I had trouble going to sleep early because I wasn’t tired. I’ve had more success focusing on (a regular and early) waking time, and putting very little pressure on bedtime. It’s easier and more accurate to log when you wake up (I just do it manually), and you avoid certain counterproductive situations where it’s clear you’re clearly not tired enough to fall asleep but still feel like you “ought to” stay in bed. At least for me, if I can occasionally force myself to wake up early despite having stayed up late, my overall sleep cycle eventually normalizes itself so that I’m tired at an appropriate time.
I have tried that before and found it doesn’t work for me unless I have something really forcing me to get up early (classes did the job, work does not). I may just not be viewing my incentive to get up early correctly. On the other hand, my brain is bad at managing motivation in the early morning, especially if I didn’t get enough sleep. It’s a lot easier to see the importance in “go to sleep now” than in “wake up now”, because the former happens when I’m already awake.
Also, I can (and regularly do) stay up well past the point that I’m tired enough to go to sleep, but not so tired that I want to go to sleep. The difference is usually 2-3 hours, and the net effect is that my sleep schedule creeps forward over time to the extent that, if there’s nothing regulating it, I cycle through the full 24 hour period in about two weeks.
I had trouble going to sleep early because I wasn’t tired. I’ve had more success focusing on (a regular and early) waking time, and putting very little pressure on bedtime. It’s easier and more accurate to log when you wake up (I just do it manually), and you avoid certain counterproductive situations where it’s clear you’re clearly not tired enough to fall asleep but still feel like you “ought to” stay in bed. At least for me, if I can occasionally force myself to wake up early despite having stayed up late, my overall sleep cycle eventually normalizes itself so that I’m tired at an appropriate time.
I have tried that before and found it doesn’t work for me unless I have something really forcing me to get up early (classes did the job, work does not). I may just not be viewing my incentive to get up early correctly. On the other hand, my brain is bad at managing motivation in the early morning, especially if I didn’t get enough sleep. It’s a lot easier to see the importance in “go to sleep now” than in “wake up now”, because the former happens when I’m already awake.
Also, I can (and regularly do) stay up well past the point that I’m tired enough to go to sleep, but not so tired that I want to go to sleep. The difference is usually 2-3 hours, and the net effect is that my sleep schedule creeps forward over time to the extent that, if there’s nothing regulating it, I cycle through the full 24 hour period in about two weeks.