8 ms·
That might not be as easy as you expect. Here's a relevant passage from sleep scientist Matthew Walker's book 'Why we sleep' (which I highly recommend): "Altho
by buttscicles 9y ago
That might not be as easy as you expect.
Here's a relevant passage from sleep scientist Matthew Walker's book 'Why we sleep' (which I highly recommend):
"Although every human being displays an unyielding twenty-four-hour pattern, the respective peak and trough points are strikingly different from one individual to the next. For some people, their peak of wakefulness arrives early in the day, and their sleepiness trough arrives early at night. These are “morning types,” and make up about 40 percent of the populace. They prefer to wake at or around dawn, are happy to do so, and function optimally at this time of day. Others are “evening types,”and account for approximately 30 percent of the population. They naturally prefer going to bed late and subsequently wake up late the following morning, or even in the afternoon. The remaining 30 percent of people lie somewhere in between morning and evening types, with a slight leaning toward eveningness, like myself. You may colloquially know these two types of people as “morning larks”and “night owls,”respectively. Unlike morning larks, night owls are frequently incapable of falling asleep early at night, no matter how hard they try. It is only in the early-morning hours that owls can drift off. Having not fallen asleep until late, owls of course strongly dislike waking up early. They are unable to function well at this time, one cause of which is that, despite being “awake,”their brain remains in a more sleep-like state throughout the early morning. This is especially true of a region called the prefrontal cortex, which sits above the eyes, and can be thought of as the head office of the brain. The prefrontal cortex controls high-level thought and logical reasoning, and helps keep our emotions in check. When a night owl is forced to wake up too early, their prefrontal cortex remains in a disabled, “offline”state. Like a cold engine after an early-morning start, it takes a long time before it warms up to operating temperature, and before that will not function efficiently. An adult’s owlness or larkness, also known as their chronotype, is strongly determined by genetics."
- stephen_g 9y agoThe worst thing about having a very late sleep cycle is that a lot of people with early or in-between cycles often can't fathom the possibility that some other people's sleep cycles can be so different, no matter how hard you try. You get all sorts of things like "you just need to be more disciplined", or "you just need better sleep hygiene" etc... As if I hadn't tried that over the last couple of decades! If you have these kinds of sleep problems, really that sort of "friendly advice" you get is about as useful as telling a depressed person to "just be happier" or "just stop feeling sorry for yourself." (That is, absolutely useless).
- balfirevic 9y ago> "Although every human being displays an unyielding twenty-four-hour pattern" Not even this part is true for every single human being.