I usually fall asleep around 22:30-23 and have to wake up around 6 for school. I’m a night person so I can’t really get to sleep before that. Also, the sound of my alarm is physically painful so I tend to be half-awake a while before it in anxious anticipation. High schoolers (I’m USian) need more sleep than most people, so I feel miserable on less than nine hours and deteriorate throughout the week. Idk how some people do it on even less sleep. My head buzzes and I can’t focus most of the time during the school day. On weekends I used to get 11-12 hours to make up for my sleep debt, but I haven’t been able to since daylight savings time. I can now barely get ten hours a lot of the time, leaving me tired enough to have a strong tendency to go on social media without much energy for else.
Any advice? I can provide more information if necessary.
Somehow caffeine is helping me sleep. I’m also the night owl type, but since I started drinking mate every day, I go to sleep earlier and fall asleep really easily. I drink it around 10-11am, put one teaspoon of leaves in the gourd, and top with 70°C water, and that gets me through the whole day. Definitely feel less fatigue around the early afternoon too, which has always been a big problem for me.
At your age (high school age as I understand it) I’m not sure how recommended caffeine is though, definitely look into that more before you start. It’s a molecule that’s everywhere and everyone consumes so we think it’s harmless, but it’s not completely benign. Mate is not super caffeinated especially if you only drink that one teaspoon and not the mountain like how they usually make it in South America. It perks you up but won’t make you overstimulated like a cup of coffee can.
I also have my alarm set for the weekends. When it rings, I turn it off and then do what I want. Sometimes I go back to sleep, sometimes I stay awake and browse on the phone before getting up, and sometimes I get up there and then. If I go back to sleep after the alarm it doesn’t matter because I will naturally wake up 1h-1h30 later, preventing me from sleeping super late (like noon) if I went to bed late the previous night. I don’t know if this works the same on everyone, but it was a great first step to improve my sleeping habits since like you I’m also a night owl.
I find that I now naturally wake up before my alarm. We’ll see how long this lasts lol.