This is going to sound like a pretty absurd question but i was hoping somebody here might have experienced the same issue: has anyone had trouble getting themselves to go to bed at a regular hour? When working this is obviously not a problem since the structure of work sort of forces this. However, when on leave this becomes more problematic. The quality of sleep deteriorates and slows down recovery. I attempt to get myself to sleep at a normal hour (ie prior to midnight) but somehow I find various excuses to linger and finally end up sleeping very late.

Any suggestions?

Melatonin. If you can sleep long enough and it's just your circardian rhythm that's off, this works like a miracle. You only need very little of it (<= 1mg).

Injured,

I had a difficult time with going to,bed at a decent hour for several months...my cycle became 2am to 10am.

It has since become regular hours just not much of it, I am staring to sleep more now. I have 2 or 3 nights a week I sleep all night instead of 2 or 3 hours.

Bud

I think once you stop going to work the body clock can go awry. I was unemployed many years ago and started going to bed later and later until I got a grip on it by getting up 15 mins earlier a day for a week.

The sleep therapist I saw was really strict about getting up at the same time every day no matter what time you went to bed and limiting time spent in bed. Sadly I don't have the discipline to follow her instructions that closely.

how did you guys turn the sleep cycle around? melatonin seems to be one good suggestion. at normal hours i just don't have the feeling that i want to be going to sleep.. i feel fairly alert and want to read or be on the computer or anything else possible.

You can also try getting yourself tired, dimming the lights at night (always a good thing to do), and not eating 16 hours before your target breakfast time (this should have a stronger effect than playing around with lighting).
I used to be quite well able to switch my sleep cycle from working during the day to working during the night an back. After my concussion, I somehow started sleeping from 5am to 1pm and I seemed unable to switch it around. Melatonin was the one thing that helped. I didn't really help me fall asleep much but I woke up well rested at sunrise after taking it.

which brand/dosage of melatonin did you take? i have tried a 1mg but that didn't really help very much for me.

i was the same way: in a day or two i could go to any schedule i wanted. now i'm stuck at 3-4 am sleep time