Today I have just been overcome with the urge to sleep, it's as if my brain is saying 'no more...please'. I made myself go to the shops to try and get some fresh air and wake up some. Got back home sat down on the sofa and I was gone...flat out for an hour! Missed Countdown!

Is this common, anyone else experienced this?

Definitely, and I can't say I'm surprised we're feeling this way. It's alot that we're trying to take in with the PhD. I feel tired and lethargic all the time, and my attention span is shorter with each day. I've had many days where I have the intention of taking a quick nap, and wake up three hours later! This PhD business is draining.

Oh yes, it happens to me all the time! One time I got home at 5:30, and sat down on my bed, shoes still on even, and woke up six hours later!!!!!!!! I had no intention of going to sleep when I sat down! I sleep a good 9 hours or so a night, going to bed exhausted ( but usually not stressed, there is a difference) and keen to wake up and get going in the morning. I think that this much mental activity IS tiring, and there is also a stress component of the PhD that is tiring as well.

Sometimes my brain does not even shut off ( or shut up) in my sleep--it keeps chattering out ideas, and more than once I have woken up with some great idea, and scribbled it out and then gone back to sleep, hoping I can make sense of what I wrote in the morning! Usually these have been those sort of break through, really insightful ideas!

yes sleepiness is common. ive found that too.. and weirdly though im not doing anything physically tiring, as all day is spent indoors working..but i think that writing up is so mentally tiring..and i find it difficult to switch off too from work to sleep at night, then sometimes weirdly enough can just drop off suddenly to sleep during the day.

thinking is hard work. just ask any competitive chess player. a chess match can be as taxing as a box match! now if you did hard physical work for 8 hours, you would go home and expect to be tired. the same counts for hard mental work!

that's why i sometimes get annoyed of being "just a student". i wish what we do would be recognised for what it is: hard work.

Shani, totally understand the only a 'student'. I find myself when taking to friends in the evening who work full-time who say how exhausted they are, telling them of how much I have worked. I find myself trying to push out the images they may have of me watching daytime TV and not getting dressed until midday, which I'm sure they are thinking!

(I think this is vaguely relevant)...I only got about three hours sleep last night, completely spaced out today, cannot focus! Off to a seminar in a bit, no way on earth am i going to stay awake. I know i'm not going to be able to focus on work this afternoon either, WHAT A WASTE OF A DAY!!!

that's me right there. i can never wake up on time these days. no motivation to get out of bed. unless i have a class, i'll not be up til 11.