Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

How do I change my messed up body clock

7 replies

LucyLatimer · 27/10/2020 11:08

Now the clocks have changed, I’m sitting at my desk with my lumie sad lamp next to me. I WFH and start at 6, work at my desk for 8 hours and maybe more and am done for around 3pm usually.

Problem is my body clock, which has always been this way a bit but just gets worse and I age and I suspect that I’m now also peri. I struggle to stay awake and enjoy an evening with my family unless I am physically on my feet doing something. I’m grumpy and cant concentrate and want to go to bed as soon as possible and fall asleep immediately. I then have an awful nights sleep where I wake any time from about midnight to 3ish and then pretty much cant sleep any more until I have to get up and work at 6, so I never feel rested and then it all starts again.

I’ve had medication to help me sleep, but my doctor wont prescribe any more as they class my sleep problems as ongoing. I tried acupuncture where we spoke about adrenal fatigue and cortisol, hypnotherapy, mindfulness. I have blue light blocking glasses for the evening and a Lumie light for the mornings and take magnesium and 5HTP in the evenings. Also recently read Michael Mosely’s Fast asleep and liked the idea of trying to stay awake later in the evenings to sleep better but I just cant make myself stay awake. I try to eat low carb and 16:8 where possible, no caffeine after lunch, don’t really eat late or drink in the evenings.

My grandmother was the same and I remember everyone laughing that she would go to be at 6pm and be up at 4 in the morning. I also think that there is a SAD component to this as its so much more pronounced in winter and various family members really suffer from depression, especially in winter.

Anyone have the same thing or any suggestions how I can become an evening person a bit more? I’ve seen lots of threads where people want to get up easier in the morning but my problem is the opposite, my doctor wont help me and I want to help myself but just don’t know how.

OP posts:
Margaritatime · 27/10/2020 12:41

OP, I feel for you as sleep is so important.
Part of this is the ageing process including menopause . This is then exacerbated by SAD.

I am happy if someone with more knowledge corrects me but as I understand it historically humans had two sleep periods with 2-3 hours of waking in between. They didn’t have lights, TVs etc so slept between dusk and dawn.

If you translate this to your current pattern, the waking up and then not being able to get back to sleep means you only have one sleep period.
What worked for me was an afternoon nap. This gave me energy to do things in the evening.

LucyLatimer · 27/10/2020 15:16

Thanks, that’s an interesting idea. I worry that if I do fall asleep then it will mean even longer awake at night

OP posts:
Margaritatime · 27/10/2020 22:27

Set an alarm and try not to sleep past 16:00, so if you finish work at 3 try to get an hour then.

LucyLatimer · 28/10/2020 06:39

Ok, I’ll try this afternoon. What time do you end up going to bed if you do this?

OP posts:
Margaritatime · 28/10/2020 08:58

About 10 pm

LucyLatimer · 28/10/2020 09:47

I’ll aim for that, anything after 9 and I think I’m doing really well

OP posts:
Palavah · 28/10/2020 09:53

When are you spending time outside in fresh air and daylight?

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread