Even though I can tell I am making gains this #FLEXFRIDAY, I seem to have hit a wall that is holding me back.

My life for too long has consisted of staying up too late which leads to either sleeping in too long, or waking up early and being basically dead for the entire day.

But how do you break a bad habit? It’s much harder than people think. For me, things like candies, or treats or soda I can stop anytime. It’s just a matter of not putting the junk in my mouth.

But a sleeping schedule? It’s just something I am having the hardest time with. In my head I am tormented that if I go to bed early, I won’t get as much done as I usually do if I stay up late. I have convinced myself that I am more productive at night.

We are very good at convincing ourselves about stuff like this and the stress of going to be early to wake up early to get more done in the beginning of the day now keeps me awake at night because I think I should be working.

It’s a vicious cycle, but I am determined to break it.

We all have our bad habits and when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle we need to be disciplined in all aspects of our life. Not just the gym.

I am going to break this horrible cycle Nation. I have big plans for this year and I need to be as productive as possible.

Have any of you had to break a bad sleep cycle before? What did you do? The Captain could use a little help on this one! (Obviously “go to bed early” is an easy answer, but it’s much harder than that for me! Lol)

What are some bad habits you’ve have Hermanites? How did you overcome them?

I have the same habbit scott!!! But i been doing much much better as of now.

Scott,

The first thing you need to do is realize that all the things you think you need to get done in one day probably don't. I bet 25-30% of the things you think would be better done at night or in one day could actually wait until the next day or may not really be as important as you think.

Regardless, the way I have always broken this habit is the following:

1) Pick a time that you want to go to bed (say 11PM) and stick to it like a pitbull on a piece of meat :-)

2) Make the bedroom as dark as possible. Melatonin release needs darkness. Make the room like a vampire preparing for sunlight

3) Eliminate all distractions - music, games, cellphone, PC's, books, etc. At 11PM, your one goal is to lie down and close your eyes

4) Whether you are tired or not or whether you want to sleep or not, be in bed with your eyes closed at 11PM every night.

If you follow this as I know you can, after 5-10 days you will have conditioned your body and mind to wind down and want to sleep at 11PM. Also, try not to go to the gym too late. If you want to sleep at 11PM, hitting the gym at 9PM is too late. You need to be done and back home eating dinner by no later than 8PM.

John

It is a lot harder than most think. I am bad about being too busy and feel there is always something that needs to be done which causes me to stay up late. I feel if I take a break or sit down for a while or whatever, I feel I'm wasting time because I need to be doing something. One thing I've done that has helped a lot is ORGANIZE my day. Stick to the schedule. Put the same amount of effort into the schedule as you do your fitness routine. Schedule a time to "end" your work and take 20 min and relax before bed. Something that wil help ur mind relax. At first it'll be difficult, just like the nutrition part of a lifestyle change when unsure of where to begin. I assume ur somewhat organized with all the things u juggle with the forum, videos, and such but time management is also key. You may already do most of this but this is just something I've found that works for me...

Allen

I had this very same issue as many people do. I currently work 60 hours a week waitressing and run my own training business. It is very exhausting and time is something I cannot change. I told myself I could live off 3-5 hours of sleep because I would never get everything done sleeping eight hours. Well the stress made me gain weight. My 5am workouts were daunting Bc I was so physically and mentally exhausted. I was a walking zombie and pretty much never ate Bc I couldn't make it to the grocery store. So I woke up one day and said enough is enough. I started making myself go to sleep 30 minutes earlier week by week until I hit 7 or 8 hours. Every morning I juiced veggies and some fruit to ensure I got those in me right away. My girlfriend gives me a foot massage every night to relax me and relieve the pain of always being on my feet. Sunday after work (I work literally everyday so no days off) I go shopping and get everything prepared for the week to hit my macros. I take krill oil for my omegas and probiotics. I write in a journal before bed to get all my thoughts and to do list on the paper and out of my head. Racing thoughts is sure to keep you up and this really helps. Also sleep in complete darkness with no noise. I hope some of these tips help you. Getting no sleep sucks and can hinder you in so many ways. Now go catch some good zzz's tonight!

i had a habit the same as you as i used to work shift work and ever week my hours would change so my sleeping used to change then,like when i was on nights and the 2 to 10 shift i used to go to sleep at 4 or 5 am and get up 10 or 11 cause i could not sleep any more.

now how i got out of the habit was i start going to the gym about 4 to 5 hours before a time i set to go to bed,after wroking hard in the gym for a hour or so went home took a nice wash cleaned the house and for about 1 hour to 1 and a half i setdown with the wife put my feet up and watched a movie and before i new it 1 hour into the movie all i wanted to do was sleep cause for the last few hours my body was active and was tired,so now i sleep form 11 or 12 at night and get up 7 or 8 am for work,try that out scott,all so have some lovin if you want to break it to all men want to do after that is sleep :)

Thats simple dude. Make people do your dirty work for you so that you have more time. This way the same stuff gets accomplished but you dont do all the work :P

Eliminate caffiene / energy drinks / PWO for about a month. Report back

Relating to many of the posts here, I find that I hit cycles of extremely 'grindy' lifestyle behaviours to meet my goals which typically peak at about 3-4 months straight before I either remember the pattern and allow myself to recharge or ultimately crash and burn.

