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I have a theory that most people who consider themselves night owls get to be that way because they "manage" their sleep. They stay up later than they should, w

by gexla 6y ago

I have a theory that most people who consider themselves night owls get to be that way because they "manage" their sleep. They stay up later than they should, wake up to an alarm and then their mornings are screwed for productivity. Additionally, normal demands screw up this time of your day. Instead of working during one of your most productive periods, you're getting ready for work, prepping the family, cooking breakfast, commuting and everything else which makes them hate mornings. They don't realize they get two peaks in a day and they are screwing up the first one.

throwaway_pdp09 6y ago
Nah. In normal times (non-covid) I'm like death warmed over in the morning, but by the evening I've really perked up, don't want to go to bed, want to paaarty[0]. Always been that way. Always can think better later in the day. Owls/larks have been studied, it's real (interesting fact heard recently, owls are less sociable than larks. Curious, no). [0] Thank you covid, for ridding me of these unhealthy passtimes.
- gexla 6y ago
  > don't want to go to bed, want to paaarty This is much like the problem I mentioned though. To have consistent good mornings, you need to be going to sleep at exactly the same time every night. You then develop a pattern where you get tired, sleep and wake up at the same time every day. This assumes that you don't have issues which get in the way of this (sleeping disorders, etc.) If you don't want to go to bed, then you're probably not hitting the sack at the same time every day. Pandemic doesn't change this as you could be doing the same browsing HN late at night rather than partying. Also, alcohol will really screw this up as well.
kasperni 6y ago
Went from night owl to early natural (no alarm clock) riser (5-6 am) doing covid. Best productivity decision ever.
petercooper 6y ago
I had a period of my life where I could work any hours I pleased with no social obligations so I tried not having any alarms, just went free form. And I basically ended up having a 28 hour "day" and spun round and round the clock. Not ideal long term(!) The most comfortable configuration was going to sleep about 6am and waking about 1-2pm, but once I started having kids, etc. that obviously wasn't going to be viable so now I get up at 9am which is tolerable but not super productive.
- saeranv 6y ago
  I have the same experience. Anyone know why we cycle around like that? Melatonin and blue-light blocking glasses have helped a lot, but it still feels like my body wants to stay up at least 1 hour past the previous day.
  - tonyarkles 6y ago
    I don't know anything about why it happens, but you're definitely not alone. A friend of mine has it pretty bad; trying to adhere to a nominal 24hr has utterly failed him. If I recall, his body runs on about a 26hr schedule in a 13 day cycle. He fought it for a long time but ended up just being a zombie all day long until he found work that let him roll with it (which means for some portion of the cycle he's working midnight to 8am) It's super inconvenient; if anyone knows of any potential resources I would happily pass them along to him. He's found something that works, but it's pretty inconvenient for... you know... integrating with the rest of the world.
  - detaro 6y ago
    AFAIK various studies have shown that people tend to drift to a slightly long cycle, but there's variation in how much the internal clock differs and how hard it is to adjust. And some of us just have bad luck with that :/

by gexla 6y ago

throwaway_pdp09 6y ago

Nah. In normal times (non-covid) I'm like death warmed over in the morning, but by the evening I've really perked up, don't want to go to bed, want to paaarty[0]. Always been that way. Always can think better later in the day. Owls/larks have been studied, it's real (interesting fact heard recently, owls are less sociable than larks. Curious, no). [0] Thank you covid, for ridding me of these unhealthy passtimes.

gexla 6y ago
> don't want to go to bed, want to paaarty This is much like the problem I mentioned though. To have consistent good mornings, you need to be going to sleep at exactly the same time every night. You then develop a pattern where you get tired, sleep and wake up at the same time every day. This assumes that you don't have issues which get in the way of this (sleeping disorders, etc.) If you don't want to go to bed, then you're probably not hitting the sack at the same time every day. Pandemic doesn't change this as you could be doing the same browsing HN late at night rather than partying. Also, alcohol will really screw this up as well.

kasperni 6y ago

Went from night owl to early natural (no alarm clock) riser (5-6 am) doing covid. Best productivity decision ever.

petercooper 6y ago

I had a period of my life where I could work any hours I pleased with no social obligations so I tried not having any alarms, just went free form. And I basically ended up having a 28 hour "day" and spun round and round the clock. Not ideal long term(!) The most comfortable configuration was going to sleep about 6am and waking about 1-2pm, but once I started having kids, etc. that obviously wasn't going to be viable so now I get up at 9am which is tolerable but not super productive.

saeranv 6y ago
I have the same experience. Anyone know why we cycle around like that? Melatonin and blue-light blocking glasses have helped a lot, but it still feels like my body wants to stay up at least 1 hour past the previous day.
- tonyarkles 6y ago
  I don't know anything about why it happens, but you're definitely not alone. A friend of mine has it pretty bad; trying to adhere to a nominal 24hr has utterly failed him. If I recall, his body runs on about a 26hr schedule in a 13 day cycle. He fought it for a long time but ended up just being a zombie all day long until he found work that let him roll with it (which means for some portion of the cycle he's working midnight to 8am) It's super inconvenient; if anyone knows of any potential resources I would happily pass them along to him. He's found something that works, but it's pretty inconvenient for... you know... integrating with the rest of the world.
- detaro 6y ago
  AFAIK various studies have shown that people tend to drift to a slightly long cycle, but there's variation in how much the internal clock differs and how hard it is to adjust. And some of us just have bad luck with that :/