Sleeping Habits

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Hi I'm a nursing student that happens to be a night owl. I study and focus better at night. When I began my 1st semester of nursing school I had 1p classes (thank goodness!) and so studying was easy because I could sleep in. Next semester I have a few 8ams. My problem is that I'm having problems sleeping and can't fall asleep before 2a. I've been trying to fix my schedule, so that I can exercise, read, or anything that could help me fall asleep. I was wondering if anyone has bad sleeping patterns and could give me advice on how to correct it or ways to fall asleep easier. Thanks!!

I thought the best way to sleep was to start studying ....

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I am also a night owl and understand how you feel. I have a weekend job so that means I have Monday-Friday off from work. My body naturally wants to stay up until 4am and sleep in until 1pm. I have always been that way, even since birth. My mother told me I used to sleep 9-10 hours, mostly sleeping in, as an infant. Nothing medically is wrong with me, it's just the way I am. I cannot continue my current sleep pattern since the new semester has started. I would advise not taking a nap at all. If I stayed up too late and had to get up early, I often have to fight to stay awake during the day. If I take a nap during that day I become more rested and tend to stay up even later. Often times when I say I am going to lie down and take a short nap, that short nap turns into hours and then I hardly get any sleep at all if I need to be somewhere early the next day again.

I would suggest fighting the urge to take a nap during the day. Try to move around a lot during the day, even at home. You will soon feel the urge of wanting to go to bed early for once. I think doing some extra studying in bed is a great suggestion that others have made and I am also going to try that. Try to keep this schedule throughout school. I have to get up at 5:30am (way too early for any human, lol) to get to my 8am class on time due to my long commute. On the days I do not go to class I am going to force myself to be up by at least 8am so that I don't feel the need to sleep in.

Good luck and I hope things work out for you. :)

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I sound a lot like you. I have always been a night owl and have never really managed waking up early well. All of our clinicals start at 645am and after the first 2 quarters it was very exhausting and I wasn't performing as well as I knew I could. I made an appointment with my doctor and he prescribed me ambien. I hear a lot of bad things about ambien, but for me it has truly been a lifesaver. I'm now able to get 8 hours of sleep every night and don't wake up feeling exhausted.

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

Just a reminder to members not to give any medical advice as per terms of service. You can make suggestion on what works for you but telling members to ask for x drug etc is not allowed

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