January 6th, 2011 at 07:22pm
Make sure you get enough exercise during the day, but NOT right before you go to bed. You want it to be later in the day so as to wear yourself out, but not so late that you're still full of adrenaline when you're trying to fall asleep.
There's the obvious, avoid eating--especially sugary/caffeinated foods--right before bed.
In fact, what helped me when I got on that sleep schedule is, I cut all caffeine from my diet except for occasional chocolate because, well, I'm female and can't live without chocolate. But no soda, no coffee, no tea, until I was sleeping normally.
One thing people told me, that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't, is...you know when you focus so intently on relaxing a certain part of your body that you can almost feel it tingling? Do that. Start with your toes, then your feet, then your ankles, all the way up your body until your whole body is completely relaxed. (It doesn't always work for me, but sometimes it helps.)
Try to figure out what's keeping you from sleeping. If you just can't get your mind to shut off, try journaling--it helps sort and organize your thoughts so they're not swarming around in your head keeping you from sleeping.
Finally, FORCE yourself to get up EARLY one day. Staying up all night rarely works, but make yourself get up early, no matter how hard it is. Give yourself an obligation that MUST be done in the morning. Make it late enough where you can function on the amount of sleep you got, but early enough where you'll be tired and will be ready for bed earlier than usual.
Hopefully SOMETHING in there helped. =)
I had an irregular sleep pattern, but I started going to sleep a little bit earlier each night, and now I'm back on track.