A perfect example is that in May of 2013 I left my full-time training gig to come back to university to pick up a second degree. I went from working about 80 hours a week between January - May (because I knew I was leaving), to then starting the academic grind with which I REFUSED failure or even poor performance. I maintained much of my training lifestyle while swapping to academics and have been extremely successful, but training myself in a very performance based style, sleeping about 5 hours a night tops, working as a fitness attendant and freelance personal training at the same time and having full-time student schedule based upon introductory sciences and nutritional content left me absolutely overtrained and fried by the end of the year.

I typically take two definitive deload weeks during the year, where effectively I do not lift. I hit a bit more recovery style cardio and yoga but lifting is 100% off limits two weeks out of the year to allow myself to recharge. The week I typically take at the end of December / beginning of January last about three weeks before my training quality returned because of it.

Yeah yeah yeah, we're all 'super-human' to meet our needs - but we all need to be smart. The strongest choice is often one where we are not strong at all, where we relax and allow healing / recovery.

Naps on naps on naps!

I have this problem too. If I go to bed late, then when I get up later it feels like the day is nearly gone. If I go to bed early though, I find it really hard to get to sleep because my body is so used to being up until a later time.

It means I usually just lose sleep, because I still get up early the next morning but haven't acutally gotten the sleep I needed, because I was lying in bed awake thinking of what I could be doing.

This may be a weird suggestion, but I find if I try and look up with my eyes closed, it helps me drift off. Don't ask me why though! Haha, I have no idea why it seems to make me get to sleep easier...

Another thing I do is have the radio going when I go to bed. Not cranked right up or anything like that, just quietly going as background noise. Sometimes a good song will come on that just really relaxes you and before you know it, you're out like a light.

Not sure if either of these will help you out, but just though I'd give you some of my ideas to help you get some all important, muscle building shut eye!

HTH!

I use to live off 5-6 hours asleep at night and the stress and exhaustion caught up quick. So much responsibility to get certain things done and all that work all day you want to enjoy personal time as well but there just isn't enough day for it. You got to have a schedule/routine for sleep just like you do work, the gym, family time and personal time. If you have too much going on and I'm sure you do have somone or others help take a little bit of the load. You do a lot here, facebook, you tube ect just from what I see and that's awesome but it's gonna get overwhelming. I like staying up late sometimes wether it's to get things done or for personal time but I keep it to my weekends when I don't work. I get up at 5:00 am now to hit the gym and then work 8am-5pm, I take a a 30 min nap at lunch and eat while I work, I get home and spend 2-3 hours with the family, the little one goes to bed and I get an hour for personal time and then I make myself go to bed that way I get 7-8 hours of sleep because if I don't I lose it by the end of the week. I get more time to be with the family, do work around the house and personal time on the weekends when I don't work. That's just my schedule but I have gotten into the routine so it works. Just like everything else Scott you got to schedule your life and prioritize and it gets easier and you get to keep your sanity. If your mind races going to bed too early you just got to get past that, I use to have trouble sleeping like that going to bed after the weekend was over and I had to start my work week back up but I got through it by creating a schedule that made it so I got to enjoy a little of everything in my life I felt was important even though maybe not as much as I would like, there just isn't enough day. I also heard taking 5 mg of Taurine 30 mins before bed will help you fall asleep if memory serves.

Hey Scott!!

Great post!  Good to see you being open and honest about your current struggles. 

The first step, like you have taken, is admitting you need to make some changes.  Sounds like some type of 12-step program!!

In my opionion, like myself, you have a Type-A personality.  Not a bad thing, just need to learn how to manage this trait in order to lead a happy and productive life.

In my situation, I had to learn the hard way.  I worked as a chemist in a supervisory role and spent many hours up at night and early mornings ensuring I was getting everything completed.  With that, more demands were being put on me since I was, so-called, very productive.  I had a hard time saying NO!  Not to sound conceded, but if I wanted something done, I would do it myself because I thought I could do a better job and usually I did.  I guess that is why I kept getting so many demands put on me.  I loved the challenge but it was killing me mentally, physically, and spiritually.  This became a viscious cycle that I could not get out of but one day my body said enough is enough and I shutdown due to complete exhaustion.  I was off work for some time to get my strength back.

