please help me break this cycle

[TiredBooyhoo]

i dont sleep before 1am. so after i have gotten the dcs out to school i am coming home and am still so shattered that i lie down on the sofa and usually fall asleep for a couple of hours. when i wake i feel like shit and get nothing done before it's pick up time. i feel like a zombie, yawning all day but when it gets to bed time i still cant get to sleep any earlier and sometimes i'm seeing 3/4/5 oclock and feel even worse the next day. i need to crack this. it's got to the stage where i'm going at least one night a week without even going to bed in an attempt to make myself so tired for the next night that i will sleep but it never works. i dont want to take sleeping aids as i'm on my own with dc and dont trust myself to wake if there was a problem. i'm hoping to start work again in the new year and i dont want to be tackling this at the same time. i need to have it sorted. i know i need to get out and get excercise but when i try i can only manage a couple of days before i'm too shattered to get up and out to do it but i still dont sleep any earlier. i really need some advice on this. thanks in advance.

Do you have a bedtime wind down? Have you tried warm bath before bed or ovaltine etc?

Can you try gradually to bring bed time forward, say by 15 minutes every few days. Then once you are getting to sleep at a sensible time, say 11pm try to knock that nap on the head? Also I would see your gp and check you are not anaemic, have thyroid issues etc.

Can you do some yoga before you go to bed (say 9pm and aim for a 10.30 /11pm bedtime.)

i sleep really well the night after my yoga class as it tends to clear my mind a bit and also the stretches physically relax me enough to sleep

thanks for replies. i have tried baths and yoga in teh past and they work but i'm never able to keep it going past teh first of second night. when i feel better after the night's sleep i tell myself it will be ok if i stay up a bit later that night and then teh cycle continues again.

i'm going to get ds2 to bed now and then put the yoga dvd on and have a bath after. try to be in bed at 10pm. i've cut out cafeine from 3pm for the last 3/4 days.

Be strict. Set a routine of say 8pm yoga, 9pm bath, 10pm bed.

Staying up late compounds the problem as you get overtired.

What do you do when up late?

Shock treatment - stay up the whole night, no napping during the day and then go to bed at 10pm. You should sleep from sheer exhaustion.

Exercise? Swimming makes me sleepy. Yoga?

i read/MN/watch TV/sort washing/tidy about in the kitchen if it hasn't been done after dinner. i dont always stay up til 1 but when i go to bed and cant sleep i get pissed off and come back down again then try and do the all night thing and end up drinking tea and eating then by 3pm the next day my head is pounding and i'm ready to collapse, i know this is going to happen so i nap while dcs in school to try and prevent me being like a bear when they get home. thankfully i dont have to drive for school run or i think i'd be unfit to do it.