Insomnia

[jayantiift]

i am 23 and pursuing MBA from one of the premier institute of India. my curriculum is very hectic and demands late night work from every student. i like all my friends have to work on projects till late night.
Since childhood, i never had the habit of sleeping late in the morning. neither do i get the opportunity of sleeping in the afternoon.
My problem is that it doesn't matter at what time i sleep at 2 am or 3 am , my eyes automatically opens at 6 or 7 am in the morning. hence i get only 4 to 5 hour of sleep daily. as a result my head pains throughout the day and i am not able to concentrate on my studies. but i never feel sleepy, just my eyes and forehead pains.

what should i do?
please help me .

[Dr Rajput]

Hi, photo therapy consists of light therapy where you will be exposed to specific amount of light during day to alter your abnormal melatonin turnover. This procedure has shown to be effective in some. Quality sleep is one wherein you feel fresh and wide awake. Feeling sleepy is a sign of insomnia. Take care and regards.

[jayantiift]

thank you Dr.Rajput for this detailed and useful remark.

still there are few queries in my mind which i would like to get cleared.
how do you ensure that you get quality sleep of 6 to 7 hours?
in my routine i have to wake up till late n night hence until and unless i increase my sleeping hours in the morning i won't be able to get sufficient sleep. so how to do that?
and you mentioned about non-pharmacological therapies such as photo therapy. can you throw some light on it.

[Dr Rajput]

Hi, welcome to the forum, the number of hours of sleep (recommended) varies from person to person. Body has many ways to compensate for the load of work, stress, physical trauma etc. by just few hours of sound sleep.  Quality of sleep is important then hours of sleep. 6 hrs of quality or sound sleep is better than 10 hours incomplete or half sleep.

Minimum of 6 hrs sleep is essential to rejuvenate your mind. Sleep is very important process during which provides adequate mental relaxation by expelling mental exhaustion, rest to metabolic functions, forms memory neuronal circuits which builds up long term memory etc.

If sleeping hours reduce due to stress or work load, the subsequent overall body performance reduce considerably. Hence, sleep deprivation should be prevented, maintain sleep hygiene, mental relaxation exercise will help you to get rid of stress.

As your body is used to get up at 7 AM, which is set by circadian rhythm in your body. Hence, do not delay the sleep. The therapy for this condition includes retaining of normal circadian rhythm by non-pharmacological therapy which includes; Photo therapy, maintenance of sleep hygiene. You need to go for morning exercises and work out which will make you fresh and active all day and tiredness at the end of day will help you to induce sleep naturally.

I hope this information helps you. Take care and regards.