day as well.

Last night I was determined to be in bed before midnight. Next thing I knew it was 2am. I couldn't work out what had happened until I realised I had started checking my emails. Sometimes that takes 10 minutes; but sometimes it takes several hours!

So new rule: no email, or forums after 11pm.

I'm going to watch a movie and hit the sack afterwards. It's now 20:06 (pm) so I should be in bed well before 23:00. I'm totally sick of my screwed up sleeping pattern. I can't believe I let it slip again, STUPID!

I'm going to watch a movie and hit the sack afterwards. It's now 20:06 (pm) so I should be in bed well before 23:00. I'm totally sick of my screwed up sleeping pattern. I can't believe I let it slip again, STUPID!

There's no need for name calling now, Mr. Snowman! ;)

I didn't want to go to sleep last night, and I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. Must sleep better tonight, just so I don't feel so draggy...

There's no need for name calling now, Mr. Snowman! ;)

:lol: Sorry if I seem a bit harsh on myself, but this bad sleeping isn't helping me get my act together. I have to do a lot of things, am pushing deadlines already, and still I go to bed late. Now I'm going to brush my teeth and start that movie. :cool:
Sleep tight people, although it's afternoon for most of you! :tu:

I have to change my sleeping schedule a little because I'm getting up earlier on swimming days. I also need to adjust a little for rehearsal nights, because the rehearsals ALWAYS go til at least 9:30. It seems one thing I've learned on this challenge is that I don't think I can go to bed and wake up at the same exact time every day if I want to accomodate my varying schedule. It would be a pretty difficult challenge for me to get 8-9 hours of sleep every night, which is what I think I need.

I'm going to have to figure out what time I need to go to sleep and get up in the different situations. Rehearsals are sometimes on different nights-- that's another variable.
Complicated!! :)

Not checking emails/forums worked very well. Last night, I got to bed about 1am instead of gone 2. Tonight I'm going for midnight.

This morning some early bird rang my phone wanting to speak to some chap called Steve. I forgot to thank him for the wake up call.

Last night I was determined to be in bed before midnight. Next thing I knew it was 2am. I couldn't work out what had happened until I realised I had started checking my emails. Sometimes that takes 10 minutes; but sometimes it takes several hours!

So new rule: no email, or forums after 11pm.

Good Rule..can't do it myself..I became to addicted thais past year.... need to figure out withdrawal.

Yeah, dealing with the forum addiction is difficult. I've been good so far, but unfortunately I replaced forums with something else to sabitage my sleep...

So another new rule: don't drink :d_confuse :p

Well I am in bed, it is 10:40....my goal was to be asleep by now (10:30).

So I am trying to commit to getting off JSF by 10:50 and turn on my internet streaming so I can go to sleep.

But that just gives me 10 more minutes to browse JSF :eek: :eek: :eek:

SO I stuck to my promise, off JSF at 10:50PM, internet stream of a talk radio show (1 hr) and I was a sleep by 11:00PM and now I just woke up at 3:50AM. 4 hours sleep! I know I need to go back but his always happens to me when I go to bed properly. I wakre up after 4 hours. And if I hit these boards then (as I am doing now) I don't go baclk to sllep for a long time and then it's like I never went to bed early.

But now it is 4:03AM. SO I commit to get off by 4:15 and turn my internet show back on. (I always fall asleep with 5 minutes ..so I never hear the whole 1 hour show, so I just replay it and fast foward 5 minutes and then I fall asleep again. It's a good thing it works htis way, as it is a weekly show...and it will jus tlast me a week. "This American Life...WBEZ Chicago...great show and it lasts on ehour and the streaming turns off. Can't do this with a music show (at least I don't know how). It would stay on all night and give me a bad sleep.

Oh, well 8 minutes to go to back to sleep land! Wonder if 1FastGX is yup? He's always up in the wee hours... :D

That's more like it Justitia; a bit of discipline! Well done!

In my infinite wisdom I decided to watch The Audition in bed, just before going to sleep. Horror films are probably not the best material for winding down. I had some very strange dreams, but unfortunately I can't remember them properly. One was about JSF. I'd come across John's old forum, which he abandoned in favour of getting fit and starting this site. I can't really remember what the topic of the forum was, but it had more of an orange colour scheme. I remember waking up with the desire to visit that forum. I'm pretty certain it doesn't exist though!

