# What are the treatment options for late night sleeping **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 31, 2004, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-treatment-options-for-late-night-sleeping/272160 "2004-10-31T13:46:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-treatment-options-for-late-night-sleeping/272160/21 "2004-11-01T23:00:16Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > My insomnia is coming back. I used to fall asleep around midnight and wake up naturally around 730, now i’m falling asleep at 3am and I don’t know why. What all methods are useful to help someone overcome late night insomnia? I am trying to wake up at the same time each day, around 8am. I may start taking melatonin too but I don’t think that stuff works too well on me. What about light therapy, has anyone had luck with that? At night I put the curtains up so the street lights can’t get into my bedroom and I don’t turn the TV on at night, but so far it hasn’t made any effect. Is midday halfsleep a bad thing if you have insomnia? > > What are my other options? I am wondering if drugs like Ambien are designed for this type of insomnia (not being able to fall asleep until 3 am or so) and if I should ask the doctor about it. I’d recommend doing some reading on what the current thinking is to treat delayed sleep phase problems. I distinctly remember a discussion of this, however, in Richard Ferber’s book “Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems”, dealing with this and teenagers. IIRC (I read this 10 years ago, when dealing with my infant son’s sleep issues) his approach with your type of situation was either gradually advance your bedtime backward 10-20 minutes each day, or _forward_ until you’d reset it to the time you wanted it. For example, if you’re sleepy at 3 AM, stay up until 3:30 tomorrow, then 4:00 the next day, then 4:30 the day after that, etc. Obviously this only works if your work / school schedule can be adapted temporarily. This presumably does a better job of resetting that internal clock than simply trying to stay up for 36 hours, or taking drugs to fall asleep “on time”. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-treatment-options-for-late-night-sleeping/272160/22 "2004-11-05T12:03:10Z")
So far I seem to have solved it by a mixture of bright light therapy and using self image suggestion (sounds new agey but it basically just means you visualize what/where you want to be in the hopes that you get there). When I wake up I try to shine lights towards my face for about 20-30 minutes. Also I started to visualize me falling asleep around midnight and waking up around 7. For the last 4 days I’ve fallen asleep around midnight (11-1) and woken up naturally around 7 so hopefully this trend will continue. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-treatment-options-for-late-night-sleeping/272160/23 "2004-11-05T12:18:39Z")
Do you smoke? I suffered from insomnia when I smoked. I don’t now. Insomnia, as the norm, went away about 2 months after quitting. Regular exercise should help (at \*least \* 2 hours before bedtime). During those occasional nights when I can’t sleep, I find that stream-of-consciousness writing to be helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-treatment-options-for-late-night-sleeping/272160/24 "2004-11-05T14:21:46Z")
smoke cigarettes or marijuana? I assume you mean cigarettes since they are a mild stimulant. No, I don’t smoke but I think my insomnia is clearing up with bright light therapy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-the-treatment-options-for-late-night-sleeping/272160.md?page=1)