Hi teeming millions,
I am curious as to what is the easiest or most effective or least straining way to turn around your sleeping schedule. Preferrably in a short time.
I have been working night this summer, a night shift which ends this night. The shift usually means I get in bed around 6-7 am and sleep until 3-4 pm.
However, it ends tonight. But this wednesday, I will have an important school exam at eight in the morning, for which I will want to have gotten a good night’s sleep so that I can think straight. Any suggestions?
Personally, I would try to stay up as late as I can and move my sleeping schedule that way. That’s how I usually deal with jet lag. So if you’re on a schedule going to sleep at 7 a.m. now, I would do my best to stay up another 12-14 hours to a bed time of 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. and try to reset it that way.
Sleep about 5 hours, get up around noon, then go to sleep at a ‘normal’ bedtime that night. You’ll be groggy and useless for that first day but it’s the fastest way to get back on a day schedule. My shift requires us to make that turnaround 4 times a month and that’s the way most people do it. When going from days to nights it’s easiest to stay up later and later but to go from night to day you should make the transition as quick as you can.
In mice, a 16 hour fast resets the cycle. They don’t know if humans work the same way.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2252042720080522?sp=true
So, assuming this works, in your case you would start fasting tonight or Sunday night 16 hours before the new wake-up time. Go to sleep when you can and set your clock for the new time. Get up, take a 10 minute walk outside to help you wake up (and so your body can respond to the light), then have breakfast.
I say start tonight or Sunday because, if this doesn’t work, you have a day buffer for some kind of recovery time.
Let us know how it turns out.
I tried to stay awake for a full day, but it backfired. I simply fell asleep in the sofa and distorted the rhytm even more. So, contrary to the advice, I turned the rhytm bit by bit and it’s sort of worked. I might try the 16 hour fasting trick if I would find myself on a shorter notice, though.
I’ve used melatonin with good effect when I’ve unexpectedly had a schedule change and needed to acclimate quickly. Melatonin will knock you out pretty effectively about a half hour after you take it, so figure out what you want your new sleeping hours to be, take a nice hot bath about an hour before that, take the melatonin and do your level best to sleep the right number of hours to set you up for the new schedule. Keep using it for a week or two until the new sleep pattern is well established.