Night Owl Addiction

With the way things are classified these days I’m sure there is some official name for what I have. I don’t have insomnia, but struggle with a desire to just stay awake. It’s not that I can’t sleep, it’s more of that I feel like there are more hours left in the day (even if we are into the next day and there are literally no hours left in the previous day).

I tell myself - I’ll just finish one more thing, just 5 more minutes, absolutely no later than midnight. Next thing I know its 2am and I’m just starting to rest my head on the pillow. Its really the biggest area of my life where I know things would improve if I could just get to bed at a decent time and yet I can not do it. I’m now convinced I am a anti-sleep-oholic or that I suffer from Night Owl Addiction (if anyone knows the correct term for this or how to cure it, please let me know).

Sometimes I think I stay awake because I don’t believe I deserve to go to bed—because I haven’t done enough, but other times I think its just because at night my mind is so clear. Nobody is awake to ask me to do things for them and there is nothing I can do other than the one thing I’m staying awake to do.

I know that I am doing a lot of damage to my brain by staying up this late and not getting enough rest, but I can’t seem to stop myself at this point — its a really bad habit. In a week I’m going to turn 35, so my plan is to use that as a way to trick my own mind into thinking I can get a reset button on going to sleep on time and living a fully healthy life. I don’t really have a good plan outside of that, so if there are any suggestions please send them my way (I don’t think there is need to discuss methods for falling asleep - I sleep instantly when I put my head on the pillow and stay asleep until morning, but I need help with the going to put my head on the pillow part). Any ideas what’s going on or how to fix it?