It's a shame I don't remember more, because I think I was in my dream forum for several hours. Oh dear.

So I didn't make it back to sleep until about 4:40. I reset my alrams to be about 45 minutes later..but i was ocmpletely groggy when I woke up. So I finally awoke about 8:30 did some stuff and about to hit the gym for fasted cardio. I am about 2 hours behind schedule. But that's better than before.

Maybe if I make it to bed on time tonight as well, I won't be so groggy in hte morining. I am catching up on a lot of lost sleep.

:mad: DAMN! :mad:

1:05am and still not in bed...

What to do, what to do...

Let's begin by not allowing myself to train tomorrow, see how I handle that.

:mad: DAMN! :mad:

:mad: DAMN! :mad:

1:05am and still not in bed...

What to do, what to do...

Let's begin by not allowing myself to train tomorrow, see how I handle that.

:mad: DAMN! :mad:


Yeah, way to go, you dumbass! Just woke up completely nauseous and tired. This has to stop, I just can't handle the lack of sleep. :(

Same's happening to me.....
Have not been to sleep yet. My computer seemd to bomb out. I spent 10 hours trying to fix it. Turned out my ISP was having intermittent outage but it happened to time completely so it seemded like it wa smy computer. A complete waste of 10 hours and I'm now up at nearly 5:00 Am.

Jeesh

I too for the last 3 days have suffered from lack of sleep...and i have a major project due Monday and I haven't been able to work because my head's too tired to think.

Of course this has not stopped me from posting to my favorite sites all day too :p :o

Of course this has not stopped me from posting to my favorite sites all day too :p :o

Yeah, but that's so much easier than the work that has to be done, at least in my case. I've been procrastinating for months, and lack of sleep isn't helping. I feel better now that I've had breakfast, washed my face, etc. I'll just go and do some grocery shopping and hit the articles afterwards, have to write a paper.

Tonight I HAVE to go to bed early, I really want to work out again, yesterday's first workout after more than a week's rest was great.

Got to post quick, because of my rule. No posts after eleven. I'm doing well though.

Here it is almost 1:45AM. And this was to be the start of my new workout regime. I got through the really tough part of my work by Monday afternoon. I had a lot of meetings, classes to teach etc. I took today off and did a lot of tasks and just hung out went to a movie with a friend...starting back to my routine tomorrow... AN dI won;t lay my head down. But I am now.

So good night all!!!

Well, I must have jsut been really tired.... but in fact I have managed to get at least 7 1/2 hrs sleep for the last 3 nights and I feel great to day...

SO tonight is Saturday night, so I don't expect to get ot bed early...but ot wont' be too late.

And feeling so great an energized yesterday, I could not go to sleep until 5:30 AM...stupid :bang: Now my sleep cycle is all messed up again. But I will try to go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight.

Edit: So here it is...almost 11:10 and I am in bed and ready to go to sleep... Now, I will just give myself 10 minutes more on the net and night'all

SO I was asleep by 11:30 and slept 9 hours until 8:30. I must have been really tired. I woke up sluggish and didn't get to the gym for cardio until late in the morning but I feel much better now.

SO hopefull I will make it to bed by 10:30 tonight, which is my real goal.

Well, it is 12:15 AM and I am late to bed but I am ready to go to sleep. I will only get 7 hours sleep tonight as I need to be up early enough to make it to cardio in time for me to get back and ready for a day trip to DC. Ah, discipline....when will you come to me?

Yeah discipline. I think that's probably the most important skill for me to develop at the moment. I have the freedom at the moment to just sit around all day, watch TV, eat pizza and go to bed late if I wanted. Luckily I don't want it. I can't stand getting to the end of the day and thinking that I haven't achieved anything. When it happens I get really angry with myself.

A consistent sleep pattern is incredibly important to me, because the later I go to bed the later I wake up. And if I wake up late I get less done. It makes eating properly more difficult, it makes fitting in exercise more difficult, it makes accomplishing enough work more difficult.

Luckily I'm improving. A few months ago, if I got to bed by 2am it was really good. Now 2am seems really late. The no forum / no email after 11pm is working incredibly well. I found another distraction which is chatting to people on MSN, so I've cut that out too. So no chat, forums, email after 11pm.

