-
Sleep Timing Issues
I’m a night owl. I can stay up until 3 or 4am without blinking an eye. This isn’t a brag – it’s not really convenient for when I’m working or have things to do. I’d love a mid-afternoon nap, but if I do that, there’s zero chance I’ll get to sleep at a reasonable time. Right now, I focus on not napping and drinking a ton of water. I also exercise six or seven days a week. Three days is strength training outside of my house (osteoporosis runs in the family and I’m going to do what I can to avoid it), and the other three or four is cardio. I dance around to music in my house with most of my blinds drawn. Believe me, nobody wants to see that. I think it helps to keep me awake a little, but on the days I get less than three hours of sleep, it’s not nearly enough. I’m trying hard to get to sleep earlier, but I’m just not tired. I even turn off screens for at least 30 minutes earlier in the evening, but that doesn’t really help. Does anyone else have this problem?
-
3 Replies
-
This is tough. But I don’t know that the issue is just with timing, if you’re only getting three hours a night? Do you sleep late in the morning?
-
Do you know how much sleep you need? While rare there are those people that only need 3-6 hours sleep each night. That is NOT me. I’ve worked for two of them in my life. Not fun. No way to get ahead.
I used to be a night owl but 30 years in corporate as ruined my ability to stay up late. And, I still can’t get up before the sun either.
Basically, I’m no help. Sorry.
-
I’m a night owl by nature, too. And left to my own devices, I turn largely nocturnal – high school summers I often got up in the afternoon, ate dinner with my family, and then stayed up till 4-5a.
But I think you might be dealing with 2 separate things – your sleep timing not matching the modern world and maybe also insomnia? I struggle with both, and have found that treating the insomnia is key, otherwise I’ll just keep getting shorter and shorter on sleep. I now have a combination of anti-anxiety and sleep medications that allow me to usually get a decent night’s sleep.
One non-medication thing that has helped me is switching my lights to automated ones and setting patterns. I use Wyze brand, but there are various options available at different price points. The key would be making sure that they offer some form of automation.
I have my bedroom lights come on gradually in the morning (in the winter, my sunlamp as well). In the afternoon when I don’t get as much sunlight in my office, I have extra lights turn on. In the evening, around 9p, I have half my lights turn off and the remaining ones shift to a yellower light. And then they go to half at 10:45p, 1% at 11p, and completely off at 11:30p. It isn’t always effective, there are sometimes I’m still on my phone well after the lights go off, but I do find that overall, my sleep schedule is better with the automation than without.
One somewhat encouraging thing – studies have shown that even if you can’t sleep, lying down with the intention to rest does significantly help your body even when you can’t sleep. Like reaction times, focus, things like that. I know how hard that can be to do when you feel like you’re wide awake.
Log in to reply.
