How do you deal with extremely irregular sleep?

Been struggling with insomnia myself. I haven't got an answer but I'm trying melatonin now, when I feel it coming on. And hot baths. We'll see.

I tried everything to get more regular sleep. More than one visit to a doctor to try to address the issue, with no solution. For me, after years, simple magnesium citrate before bed finally did the trick. I guess I was/ am often a bit low on magnesium.

I hope you can find what works for you- that random erratic sleep schedule is brutal. Short of that, perhaps try googling or searching here for threads on how shift workers manage, as they deal with a similar sleep pattern.

I have a 4 and a half month old and I feel your pain. He wakes me up to eat and then I can't fall back to sleep. Yoga and meditation has helped me be able to calm my brain down and sometimes fall back asleep. Magnesium has really helped my mom with her sleep issues.

I'm actually dealing with that right now, I've never had a good sleep schedule. I was taking benadryl every night until I recently found out that it can slow you metabolism down a lot and I feared it was the reason I was at a standstill with my weight. (I believe it was because I stopped taking it a week ago, and I'm losing again.) My boyfriend takes Melatonin, it seems to work good, he takes about 1mg of that and he is out within the hour. I just don't want to take another sleep aid in fear of my weight loss to stop again. So you could try that, they have it at most drugstores. I've tried the staying up all night and day to try to get my sleep schedule back, and it works for a week or so, then something good comes on tv and its 3AM again. As for my eating, in the morning/afternoon when I wake up I eat breakfast then about 3 to 4 hours later I eat lunch then dinner about 5 hours after that. I mean I may end up eating dinner at 1 in the morning, but as long as I'm still up and moving I don't see much harm. I think its only bad to eat late if you plan to lounge around and go to sleep after. I hope you can get you sleep right soon, I know how stressful it can be.

Been having troubles with my sleep for many years and still struggling.
Working regular hours will help. Try to get up, go to sleep and have your meals at the same time every day to help your body clock. Exercise will make you feel tired and help with the stress that keeps you awake at night. I am planning to buy a SAD lamp to help me in the morning. Oh, eat carbs. Hyperproteic diets are know to give sleep problems, while some foods help the zzzz... carbs, milk, bananas, even chicken i believe. Google it, it might help you. Good luck!

Wine is a bad answer. Alcohol will help put you to sleep but generally leads to a disrupted sleep cycle.

I feel your pain on the sleep issues. I struggle a lot with insomnia and as someone who has to be up at 5:15am for work every day I can't afford to be lying there until 2 in the morning too often.

For me there's a range of things I can do. Exercise is good but not too much or too close to bed time. I find however that diet is the key. I determined that rice (especially white) is REALLY bad for me to have at night. Now I'm sure millions of people eat it just fine but I noticed a massive change when I stopped eating it for dinner and I also notice that if I do eat it for dinner (I just came off 10 years in Asia, it's hard to avoid sometimes) that I'm very likely to struggle to sleep. Maybe try a food/sleep diary combo and see if you can find any trigger foods for yourself.

Stress is another issue. I work really hard to remind myself that even if I don't sleep it's not the end of the world. All those parents with children survive and I will too. This helps me not to lie there getting more and more stressed about not sleeping.

And, if I have a few nights of no sleep/lousy sleep then I resort to medication to help get me back on track. I do use prescription drugs as a last resort but I find that Tylenol PM is almost as effective for me. Sadly I'm not American but I can usually find someone traveling to the US who'll feed my habit by picking up a bottle for me.

In the same boat - I wake up and cant fall asleep, usually at 3 a.m.?? Interested to see what others have to say.

Melatonin has helped me immensely. I had very interrupted sleep (worries, making lists in my head, overthinking work situations). I only take 1/2 a pill and also started taking 5 HTP (claims to help with mood, sleep and appetite). I sleep all night, close my eyes and wake up in the morning, and that had not happened in a long time. My next step if that did not work was Xanax. Good luck, not sleeping is miserable, I really feel for you.

I recently quit a horrible job as a call centre worker working full time from 11pm - 7am, in 5 months I put on 10kg, so I quit. I truely believe turning my sleeping and eating upside down is what did it. best not to eat at night if you can help it. I still have trouble sleeping, I find meditation to relaxing music sometimes helps. there are some good free apps with ambient sounds and such to aid with sleep, such as sleep stream, you could try that. Sometimes when I am really desperate, I'll find a really boring documentary on tv, the monotone of the narration puts me to sleep just like the teachers at school did. lol

I use OTC sleep aids. helps me a lot. although, i fear i'm entirely dependent on them now. very seldom am i able to fall asleep without them. but, i figure there are worse vices to have, and at least i get to sleep.

I work nights, trying to sleep during the day just doesnt happen for me. Not the best answers but a few drinks sometimes helps...Tried Melatonin and it doesnt help me much.