Ask Your Question today
I have been this way my whole life when not working or going to school. I can't fall asleep until after 7 or 8 am. I have taken sleeping pills before to temporally fix the problem but I'm expecting right now so that's not an option. If I do fall asleep at night I end up sleeping until 7 pm the next night
I really think you should go to a sleep center where in which they'll preform a sleep study. There could be an underlying and possibly serious health issue that has been causing this.
The same thing used to happen to me! And still does occasionally, but for the most part it's gotten a lot better. My theory is that I put pressure on myself to fall asleep and become anxious that I won't be able to fall asleep which in turn makes me not able to fall asleep and when the sun comes up I've sort of "given up" and then that lack of pressure and anxiety allows me to fall asleep.
For me it was part of an anxiety disorder and when I saw a psychiatrist and he treated the anxiety with medication (an SSRI), the sleep problems got much better.
You can also try taking Melatonin a half hour before bed which can be purchased at your local grocery store or pharmacy over the counter. It's much safer than sleeping pills which can cause memory loss if overused. It's the actual chemical your brain makes to tell you when to go to sleep. It works well for jet lag or to change your sleeping schedule, but if the underlying cause is anxiety it's likely the melatonin won't really help.
Another extremely effective thing to do is to get more exercise on a daily basis. Exercise will not only make you more tired, but it also releases chemicals in your brain to reduce stress and anxiety.
You can also try sleep hypnosis. This helps me fall asleep. This one is my favorite because I find the speakers voice very soothing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDByPPcmM6U
Also be sure to avoid caffeine in the afternoons and if you can make it through the day without sleeping (even if you didn't sleep the night before) this is good because it will help you sleep at night the next night and hopefully help you get some sort of sleep schedule going on.
You should also try to establish a routine for going to bed- for example read a book from 10-11 every night right before you go to sleep. Also try to get to bed around the same time and wake up around the same time every night. Regularity and routine are very helpful for insomniacs.
Interesting, I'm not sure what to tell you other than have a sleep study done to see if there's some kind of underlying abnormality causing this. I have bouts of insomnia where I'm not able to fall asleep until 7-8 am, but it doesn't happen consistently.