The only other thing that's really keeping me up is food. I have a target of 3800 calories every day, and sometimes I don't manage to eat it all in time. So I stay up a bit longer to fit it in. I would prefer to fail at the sleep challenge than the eating challenge as that is my priority. However, if I stay up later to eat more I wake up later the next day and it becomes even harder to fit all the food in. So I'm working on pacing myself throughout the day.

Here it is 4:15 AM. The nught before I could not sleep until 3:00 AM. So earlier tomight, I had a friend stay with me on the phone until I lay down to go to sleep. 10:45, my eyes were shut and I went to sleep.

And like clockwork, 5 1/2 hours later, I wake up. I feel overheated...like that is what woke me up. And I am still tired. And it will take me a while to get back to sleep. Even whne I make it to bed on time, I can't seem to stay asleep through the night. 4 1/2 hrs -- awake like clock work.

Oh well, I am gogin to grab an apple as I usually do...turn on an internet streaming talk sho and go back to sleeo.

Here it is 4:15 AM. The nught before I could not sleep until 3:00 AM. So earlier tomight, I had a friend stay with me on the phone until I lay down to go to sleep. 10:45, my eyes were shut and I went to sleep.

Is your friend particularly dull!?

Oh well, I am gogin to grab an apple as I usually do...turn on an internet streaming talk sho and go back to sleeo.

I also listen to something as I drift off to sleep. It used to quieten that internal chatter that would stop me sleeping. Now I've found that the radio is keeping me too interested and I stay awake listening to it. So I'm going to have to take the hard option. I'll miss it, but bedtime talk radio is going to have to go.

SO I had a great sleep the night before and of course last night i oculd not sleep at all. I was so jazzed. I did a lot during the day and las night on a late shift I played "bartender" at a fundraiser run by my students. On the rare occasion that I drink something, I had a beer and a couple of students bought me a shot whihch I hsared with them. (Well the 3 of us each had half a shot -- yeah, bartenders can't add :D ). But that is all, but i had so much fun I did not want to leave at midnight when my "shift" was over. But I made myself do so so I could get home and go to sleep. But I got caught up writing a return e-mail from someone I have just met...and was up past 4:00 AM.....Stupid. Now I am zonked. I have a lot fo work to do and no time to do my early AM fasted cardio. I will get weights in however.

And try to get to bed on time tonight.

Reeze: I understand how talk radio would keep most people up. For me, it helps me fall asleep as it engages my mind so that the part of me that resists sleeping isn't impacting. Then my natural tiredness takes over and I am usually out within 12 minutes. But I need to lay back and close my eyes for it to happen. My friend stayed with me on the phone Until I was set up to do that and then we hung up. I pick an NPR show that interests me that naturally turns off at the end of the show (like Terry Gross or something like that.) My laptop is by my bed and it is set up to turn off the screen immediately and then power down later.

If I listen to music, of any kind, it wakes me up... wierd. But it is my mind racing that keeps me awake, that's why it has to get engaged. WHen I was younger I used ot read a book. But over time, I found that even the action of turning off the light when I got sleepy would wake me up. The streaming of an episode of an NPR show works perfectly...if I do the rest, i.e., lie down and shut my eyes.

Well, no success last night. I did not get to sleep before 3:00AM. I went out with a friend and we did not get home until 2:00AM

Tonight I am out with friends again and I know I will not be home before 1:00 Am. So 1:30 AM is a good target time for me to plan for tonight.

Yeah, I used to have exactly the same experience with the talk radio; but now the opposite is happening. I think, maybe, the presenters have become more interesting. I like to listen to Charlie Wolf on Talk Sport (in the UK), but the show is political and I think that may be the problem. Politics used to send me to sleep; but now I find it interesting!

Anyway, on Friday night I didn't turn the radio on and fell asleep pretty quickly. But last night I'd just been to the pub, and I have to have the company of the radio after I've been out to help wind me down.

Well, I too went to a "pub" with my friends after the movie -- which was "Walk the Line" about Johnny Cash and it was totally great. None of us wanted to go home so we hit the only thing open in the area, TGI Friday's, which I normally don't like b/c I find it too plasticy and I don't like chain anythings (except department stores :) ) But this one had a little more individual character and the people were lively and the energy was high...so I had a last cheat meal for the night and we had a great time talking.


SO bed didn't happen until 3:00 AM. Late start and fairly unproductive day today. Though I did get my weight workout in.