I knew I had to make some changes because this life ain't worth killing yourself over.  I assumed a different role at work that was more conducive to a healthier lifestyle.  I began to exercise and my wife and I got more involved with our church.  Slowly my strength came back better than ever.

Now, I make sure I get some alone-time not only at the gym but by myselft.  I delegate more.  I don't sweat the small stuff as much.  If I make a mistake, I'm not as hard on myself.  We don't have the TV on or other distractions close to bedtime and have the lights low.  This enables the natural sleep hormone, melatonin, to start kicking in.  I play more with the kids and dog.  I spend more time with just my wife...very important, I sit and read in my recliner more.  I appreciate things in life more (i.e. having food to eat, roof over my head, a job to go to, a wife and kids to come home to)  In general, I make a conscious effort to ensure, but not always succeed, to keep my life at manageable levels of stress.

Plus, not getting enough sleep increases your cortisol levels, thus blocking the effects of testosterone (I'm sure you already knew that).  You are still pretty young but beginning the time you turn 30 your levels can begin to drop-off and I believe you are the BIG 30 this year!!  At my age you need all testosterone you can get!!

We are always a work in progress!  This is something you will always have to keep in check and that is okay.  With your type of personality, it has made you very successful!  You are a hard worker and have a genuine desire serving others.

Good luck brother!

I completely agree with this post.

Scott, I reckon that it's time to delegate. I've been swamped on numerous occasions with work: lots of work in unrealistic deadlines and feeling that you should be doing stuff at home when at work, and when at home, feeling bad about the work that needs to be done at the office. Even though I try and try to be all things to everyone all of the time, it never ends well.

So, I chose to look at it another way. I have 12 people who's work I'm responsible for and they're all trying to do I good job and have unique strengths and abilities. I'd be crazy to not give them the work that will give challenge and stimulate them, so delegation has become my friend! I've just had to curb my control freak tendencies and say that while it wouldn't get done exactly how I'd do it, the work still gets done.

Perhaps a way too look at it is that you're going so well that it may be time to hire someone to help you out with the site?

Again, thanks for being human!

Cheers

Scott i have 2 methodes; first use some sleeping tea or pils and wake up in noise or just take it slow ex: tonight you go to bed at 22:00 pm and when you wake up do whatever you do but when you go to sleep go with 10 minutes less or more depending on how you want to wake up for later wake up +10 mins for earlyer wake up -10 mins after 5 days you add 10 min and continue on this road until you have reached the 22:30 pm going to bed hour that means 6 weeks after 6 weeks your body will go to bed between 22:00 and 22:30 but still wake up at 7:00 am after this you repet the program and you will wake up at the time that you want. Succes (y)

Happy to hear that @Rishi_Ramsamooj, seems to get easier with each passing day as long as I go to bed early!

Thanks for all the helpful advice @jmboiardi @ABrowning @FuelYourFitness @johnaggro @Whisper @Impulse @JoeHurricane @Adawg38 @Hawk_Given @philflorey and @wbxue

At the end of the day, I just need to get it done and stick to it.

Although @whisper I like your idea the best. Get someone to do my dirty work for me... If only.... haha

You know, I am putting together a video all about testosterone production and a recent study showed that males getting only 5- hours of sleep a night dropped their T levels by 10-15% after ONE WEEK.

That's enough for me to make the change and make it permanent! MORE SLEEP, MORE SLEEP!

The only thing I can see captain is.... you are born with a great self discipline skills  How do we break bad habits such as eating and workout habits? DISCIPLINE (self-control) is the answer, well I consider discipline as the first and the most important behavior in fitness.

We are not all born with a great self discipline skills, but there are ways on how to improve it and we must be. And it will be so hard and it takes time to get that DISCIPLINE word.

WHAT DID YOU DO? same question that my friend always ask me.

Well, so happy to say that I'm also born with a great discipline skills like you. When it comes to eating habit. I'm not denying that I eat clean all the time but with my experience in fitness.. we don't have to sacrifice the food we love to eat which is consider as unhealthy. And I discovered it for myself that I can still eat my favorite foods.. I find ways to make them healthy. . making recipe research.. trial and error. It took a lot of discipline on this part.

In workout routine, we also need discipline here. Most of the people I know here in our gym change their workout routine frequently and a few months later they are wondering why they can't see a result.. that's because they have no discipline to stick to the workout routine.

OH BY THE WAY CAPTAIN.... I GOT THIS TOPIC IN MY WRITINGS 

JUST GO WITH THE FLOW NATION