Will having more normal, routine sleeping hours improve my mental health?

Question

I am a huge night owl. I have something called Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome; I diagnosed myself by reading the symptoms off the internet, I'm not a doctor. It's a disorder where the person cannot fall asleep before 2 am, like I stay up until like 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning, and really have a hard time getting up in the morning, on my days off, I sometimes don't get up until 2:00 in the afternoon--so what I'm doing is very very wrong. The good news is that this disorder doesn't cause me to be late for work or school--I can still get up early when necessary, the only downside is that I lose sleep. You see, I can't get up early for no reason, but I would like to, hoping that it will improve my mood. My friend says that he gets up early because "he feels like it." I wanna be that way without feeling weird or tired. My biological clock isn't normal, which makes me a worthless piece of c**p to society, and I would like to change it. I would like to have fixed sleep hours where I go to bed at midnight and get up at 8:00am everyday, so I was wondering if there's anything I can do to reach my goal in a short period of time. I want to get into this new habit like really fast, like within the next 48 hours or else I'll lose my mind and get really p*$$ed at myself. Anything I can do to jump start my new habit here? Cause I kept hearing how overtime that having set sleep hours improves mental health? Is this true, I really wanna get better, like fast!! Any suggestions are cool, thanks.

Answer 1

you should wake up early and lay in bed at the time you want to go to sleep. eventually you will be tired enough and reset you schedule. i have the same problem and i have a baby. so that makes things harder because she wakes up right when i get to sleep. taking Tylenol pm helps as well.  i did not know this was an actual disorder but i have this problem as well and making myself get up works. it takes several days but eventually you will sleep early and set a clock to make sure you wake early and problem solved. hope this helps

Answer 2

As someone who is not only the same way, but worse, I can say that abso-freaking-lutely it can help with your mental state! After a time it also makes you more energetic and productive, and can even begin to lessen anxiety and depression (at the very least it makes them MUCH easier to deal with, but for me personally they seem to slowly melt away).

At least try it for a few weeks, after the first couple of weeks you won't regret it.

Answer 3

Try sleeping pills or see a doctor

Answer 4

The only tips that I can give on sleep are the following:

Stick to a sleep schedule.

Exercise

Avoid caffeine and nicotine.

Avoid alcohol.

Avoid large meals and beverages

Avoid medicines that disrupt sleep

Don’t take naps after 3 p.m.

Read or listen to soothing music.

Take a hot bath or shower

Have a comfortable sleeping environment.

Go out during the day

Don’t lie in bed awake.

See a doctor if you continue to have trouble sleeping.  

Answer 5

Yes getting enough sleep at night helps your mental and physical health.  When you sleep in the daytime it doesn't do as much good.  It can mess up your cortisol levels, mess up your hormones,make you gain weight.