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Same question. I'm not convinced that people are inherently Larks or Owls. I used to sleep late for years. 2AM was average bed time for me. Sometimes even up t

Same question. I'm not convinced that people are inherently Larks or Owls. I used to sleep late for years. 2AM was average bed time for me. Sometimes even up to 4-5AM. Then I worked to change my habits. Now I'm up by 6AM on most days and I feel more productive than ever.

013a 8y ago
What were some of the strategies you used to change your habits?
- puranjay 8y ago
  The biggest one was simply going to bed earlier. Every 3 days, I shifted my bed time by one hour. Within two weeks, I was going to bed by 11PM. The hard part is telling yourself that you won't do any work past bed time. You have to have a hard red line. Takes a bit of discipline but it's just about 2 weeks of effort before you switch to a new habit
- matwood 8y ago
  I also used to stay up later and sleep later. Earlier this year I changed to a much earlier schedule. I didn't really have a strategy, just a process. First, I decided I wanted to get up earlier and be more productive. From experience I know I need ~7 or so hours of sleep, and I want to get up between 5-6am. That means in bed no later than 10pm. Next, set an alarm and get up. That part is simple. IMO, working out first thing is one of the key components. I go to a gym now, but am buying things like kettlebells to do quick workouts at the house. Finally, do it every single day. It's going to be hard if every weekend you keep sleeping until noon. This means on Saturday and Sunday, get up early and workout. I also have a social life and do adjust with life events. If I have something going on and am up until midnight on Friday night, I will set the alarm for 7am. I should also note that I have mostly stopped drinking alcohol. The hardest part to change was the habit of staying up late just wasting time on my phone, watching TV, or playing video games. For me it was mostly non-productive time. Even if I was productive, it was only partially productive because I had already been up all day. Now I crave that super productive time early in the morning after working out. I'm wide awake, with no interruptions, ready to go. There is also a bit of a psychological trick to beat procrastination baked in here. I wouldn't get up at 5am to play a video game or otherwise waste time. I pushed away from a comfortable pillow this morning, so I should make it worthwhile.
40four 8y ago
I agree with this. I don't believe anybody has a 'natural' cycle. I think it's all a function of habit. You can train your body to get used to whatever cycle you desire or need (ie. To get to work on time). I've gone through night owl phases in the past, but I always felt like it was by choice, and I had the luxury of no desk job. I guess it felt fun or something. I've also gone to bed at 9 every night when I worked at a golf course & had to be there @ 6am. When I was in a rythm, I would wake up on time every morning with no alarm. And for months after I got a different job I would still wake up at 5am even though my alarm was set for later. So I would agree with the idea that if you rely on the alarm your doing it wrong. If you practice a consistent bed time, and get your full requirement of sleep, you will wake up naturally just from good habits, be it early or late. Our bodies are very pliable, and can be influenced one way or another with consistent practice.
- pseudalopex 8y ago
  Many studies have found otherwise.[1] Delayed sleep in adolescence has even been observed in other mammals. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronotype https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronotype
  - 40four 8y ago
    That's interesting. To be fair, I've for sure been speaking from intuition alone. I'm interested to look more into the real science of it. I'm sure there is a default mode we are prone to just based on being human. My main point is that it is that our chronotype is pliable. We can shape it and mold it it we want to. The article is suggesting there is a natural progression correlated with age, that shifts from advanced -> delayed -> back to advanced. This does not help convince me against my hypothesis that cronotype is fluid and not static.
    - pseudalopex 8y ago
      Intuition can be valuable, but I think we should distinguish opinions from facts. This is something that affects people's health, jobs, and relationships. Chronotype, sleep phase, and when people actually sleep are related but not the same. The Wikipedia article and my other comments go into more detail about the research. I singled out delayed sleep phase in adolescence because it's been observed even in other species. It seems counterintuitive that this would be so consistent if there were no reason for it. Sleep phase shifting with age doesn't make it infinitely pliable. You can influence libido, but the difference between 16 and 60 is mostly biological.
catdog 8y ago
My experience is exactly the same, I had a lot of different sleeping schedules over the years (usually late to very late). Currently waking up at 6AM is also the new normal for me. It just can be really hard to change it if you are not forced to do so but after some weeks you adjust. It's especially difficult to switch from late to early in my experience because constantly staying awake longer is easy (especially with all the "modern distractions") but getting out of bed too early is really a pain so you often don't do it if not forced to.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
Nemi 8y ago
You say you are more productive than ever. Is it possible that you are actually a "lark" and that you forced yourself to stay up late, because of social pressure or simply because that is when you were able to do the things you wanted to do, but now you have found your preferred sleeping schedule?

