Im up all night and asleep all day. I've tried laying in bed at night till I pass out. Never comes. I tried coffee all night so I can stay up during the day. Fail. It's been this way for 3 weeks and I'm out of ideas. I want to fix this so bad... Ideas?

If staying up for 24+ hours doesn't work then I would try to change it slowly over the next week by gradually adjusting your sleep schedule.

For example if you currently go to sleep now at 6am and wake up at 3pm then I would try to go to bed at 5am and then get up at 2pm, the next day go to bed at 4am and get up at 1pm, etc... After about a week you should be back on a normal schedule.

Maybe try setting an alarm and forcing yourself out of bed after a short sleep. Like, if you go to sleep at 6, get up at 10. Keep yourself busy and do not allow yourself to nap. Hopefully then you will be tired enough to go to sleep at a "normal" bedtime.

For the future, try creating a bedtime ritual - turn down the lights, turn off the TV/computer/etc, put on jammies, brush teeth - so that your body learns to recognize that when these things happen, it's time to sleep. Also, if possible, use the bed ONLY for sleeping - no watching TV or reading or surfing the 'net or eating or whatever. This is another way to train your brain, so that it recognizes that being in the bed means you should be sleeping.

I have had disrupted sleep for 4 yrs since the birth of my daughter and over time it rendered me unable to fall asleep on my own. I think my brain is really messed up from the random but constant waking. At any rate the only thing that has helped me is taking melatonin every night consistently.

Force yourself to stay awake during the day and go to bed early, then get up early. Eventually it will straighten out. No caffeine after 5pm.

Whisky before bed.

He's right.

It could be related to depression. Check with a doctor.

I like the whisky idea, and I know people that have had good luck with melatonin. I used to have a sleeping problem like that that lasted for years and years, like pretty much my whole life until I was 23. At that point I had a therapist hypnotize me and suggest that I go to sleep whenever I wanted to, and crazy enough, I went home that night and fell asleep at 11 pm! It sounds like yours is only a recent thing, so maybe less drastic measures will work for you, but if you had access to someone who could hypnotize you or if you were interested in doing it for kicks, it could work. At any rate, good luck, I know that sucks.

i have had this problem many times and i've fixed it now.

the most fun way to fix it and the way i've fixed it is by going away on a trip for a while. I have gone way on bicycle tours by myself and had to camp out so i would go to bed at dark and get up at dawn. When i came home, i decided i would not go on the internet or watch tv after dinner but would go to bed with a book or do something else.

Having another activity that i wanted to do during the day helped me break this habit a lot too.

If you can't go away for a trip, then try becoming a volunteer somewhere so that you have to be up and about in the day time. Do it as many days a week as you can handle in the beginning to help you break the back of the habit and then wind back to few days but don't pick up on your late night internet habit again. You have to make yourself get off the computer fairly early in the evening so that you have time to catch your pre midnight sleep cycle.

I know that if or while you are depressed its very very difficult to change this habit but if you can somehow find the motivation to get a job/get a volunteer job/take a holiday and force a change of routine, then you have a good chance of solving the problem.

I know its really difficult to manage a weight problem if you are up all night and sleeping all day. Virtually impossible i'd say. So i really wish you well on this.

Are you doing anything differently that has disrupted your sleep schedule? There are a number of things you can do to address this, this has happened to me due to stress and bouts of anxiety and even minor adjustments make a big difference.

- exercise early in the day. If I exercise after 5pm my muscles are all twitchy at night.
- no caffeine after noon.
- no smart phones or tablets an hour before bed - this is HUGE! the blue light from the screen really really interferes with sleep by supressing melatonin http://lighting.com/light-smartphones-delay-sleep/
- meditation apps - I know just said no smartphones but there are countless apps for helping to relax and prep your body for sleep, you use earphones and the screen is black so it's fine. This has been very helpful when i feel severe bouts of insomnia.
- exposure to morning light - get out there at 8 am, no sunglasses! Absorb as much of the sun's light in the morning. This will help reset your circadian rhythm.

It's amazing what power light has on our sleep patterns. It controls our sleep patterns. I also agree with other posters who have suggested a bedtime routine.

Alcohol is not really a good idea because it reduces or eliminates REM cycles so your sleep is not as restorative as it needs to be.

I totally agree, alcohol is just about the worst thing you can do to help with regulating sleep.

Aside from being a nice joke, alcohol is a real problem for me before I sleep. I wake up regularly, as though I'm aware I'm compromised.

All the best to you, imabehot.

I've been having a LOT of trouble *staying* asleep lately. I've tried caffeine control and exercise. I know sugar/food in the evening is a problem for me in terms of sleep interruption. I'm at a point of considering extreme food control or fasting earlier. I don't know I've been to therapy, that's not it.

Wannabeskinny - great point about blue light. I downloaded a program called "Lux" that controls blue light from your screen depending on time of day. Very gradual, so you hardly notice the change. I do recommend trying it!

I definitely agree about the blue light thing. Getting away from the computer and TV can really help.

I've occasionally taken NyQuil to get me back into a proper sleeping routine when it's out of whack. Not saying this is the smartest solution but for 1-2 nights in a row it has helped me. I believe they have one now that is strictly for sleep, ZzzQuil?

Three weeks though? I wouldn't give yourself much longer before calling on a doc for help!