h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Not looking for obscene answers here, thought of that already.
You know those nights (or maybe it's just me) where you keep tossing and turning and rolling around and you know you won't fall asleep for another couples hours? It happens to me a lot. So I get up. But I can't read, because I'm not awake enough to get it. Sometimes I write, but it usually ends up being strange Hebrew poetry but with every third word in French, and entirely incomprehensible. And of course no one is ever on ICQ to talk to. SO - my grand theory of the internet (also TV, which is why I don't watch it) is that if it doesn't involve interaction with something with a brain I don't do it. I suppose when I'm bored enough I'll take a computer as a brain, though. So any thoughts? Suggestions?

Good night!

Maybe try thinking a whole progression of things that you have to do and then get up and write them down. This can help to clear everything out of your mind and thus allow you to fall into peaceful slumber. Another thing might be to mentally play strategy games like chess, or even chinese checkers. The concentration of this can help to distract your brain and let your body get on with the task of sleeping. Just my theories but I hope they help.

I have that experience because I'm nocturnal and the rest of the world likes to wake in the morning and work through the daylight. I normally am wide awake from about 10pm until 4-5 am, and find that a really calm, quiet time when my head's very active and I can get a lot done.
I've also had the experience of thinking I'll go to bed early because I have to get up early and I just lie there, my head going furiously and becoming more and more annoyed that I'll be stroppy come daylight...
Best thing to do is to go with it: get up and do something that requires little thought: do the dishes, vaccuum, play with the cat/dog, go for a walk, answer junk-mail in your indecipherable writing, send me notes because there's a good chance I'll respond.
In PREPARATION for this is to make sure you're really awake during the day so you're really tired at night (mental activity is more tiring than physical)...which assumes you WANT to sleep and this is what your body wants, too.

If you ARE nocturnal and don't know it, the best thing to do is go with it. Having your body in balance will make such a difference to your performance at just about everything. As I type this the time's 1:30 am and I'm wide awake, despite having to get up for 8:30 (very early for me)....mind you, this is a Workshop weekend I'm prepping for.

Fruitbat

You could happily wile a way the hours playing Freecell, preferably on a Palm Pilot as then you wouldn't need to get out of bed.

If you don't play Freecell yet, be warned it can become addictive.

Yeah, I play Freecell, but I'm terminally bad at it. If I get going I can usually win, but I never know how to start.

I'll keep you in mind, Eric. And I am very much a night person - my summer hours of sleep are about 4 AM to 12 PM. However, as a high-school student (though hopefully not for long, as I'm attempting to homeschool for next year, which would work nicely with my body's timing) I have to wake up at 6:04 AM which means being up late is a bad thing and I sleep through three periods. Which is a bad thing.

Having to get up around the time of normally going to bed is going to wipe you out if you're not careful. I had to do that for the longest time, and I felt like a robot by the end of it...mind you, if you're still in high-school, you're body can take a lot more punishment (as any decent piss-up will tell you) than mine is willing to endure (and which I'm about to inflict on it).

Once you're on your own internal schedule, you'll probably find that EVERYTHING works better.

Fruitbat