SO I am in bed now...it is almost 11:30..should be asleep soon.

I think I've honed by bedtime routine quite nicely now. At 11pm I start to finish what ever I'm doing, pack up and make sure I've eaten enough for the day. By 11:30 I'm usually technically ready for bed, but I'm still feeling alert. So I fetch myself a nice cup of green tea, get ready for bed, and then drink my tea while listening to a recording of a talk radio program. When I've finished my tea I do some light stretching exercises until the hour recording ends.

At the moment I'm still alert at this time, so I listen to another hour. But I'm gradually getting tired earlier. Once I get into bed, I fall asleep within a couple of minutes.

If I can cut off that second hour of listening, I'll be very happy.

Well I would like to get back on this challenge. The last couple of weeks I have been working kind of night and day to finish a writing project. I am not done yet but I am working on the conclusion and introduction. So I feel relaxed enough to try and get some real sleep again.

SO it's a little after midnight on a Saturday night. It took all the discipline in the world to tell my friend I wanted to come home so I coudl get to bed at a reasonable hour.

SO I am not in bed yet, but I am headed there. My goal is as before. To be in bed by 10 and asleep by 10:30 except on Friday and Saturday night when I want to put a limit of 2:00 AM.

But early to bed tonight (for a Satrurday night) because I have a ton of sleep to catch up on. :tu:

Well, I completely blew it last night. I got in bed as I said but then I stayed up until around 3:00 AM. What was I doing? reading posts on JSF.

I am starting to recover from my chronic sleep deprivation, even if is is is not in the right time shift.:D

But now it 12:30 AM, my efforts to get to bed by 10:00 PM failed...but I am in bed now....and hopefully will go off to sleep shortly :sleep: ...will report back tomorrow night.

But now it 12:30 AM, my efforts to get to bed by 10:00 PM failed...but I am in bed now....and hopefully will go off to sleep shortly :sleep: ...will report back tomorrow night.

Maybe you should wait until the morning before you report your success. Since JSF is the most addictive thing on the planet, it's far too easy to say 'I'm ready for bed, going to sleep now' and then stay up for another 5 hours reading the posts. It's changing little things like this that has really helped me.

SO it's a little after midnight on a Saturday night. It took all the discipline in the world to tell my friend I wanted to come home so I coudl get to bed at a reasonable hour.

Well done. That's true discipline.

Maybe you should wait until the morning before you report your success. Since JSF is the most addictive thing on the planet, it's far too easy to say 'I'm ready for bed, going to sleep now' and then stay up for another 5 hours reading the posts. It's changing little things like this that has really helped me.

So true, so true..but I find if I go on in the morning I stay on for the rest of the day...I'm scr**wd no matter what....;)

11:36Pm 1hour behind schedule ..but I am about to turn on my NPR streaming...conks me out every time....:tu:

SO here it is, 8:35 AM. I tried to get up at 7:00 and I just couldn't. I kept resetting the alarm foe another half hour and after 3 tries I am finally up. I must have been really tired. But I am still going to try to get to bed by 10:00 PM tonight.

I seem to have got my sleep under pretty good control now. I'm currenlty getting to bed about half past midnight consistently. Eventually I think I'll make this a bit earlier. First, though, I want to focus on getting out of bed as soon as I wake. I'm pretty good at this already, but I want to make it very good.

One thing I've really noticed is an improvement in the quality of my skin when I sleep well. I have terrible skin, and one of my prime motives for getting fit is improving its quality. On the odd occassion (such as the Christmas Eve - Christmas Day night) I have not got myself quite enough sleep. I've found whenever this happens I get blemishes, and my face generally feels quite tender. When I sleep well, things start to improve. I figure if a lack of sleep causes such dramatic changes in my skin, it must be doing other detrimental things to the rest of my body. If it is, it's going to stop!

Is anyone else left on this challenge, but you and me Justitia?

Is anyone else left on this challenge, but you and me Justitia?

:)

I'm still here as well, but I'm slacking with the updates. I've noticed that I can get to bed early enough as long as there are no other people preventing me from doing so. I'm going to try and make sure I don't see any people after 10 pm (that includes virtual people).

I'm going to make this a new year's resolution! :tu:

I keep working at it. The discovery I made that I will never be able to get to bed at the same time every night because of rehearsals still holds true. With my new job there may be some more changing too. I can't wait!:jumping: