Am I being paranoid?

[Demosthenes]

In general, I sleep around 3-5 hours naturally. My body does not allow me to sleep any more than that. However, for the last few weeks that number has been closer to 10. I figured that has to do with the insane amount of allergies I have, so I wasn't really worried. Day-before yesterday I was up all night, and didn't get to bed till 10 AM yesterday. I woke up at 6. At around 9:30 I took some Adderall so I could study. By 11:15 I was tired again. On Adderall. I was asleep by 12:30. On Adderall. The fact that all this happened on Adderall and about 4 cups of Coke is what made me thing that perhaps it's not the allergies. I woke up at 5 AM today, went back to bed at 9:30, then woke up at 2PM. I've been up an hour, and I'm sleepy as hell again. Should I get myself checked out, or am I just being paranoid?

[Dar_Win]

Your sleep cycle is just really messed up. Try to sleep at night, not during the day.

[Lenny]

Also remember that an hour of sleep before midnight has the same effect as two hours of sleep after midnight.

Don't know why, but that's what's said, apparently. :p

Try and get back to your normal sleeping patterns, and see how things work out.

Oh, and I envy you. I can live on 5 hours of sleep, but barely. I need at least 10 hours (over 12, ideally), and that's impossible during weekdays. You're a lucky bugger and no mistake! :p

[Grav]

I would attribute this to general mental and physical stress caused by college. Believe me, my girlfriend's sleep cycle is even more fucked up than yours. It's not even a cycle, it's more like a serrated edge.

I would say find a night when you can just settle down, take some sleeping pills at 8 pm, (you can get generic sleeping pills anywhere, but I think you have to be 18 to buy them) and pass out at 9. Sleep until whenever you need to get up, and you should be able to fall into your regular schedule again the next night.

[hotdog]

You might try burning energy when your awake. I only sleep for 4 hours unless I mentally fatigue and physically fatigue myself then I can get 8 hours. Also you should always ask doctors before taking any medicine. Not those stupid clinic bastards, but private doctors. Reason being clinic doctors need money so they will most likely figure out how to milk it and fuck you up for their long term goal. Private doctors have all the money they need so they will do whatever it takes to get you the hell out so they can continue masturbating to the pictures of hot chicks they stash in their medicine box.

[Willkillforfood]

Sleeping pills don't help me get on a cycle. I just naturally want to stay up all night.

[Grav]

You REALLY do say stupid shit, hotdog.

[Vollstrecker]

Sleeping pills don't help me get on a cycle. I just naturally want to stay up all night.

I have this problem as well.

[Jessifer]

Usually if my sleep pattern is messed up, I skip a night of sleep.

[Willkillforfood]

Usually if my sleep pattern is messed up, I skip a night of sleep.

I used to do that but I can barely stay up an extra night anymore. Since I've gotten a few years older my sleep requirements seem to have doubled x_X.

[Lenny]

So how's it going, MJ? Still sleeping at irregular times and whatnot?

[Demosthenes]

Well, considering I didn't sleep at all last night, I'd say so.

[Willkillforfood]

Happens to me too. Do you constantly have thoughts rushing through your head or what? Some nights I just can't stop thinking long enough to sleep.

[Demosthenes]

Actually I just had a lab due today.

[Willkillforfood]

Well hell. That's an entirely different story then =P.

[Demosthenes]

But no, I know what you're talking about. There are nights where even if I lie down I'll just toss and turn all night. Those always suck.

[Lenny]

Do you read before you go to bed, at all?

I find that I always sleep better if I read for an hour or so before going to sleep.

Can be anything, really. The latest Pratchett novel, an in-depth look into the workings of the Sun and the Stars, or a collection of essay's about Communist Russia.

[Thanatos]

If I lay down and open a book up to read, I'm asleep in 10 minutes.

[Vollstrecker]

Happens to me too. Do you constantly have thoughts rushing through your head or what? Some nights I just can't stop thinking long enough to sleep.

This has always been the biggest problem to my sleeping, I can't really have a sleep "pattern", I have to mentally exhaust myself to have a chance of sleep.

[Lenny]

If reading doesn't work, MJ, then I've got another favourite, erm, pasttime that I have fun with if I'm lying tere, eyes closed, not going to sleep.

Think of a scene - simple, complex, small, large, colourful, blank and white, whatever. Then take one colour (could be orange, green, pink, blue, black, white), and start to paint out each individual part of the scene in your chosen colour.

Say you imagine a desert island, with a beach, and a palm tree. Some coconuts resting in the sand. The sparkling waves, like sapphires, lapping against the land. A rich sky above, habited by fluffy white clouds fea and far between. Go with a colour (let's take orange this time) - make the palm tree orange. Then the coconuts. Then the clouds. Then the beach. Then the sea. And lastly the sky. Take your time over it, and try to hold the image in your head for as long as your possible. When everything is orange, then keep everything orange - if something pops in, orange it! You want a clean, orange picture. Nothing else.

Even if it doesn't send you to sleep, it's often interesting to imagine someone and black out individual teeth, and eyes, maybe an ear.

[Grav]

Happens to me too. Do you constantly have thoughts rushing through your head or what? Some nights I just can't stop thinking long enough to sleep.

Every night for me.

[RoboticSilence]

Try exercising in the morning, then keep yourself busy enough to avoid sleep (DON'T NAP!) until a reasonable time like 10 or 11pm. Then hit the hay and wake up at 8 or 9 at the latest. This should help condition you for a regular cycle if you keep it up for a couple of days. I suggest starting this weekend since it may be harder on school days.