013a 8y ago

What were some of the strategies you used to change your habits?

puranjay 8y ago
The biggest one was simply going to bed earlier. Every 3 days, I shifted my bed time by one hour. Within two weeks, I was going to bed by 11PM. The hard part is telling yourself that you won't do any work past bed time. You have to have a hard red line. Takes a bit of discipline but it's just about 2 weeks of effort before you switch to a new habit
matwood 8y ago
I also used to stay up later and sleep later. Earlier this year I changed to a much earlier schedule. I didn't really have a strategy, just a process. First, I decided I wanted to get up earlier and be more productive. From experience I know I need ~7 or so hours of sleep, and I want to get up between 5-6am. That means in bed no later than 10pm. Next, set an alarm and get up. That part is simple. IMO, working out first thing is one of the key components. I go to a gym now, but am buying things like kettlebells to do quick workouts at the house. Finally, do it every single day. It's going to be hard if every weekend you keep sleeping until noon. This means on Saturday and Sunday, get up early and workout. I also have a social life and do adjust with life events. If I have something going on and am up until midnight on Friday night, I will set the alarm for 7am. I should also note that I have mostly stopped drinking alcohol. The hardest part to change was the habit of staying up late just wasting time on my phone, watching TV, or playing video games. For me it was mostly non-productive time. Even if I was productive, it was only partially productive because I had already been up all day. Now I crave that super productive time early in the morning after working out. I'm wide awake, with no interruptions, ready to go. There is also a bit of a psychological trick to beat procrastination baked in here. I wouldn't get up at 5am to play a video game or otherwise waste time. I pushed away from a comfortable pillow this morning, so I should make it worthwhile.

40four 8y ago

I agree with this. I don't believe anybody has a 'natural' cycle. I think it's all a function of habit. You can train your body to get used to whatever cycle you desire or need (ie. To get to work on time). I've gone through night owl phases in the past, but I always felt like it was by choice, and I had the luxury of no desk job. I guess it felt fun or something. I've also gone to bed at 9 every night when I worked at a golf course & had to be there @ 6am. When I was in a rythm, I would wake up on time every morning with no alarm. And for months after I got a different job I would still wake up at 5am even though my alarm was set for later. So I would agree with the idea that if you rely on the alarm your doing it wrong. If you practice a consistent bed time, and get your full requirement of sleep, you will wake up naturally just from good habits, be it early or late. Our bodies are very pliable, and can be influenced one way or another with consistent practice.

pseudalopex 8y ago
Many studies have found otherwise.[1] Delayed sleep in adolescence has even been observed in other mammals. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronotype https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronotype
- 40four 8y ago
  That's interesting. To be fair, I've for sure been speaking from intuition alone. I'm interested to look more into the real science of it. I'm sure there is a default mode we are prone to just based on being human. My main point is that it is that our chronotype is pliable. We can shape it and mold it it we want to. The article is suggesting there is a natural progression correlated with age, that shifts from advanced -> delayed -> back to advanced. This does not help convince me against my hypothesis that cronotype is fluid and not static.
  - pseudalopex 8y ago
    Intuition can be valuable, but I think we should distinguish opinions from facts. This is something that affects people's health, jobs, and relationships. Chronotype, sleep phase, and when people actually sleep are related but not the same. The Wikipedia article and my other comments go into more detail about the research. I singled out delayed sleep phase in adolescence because it's been observed even in other species. It seems counterintuitive that this would be so consistent if there were no reason for it. Sleep phase shifting with age doesn't make it infinitely pliable. You can influence libido, but the difference between 16 and 60 is mostly biological.

catdog 8y ago

My experience is exactly the same, I had a lot of different sleeping schedules over the years (usually late to very late). Currently waking up at 6AM is also the new normal for me. It just can be really hard to change it if you are not forced to do so but after some weeks you adjust. It's especially difficult to switch from late to early in my experience because constantly staying awake longer is easy (especially with all the "modern distractions") but getting out of bed too early is really a pain so you often don't do it if not forced to.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]

Nemi 8y ago

You say you are more productive than ever. Is it possible that you are actually a "lark" and that you forced yourself to stay up late, because of social pressure or simply because that is when you were able to do the things you wanted to do, but now you have found your preferred sleeping schedule?