I'm tired of being sleep deprived! Does anyone have a solution?!
Question: I get up at 4:30 a.m. every day. I sometimes inadvertently fall asleep during my lunch hour. Even though it's just for a short period of time, I wake up disoriented and alarmed. I've even fallen asleep at traffic lights on the way home. Then when I get home, I tend to fall asleep while watching TV or even playing video games with my son. The result is that I can't go to sleep until 11:30 or midnight and the cycle starts over again.
My son's bedtime is 9 pm (in a perfect world!), and I still have laundry / bills to pay / dishes to wash, etc. before I can get ready for bed.
Waking up after 4 1/2 to 5 hours of sleep is so much of a habit that I even do it on weekends. Trying to make up for lost sleep on the weekends doesn't really work anyway.
Answers: I get up at 4:30 a.m. every day. I sometimes inadvertently fall asleep during my lunch hour. Even though it's just for a short period of time, I wake up disoriented and alarmed. I've even fallen asleep at traffic lights on the way home. Then when I get home, I tend to fall asleep while watching TV or even playing video games with my son. The result is that I can't go to sleep until 11:30 or midnight and the cycle starts over again.
My son's bedtime is 9 pm (in a perfect world!), and I still have laundry / bills to pay / dishes to wash, etc. before I can get ready for bed.
Waking up after 4 1/2 to 5 hours of sleep is so much of a habit that I even do it on weekends. Trying to make up for lost sleep on the weekends doesn't really work anyway.
This might not be a perfect solution, but when I was a kid, my mom would make sure our homework was done and our chores were finished before we were allowed to play. So my suggestion would be to get your chores done before watching TV. I realize that that might seem over simplistic, and may limit your TV watching, but is there anything on worth missing sleep over?
Try taking a Melatonin pill about 20 mins to half an hour before your bed time. It's really helpful.
If you do decide to try it out, I'd suggest you try it during the weekend. This way, you get an idea of how you react to it. It's safe (melatonin is a natural chemical produced in the brain), but you want to make sure you're familiar with it before taking it, say, Monday night.
Hope you figure something out! Sounds like a pretty dangerous situation.
you MUST get more sleep. if you are falling asleep at traffic lights, you will eventually fall asleep while the car is in motion and could kill yourself, your passengers (son?) or other motorists/pedestrians.
laundry and bill paying can wait until the weekend. use disposable plates and utensils to reduce need for dish washing and/or if your son is old enough, teach him how to wash the dishes by having him help you.
you should go to bed by 9 yourself. it's a habit like you said.
also talk to your doctor about having a sleep study done. you may have an underlying medical condition such as sleep apnea that makes the sleep the you get not restful enough.
I would try sleeping pills. I recommend Lunesta, but talk to your doctor. If your son goes to bed at 9:00pm, YOU SHOULD TOO. Also, no more naps. You shouldn't need naps if you get 8 hours of sleep. Coffee only in the morning, otherwise you'll crash when you get home. Lunesta works for 8 hours so make sure you take at 9:00pm. Maybe take a vacation too... getaway from the stress of work. Even if it's just for a weekend.
Reread your own post. Talk about stress. Your daily life is stressed and then to top it off you're stressed about not sleeping. I understand that having a child gives us a whacked a schedule at best. First you need to set some priorities for yourself. You are looking at laundry, bills etc. as if life is somehow threatened by them. Put those tasks in perscpective. Divide them up so you're not doing any one of them more than once a week. Write the schedule down. Old habits are hard to break.
The next thing you need to do is write down a schedule for your son. If you're schedule is out of whack so, most likely, is his. Its important to keep nighttime routines as mundane and unstimulating as possible. No stimulating TV, no wild video games. Make the evening as boring as possible with low key activities.
Your health is dependent upon getting proper rest. Not everyone requires 8 hours, but consistent, restful sleep is imperative. Without proper sleep your body and it's major systems will begin to show effects. Even our immune systems need sleep to be healthy.
Try to keep daily tasks in perspective and retrain yourself to keep priorities in line with written schedules.
If, after a week or so of trying this, your not starting to see some improvement, you will need to see a doctor. They may or may not recommend sleeping pills depending on your medical history and situation. If they don't, don't dispair. Sleeping pills are not always a good answer anyway. Usually most sleep problems can be addressed with behavioral changes, but you have to be willing to make them.
Retraining your sleep cycles can be a bit frustrating, but with some dedication on your part, you should see results. Remember that falling asleep during the day and at dangerous times jepordizes your job, life and could even jepordize your son's life. It's worth trying.
Good luck and sleep well.
my thoughts: don't use pills. otherwise do what these guys say. hope you can get more sleep, even though it's never enough.