# Insomnia (sort of) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 18, 2008, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-sort-of/438082 "2008-02-18T10:08:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mshar253](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@mshar253](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mshar253)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-sort-of/438082/1 "2008-02-18T10:08:48Z")
Well, the Thursday before last I was awakened in the middle of the night by my roommate **blaring** rap music while he was with a girl. I couldn’t get back to sleep until later in the day after classes (I’m a college student), and, as a result, I’ve been living a nocturnal life for about the last ten days. I’m really beginning to get concerned about the health risks associated with getting virtually no sunlight, having minimal interaction with society (listening to talk radio all night and hearing the freaks who tend to call in _can’t_ be a good thing), and just not living… normally. I’ve tried to right the ship. I’ve set my alarms to wake me up after having slept for only a few hours, so I’d be tired come night time and get back on a correct schedule. Unsuccessful: I’ve either slept through the alarms or–still half-asleep–shut them off. Last night I even tried to go out, get hammered, and pass out reasonably early. Unfortunately, all that did was allow me to be _drunk_ until 8 AM… albeit now I’ve sent a number of e-mails that I most certainly regret. I guess if anyone has advice I’d like to hear it. More than anything, though, I felt I had to voice my personal frustration with the outside world. (Also, I should take this opportunity to say that I feel like an outsider since I’m not a member. I’ve lurked at this board for a long time, and money is a little tight, so I’m milking my guest membership for a couple more weeks, at which point I will pony up the dough. Please don’t hate on me for being a guest!) ---
**Author:** ![bbs2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e495f1/32.png) [@bbs2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bbs2k)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-sort-of/438082/2 "2008-02-18T11:01:30Z")
“One of us, one of us” Hah, I’ve swung the axe on the night-shift for many years now, does that make you a weirdo? Hell yeah! You miss all the important phone calls, you can’t have lunch with anyone, and when you get hungry on your night off work no place is open! Positives: You’re not working when the bank is open. Seriously though, for all the years I’ve worked, my body works itself back into a sun-walking Circadian rhythm with more than two days off. If you’re worried, see a doctor. If not, come find me at a 24 hour coffee house; I’m bored. ---
**Author:** ![Br\_er\_Lapin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Br\_er\_Lapin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Br_er_Lapin)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-sort-of/438082/3 "2008-02-18T12:01:20Z")
I’ve come to the conclusion that my body works on a 28 hour day or something, so I go through regular phases where my sleeping schedule is all out of whack. Currently doing the “going to bed at around 9am” thing. I’ve found it almost impossible to just simply go to bed early. It’s like asking someone with a normal bedtime of 10pm to go to sleep at 3pm and sleep for 8 hours straight. Anyway, it’s much easier to just stay up progressively later and later until you’re finally sleeping at a normal time. ie, go to sleep at 8am -\> 11am -\> 2pm -\> 5pm until you’re at a time you consider “normal.” Obviously hard to do when you have work and classes to go to, but something along those lines if the best way to go at it in IME. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-sort-of/438082/4 "2008-02-18T12:08:36Z")
I’m one of those weirdos with solid built-in clocks; to me, the night shift just meant “no decent sleep at all, at most 5 hours of catnapping.” That week we had to do 12h night shifts M-W, then Th-Su was the pits, lemme whine to you. By day 3 we were all zombified, by day 6 we would have been rejected for a Night of the Living Dead remake on grounds of looking too dead. [QUOTE=thegod067] (Also, I should take this opportunity to say that I feel like an outsider since I’m not a member. I’ve lurked at this board for a long time, and money is a little tight, so I’m milking my guest membership for a couple more weeks, at which point I will pony up the dough. Please don’t hate on me for being a guest!) [/QUOTE] Go to the “about this board” area, there’s a thread where you can ask for a subscription gift. ---
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2008, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/insomnia-sort-of/438082/5 "2008-02-18T12:13:48Z")
One word: melatonin. Available at drugstores everywhere over the counter. (It’s a supplement; melatonin is something which exists naturally in your body and is produced by the pineal gland, but _only in the dark_. I kid you not. If you are awake when it’s dark, it gets depleted.) IANAD.