Sleep Schedules. How Viable is going Full Night Owl?

[mmKay]

Lets get a little thread going on this topic.

I'm considering temporally fully commiting to being awake at night and sleeping during the day. I've had a hunch for the longest time that I'm just built that way and I want to personally experiment with It now that I've got the chance.

I feel most motivated, energetic and focused when I'm suppsed to go to bed. ( no im not 5 years old)

How bad can It be over the long term?

I mean you dont have to the whole wake up at 5 am to be productive " if you stay up to 5am+

 

Let's do It. Pros, cons, science, personal experiences , thoughts, tips, etc.

Edited December 4, 2023 by mmKay

[Leo Gura]

I've done it a lot.

It only works if you are seriously disconnected from society and social life. Not ideal.

Edited December 5, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Phil King]

A problem you may face is not being able to get deep sleep while sleeping during the day due to the light. If you want to have any chance of success for this, you need your sleeping room to be as pitch black as possible.

[An young being]

4 hours ago, mmKay said:

Lets get a little thread going on this topic.

I'm considering temporally fully commiting to being awake at night and sleeping during the day. I've had a hunch for the longest time that I'm just built that way and I want to personally experiment with It now that I've got the chance.

If you want to change the sleep cycle, it's better to do it in steps like raising by one hour per week, with slight changes everyday. Staying awake entirely throughout the night is not recommended since it works against the natural sleep rhythms. Instead, if you feel you are a night owl, I would suggest you not to stay awake after 2 to 3 am, and increase the timings as stated above. The main problem with a morning sleep routine is that you have to shut off all the sunlight from reaching your eyes, and let noise not disturb your sleep, which is very impractical especially if you live in a busy city. Also, there are a few studies which suggests sleeping in morning is not a good idea, especially due to the above stated factors and also genetics. But I believe that still it can be changed with discipline and without any health effects, but it's not easy. You have to make sure you sleep around the same time everyday by limiting your screen time before bed, and avoid light entering your eyes in sleep.

[Girzo]

It's very easy, every day you just sleep 4 hours later, 4 hours later, three days and you are in a new reality.  Is it worth living that way? It's the same to me, it's just that in the summer you see every sunrise and sundown, which is cool.

[MarkKol]

As a person who works night shift I’m gonna tell you it’s not worth it, it’s much more worthwhile to wake up extremely early.

 

[ZenSwift]

You could alternatively go full Wes Watson and wake up at 2:45 a.m.

[gettoefl]

bed up 7pm and up at 3 works perfect for me

evenings are unconscious sink-holes

just wake up

[ZenSwift]

13 hours ago, gettoefl said:

bed up 7pm and up at 3 works perfect for me

evenings are unconscious sink-holes

just wake up

Facts. 

[gettoefl]

3 hours ago, ZenSwift said:

Facts. 

yep for real ... i factor in 6-8 cheat days per month when being on the world's timeline like for trips and restaurants

[An young being]

If you wish to know more about sleep, here's a book I liked:

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/34466963

It's funny how less we and science know about sleep despite spending a big chunk of our lifetime doing and enjoying it. Here's a summary I made long ago from that book if you are short on time, although I would recommend your read the whole book:

1. The less you sleep, the shorter your lifespan. ( I don't know what happens if you sleep less but meditate a lot)

2. Recommended sleep :

Age group Recommended amount of sleep

Infants 4 months to 12 months :12 to 16 hours per 24 hours, including naps

1 to 2 years : 11 to 14 hours per 24 hours, including naps

3 to 5 years : 10 to 13 hours per 24 hours, including naps

6 to 12 years : 9 to 12 hours per 24 hours

13 to 18 years : 8 to 10 hours per 24 hours

Adults : 7 or more hours a night

1.The physical and mental impairments caused by one night of bad sleep are severe than those caused by an equivalent absence of food or exercise.

2.All living things have a natural circadian rhythm that helps us keep time

3.40% of the population reaches peak wakefulness in the morning.

30% are more energized in the evening.

30% fall somewhere in between, with a slight leaning toward the evening.

An adult’s owlness or larkness, also known as their chronotype, is strongly determined by genetics.

Our society’s work schedule puts night owls at a disadvantage and favors those who are more energized in the morning.

4.Melatonin helps regulate the timing of when sleep occurs 

5.Two rules of thumb for getting enough sleep:

After waking up in the morning, could you fall back asleep at ten or eleven a.m.? If yes, then you’re probably not getting enough quality sleep.

Can you function optimally without caffeine before noon? If no, then you are not getting enough sleep

6. Two types of sleep:

A key function of deep NREM sleep, which predominates early in the night, is to do the work of weeding out and removing unnecessary neural connections.

The dreaming stage of REM sleep, which prevails later in the night, plays a role in strengthening those connections.

7.Biphasic sleep ( sleeping two times a day, first in the night and a short nap in the afternoon).Apparent from this remarkable study is this fact: when we are cleaved from the innate practice of biphasic sleep, our lives are shortened. 

8.Sleep restores the brain’s capacity for learning, making room for new memories.

9.Daytime naps also offer significant motor skill memory improvement, together with a restoring benefit on perceived energy and reduced muscle fatigue.

10.Vehicle accidents caused by drowsy driving exceed those caused by alcohol and drugs combined.

11.Students who stay up late cramming for tests experience a 40% deficit in their ability to make new memories relative to those that get a full nights sleep.

12.Adults 45+ who sleep <6 hours are 200% more likely to have a heart attack or stroke compared to those sleeping 7-8 hours.

13.The less you sleep, the more you are likely to eat.

14. What's stopping you from sleeping:

Constant electric light

Alcohol

Regularized temperature

Caffeine

15.The brain can never recover all the sleep it has been deprived of. We cannot accumulate a sleep debt throughout the week and catch up on the weekends.

16.People are much more likely to lie, cheat, steal, and blame others for their mistakes when then sleep six or less hours.

17.Techniques intended to break bad sleep habits :

Establish a regular bedtime and wake-up time, even on weekends.

Go to bed only when sleepy and avoid sleeping on the couch early/mid-evenings.

Never lie awake in bed for a significant period of time.

Avoid daytime napping.

Reduce anxiety-provoking thoughts and worries.

Ps: The book contains a lot of other things, I just noted down things useful for me.

Edited December 6, 2023 by An young being

[seriousman24]

Eat real cooked meals at any time your body asks, this will support your natural rhythms more than just not forcing yourself to sleep and make it so that if you do feel like staying awake you feel just normal with the added perks and hidden body/mind/spiritual advantages of the night, of course since you're eating at night pay attention because you might start craving different foods, at shower if you want/can at night, sleep with open windows if you can, and have sheets that are clean enough for your personal comfort.

Happens to me much more in the winter which is also when I feel the sharpest emotionally and "spiritually".

So obviously you should sleep at night or in the morning or in the afternoon or in the evening, sleep is literally the easiest natural rhythm, I believe most of the confusion about sleep timings is actually just because people are "shy" about eating real meals at night, once I started eating cooked meals at ANY time as if it was day my "productivity" skyrocketed, so THIS is what your body and mind has to actually focus on, because the body itself might have more resistance to eating real meals at night than to sleep during the day, really good "spiritually" for me.