Do not try to force yourself to fall asleep. This will only tend to make you more awake and is counterproductive. Only go to bed when you feel sleepy. If you wake up in the middle of the night, let yourself fall asleep within 15-20 minutes.
No matter how tired you are, if you're not sleepy, you should not get into bed. If you do, chances are you will start to worry, problem-solve, and generally activate yourself, and create or strengthen all sorts of arousing associations with your bed — all of which interfere with falling asleep.
If you are not getting enough sleep, your body will eventually make you sleep. How long it takes you to fall asleep (sleep latency) is affected by how much your body needs to sleep. Normally, it only takes one or two days to recover from the short-term problems caused by acute sleep deprivation.
Why do I not want to sleep even though I'm tired? Your inability to sleep might come from circadian misalignment, poor sleep hygiene, anxiety, or the side effects of certain medications. If you've ruled these out, you may have insomnia or an underlying health issue.
Causes of bedtime procrastination
These issues include personal factors, like stress and wanting to feel in control, and situational factors, like digital distractions and an uncomfortable sleep environment.
The bare minimum of sleep needed to live, not just thrive, is 4 hours per 24-hour period. Seven to 9 hours of sleep are needed for health, renewal, learning, and memory. Disruption of the sleep cycle from shift work creates problems for the quality and quantity of sleep.
The easy experimental answer to this question is 264 hours (about 11 days). In 1965, Randy Gardner, a 17-year-old high school student, set this apparent world-record for a science fair. Several other normal research subjects have remained awake for eight to 10 days in carefully monitored experiments.
Turn down your stress levels
An overactive mind at night and sleep do not go well together, and it's because of stress. Stress is also why you want to sleep but your brain won't stop talking to itself.
Revenge bedtime procrastination refers to the decision to delay sleep in response to stress or a lack of free time earlier in the day. The addition of the word “revenge” to the concept of bedtime procrastination became popular on social media .
If you've ever laid awake at night and wondered, "why can't I sleep?" there may be several reasons. Some common reasons you can't sleep include poor sleep environment, sleep disorders, stress, and daytime inactivity.
Sleep impacts all areas of life. If we stay up late, we may tend to snack on unhealthy foods, impacting our diet and throwing off a healthy routine. If we fail to get the proper amount of sleep, we may get sick more often, have heart issues or become anxious or depressed.
Experts say that resistance to bedtime is normal. All children go through a phase in which their favorite word is "no." During this phase, the desire to disobey parents is often in conflict with lingering separation anxiety, causing the nighttime behavior problems.
Depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues can also cause sleep problems. Whether chronic or acute, these conditions are stressful which means they trigger that same elevated cortisol release that keeps you awake at night.
Try using a few gentle techniques to distract yourself from overthinking such as deep breathing, meditation, or reading a bit of your favorite book. Setting up a consistent pre-bed routine can also help to prevent overthinking before your head even hits the pillow.
Tryptophan and melatonin
Your two best friends for a restful night. Milk (and other dairy products) are a really good source of tryptophan. It's an amino acid that can help promote sleep, so it can come in particularly handy especially if you're used to tossing and turning before finally getting off to sleep.
Other weird records
Previously, Peter Tripp held the first record at 201 hours and suffered from hallucinations for several days after. Between Peter and Randy, Honolulu DJ Tom Rounds made it to 260 hours. Randy tapped out at 264 hours, and slept for 14 hours straight after.
Thai Ngoc has not slept since 1962. An 80-year-old man from Vietnam claims to have been wide awake for 60 years after a fever during his childhood left him unable to sleep. Thai Ngoc's one-of-a-kind case has left him restless since 1962. Ngoc's family, friends and neighbours have never seen him sleep.