How to get rid of oversleeping?

Question

I've got a quite intense body transformation coming up, and it is quite time consuming. Therefore I have finally decided I need to get rid of my worst habit - oversleeping.

It seems, that every time I get the chance (free days, Saturdays, Sundays) it is quite common for me to sleep anywhere from 10-15 hours per night, and it is starting to take its toll. That means, that in any given day, I am losing 2-7 hours of valuable workout/study/work time, which is no more fine by me.

So the question: How do I get rid of oversleeping?

Some background info: I am a freelance programmer therefore I spend quite a lot of time at a computer. I also study IT, so a bit more time is spent sitting. I currently don't work out at a gym, but have quite intense (3h+) dance practices 2x a week, so I'm not also completely sedentary. I am also a bit overweight, therefore the transformation. I am not currently on any diet per-se, but I try to keep things balanced. In regards to sleep, because of work, there are times (about 1x a week) when I have to work really late, like 4am, and get up at 6am for studies.

Answer 1

The most important thing you could probably do is go to bed at the same time and wake up at the same time every day - even on the weekends. This let's your body get use to the rhythm of your days and you wont want to sleep longer than you need.

A trick you can use is to turn on all the lights in your bedroom as soon as your alarm goes off. I suffered from the same thing you did and I read that, by turning on all the lights, it tricks your body into thinking it's morning. Especially helpful if you get up before the sun like I do.

Answer 2

You are a programmer like I am; that means that your most important feature is your brain. "Oversleeping" is not a problem. Overweight is a problem. Insufficient sleep is a problem. Sleeping is very important for keeping your brain working properly. Without your brain, you have no job.

That 10-15 hour sleep on the weekends is your body's way of recovering what you've cheated it out of during the week. Sure, I'd love several extra hours per day, who wouldn't? You and I have the exact same 24 hours per day that every other human has. There is no other way around the fact that we're both meat bags and the bag of meat requires maintenance. Yes, we can be a lot more productive with 25+ hours per day, but reality doesn't allow that. My body prefers 9 hours of sleep per night: my lifestyle requires that I get 6 hours of sleep per night. Both things cannot be true - something has to give. For me, the weekends are for recovering what I can't get during the week. As you age, you will realize that your body is more important than your desired lifestyle. Get the sleep your body wants.

Answer 3

You may want to do a little research into why you are oversleeping so much - both revolve around the quality of sleep. There are two thoughts that I have:

1. Look at your diet. Your diet can greatly affect your sleep cycle. Don't eat a large meal before you go to bed. Steer clear of sugars and carbs (particularly white sugar) before going to bed. If you do have a snack before bed (so you are not hungry), have something light and healthy.
2. One reason you may be oversleeping is that the time you do spend sleeping is not quality time. You said that you are slightly overweight. Have you looked into sleep apnea at all? You may be waking yourself up (though, not fully) throughout the night, thus you aren't entering restful sleep states and, thus, aren't really sleeping that well. Are you sweating at night? If so, try to change the temperature of the room/your bedding/what you are wearing to bed.

And, Sparafusile had an excellent piece of advice - go to bed at the same time every night. As part of this, you mentioned you are a programmer/into IT. Are you looking at a screen within an hour of your bed time? If so, stop that. Studies have shown that screens actually prevent the brain from winding down and sending appropriate "I am sleepy" signals to the body. Give that hour of time before bed a chance to wind down.

Answer 4

First off,

You should probably ask yourself this - ( Am I getting enough sleep, in general )

If you aren't sleeping at least 8 hours a night, then yes the body tends to overcompensate by sleeping more when it has the opportunity to.

But it isn't about the quantity of the sleep either. The quality is actually more if not equal importance which means getting sleep in a complete dark room, as light can have an adverse effect on melatonin - the hormone secreted by the pineal gland which controls your sleep cycles

There have been studies where even a crack of light can affect how your body produces melatonin and in a world where we are constantly surrounded by light be it our phones, night lights, computers and lamps, it affects our sleep considerably.

Now my suggestion would be to completely black out your room the days you have to stay up late to artificially create a night time environment and also take 2 hour naps if you lack sleep.