Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 229 posts

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#151

Post by foobarian »

sliverstorm wrote: post #110
tinco wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never in my life drank even a sip of coffee, energy drink only a few times mostly during college. I have also never woken naturally before 9am. Literally as long as I remember even as a child before high school in the weekends I would sleep in when my younger siblings would rummage through the house the entire morning, much to my parents surprise. I don't doubt that it would be possible to be conditioned to wake…

I usually don't manage to fall asleep before 2am. That would probably be why you don't wake up naturally at 4AM Talking about waking up early puts the cart before the horse. It's really about going to sleep early, IMO.

It's called the SERVER approach. Super Early Rise, Very Early Rest. Buy your own copy over here in the self-help section!

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#152

Post by cortesoft »

kull wrote: post #104
flanfly wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some years ago I started my day at 4 a.m. to exercise. While it worked, this kept me from having any social life outside from talking to coworkers. Getting a drink with friends in the afternoon is impossible if you want to keep this schedule, so I stopped. Being productive isn't everything in life. I'm only 30 but I doubt I will ever look back wishing I worked harder alone in my room instead of being with my friends.

No need to do it 7 days a week. You wake up at 4 few days a week and sleep longer when u had drinks a day before. Maybe my social life really sucks but I don't really have more lets go for a drink invites than once a week.

I find I am much happier and better rested when I keep roughly the same sleep schedule every day of the week.

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#154

Post by cortesoft »

_asummers wrote: post #102
J5892 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I'm tired. (not OP, but we have the same mind-set.)

How does this manifest itself in practice? What hours do you generally keep? If they're odd, has it affected social/family life?

Yeah, this only really works if you are single with a very flexible job. Parents can't just sleep when they are tired, and a majority of jobs require you to be there at least a few specific hours.

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#155

Post by cortesoft »

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #5

This was obviously written by a "morning person." Like most engineers and other creatives, 4 AM is when I'm just starting to get my deep sleep (which peaks at 6-7 AM). 12-2 AM is the most productive time of the day for me.

What gives you the idea that engineers and creative people all have your sleep schedule?

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#156

Post by cortesoft »

cfallin wrote: post #136
nostrademons wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very likely true. There've been a few cave studies where they shield the experimental subjects from all natural light, and then time how long their "biological" day is. It usually ranges from about 23.5 hours to around 28, with an average of about 25. It varies significantly by person, but was not at all unusual for someone's cycle to be longer than 24 hours. (Personally, my natural sleep cycle seems to be about 25-2…

I wonder if there's some control-theory reason why one's unsynchronized circadian rhythm is on average slightly longer than a day? Intuitively it seems that one might actually have more consistent synchronization with the solar cycle if upward pressure from a natural setpoint is balanced by downward pressure from end-of-day environmental signals (light levels, etc). Or in other words, the body has evolved a slight ma…

There is also the fact that in most places in the world, the length of the daytime hours change over the course of a year.

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#157

Post by cortesoft »

monknomo wrote: post #75
jameslk wrote: post #34

I'm one of those unlucky types that have the hardest time waking up and getting going in the morning. Mentally I'm at 50% or less. Is there anyone else like this who's found techniques or other methods of overcoming the slow start?

I used to be like you, then I had a baby. Now I go to bed at 8 and get up between 4 and 5. A little human screaming and kicking you in the balls every morning is a power incentive to get up and do stuff. Turns out it isn't even that bad. I get to play with the kid, I give him a bath and have some breakfast, and get some reading in when he has his first morning nap, then off to work. Going to bed at 7:30 or 8 seems to…

I was thinking all these people talking about their night owl schedules and sleeping whenever they were tired clearly don't have kids.

When you HAVE to get up early, you start getting tired more early, too.

I had a similar experience, where I used to hate the mornings, but now love the bonding time with my daughter.

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#158

Post by crazypyro »

antisthenes wrote: post #45
jsprogrammer wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who can produce the goods in 1-2 hours are that productive. >Sure, those hours are great for ingesting what has happened since the last cycle but not really for creating new value. Why?

Well, for starters because it takes at least 1 hour to eat breakfast, take a shower and get dressed + usually another half hour for the commute and some minor errands on the way. Obviously that applies less if you work from home, since you can cut the shower and the commute.

I can wake up 7:50 and be in work, showered, by 8:10, including the 5-10 min commute. I think it varies a lot by person, just like productivity through the day!

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#159

Post by wott »

sliverstorm wrote: post #110
tinco wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never in my life drank even a sip of coffee, energy drink only a few times mostly during college. I have also never woken naturally before 9am. Literally as long as I remember even as a child before high school in the weekends I would sleep in when my younger siblings would rummage through the house the entire morning, much to my parents surprise. I don't doubt that it would be possible to be conditioned to wake…

I usually don't manage to fall asleep before 2am. That would probably be why you don't wake up naturally at 4AM Talking about waking up early puts the cart before the horse. It's really about going to sleep early, IMO.

Whatever. If I go to bed early, I roll in my bed for 2, then 4, then 6 hours and not find any sleep. And that's on a good day. On a bad one, it will be for 8 hours and then it's time to wake up.

When I was a kid, my folks put me in bed every evening at 8 PM, sharing the same false assumption as you. And I spent hours after hours watching the darkness. I would almost always fall asleep later than them, and often not until 2 or 3 AM, sometimes 4 AM.

When I was in middle-school and high-school, it was terrible because there was no mid-week day off as there was in primary school, and because it started earlier (and there was a bit of extra commuting). As a result, since I wouldn't fall asleep before 2 AM on any day, I was actually sleeping as much during the 2 days of the week-end as I was sleeping during the whole rest of the week (5 days).

In high school, I experienced a week there or there when I was totally er... off, in a mist, because of exhaustion. But even that didn't make me able to sleep early. The next year I was so exhausted that I fell asleep at noon one day and woke up 3 days later in the evening.

Then I was in University or Engineering school and those were the good years because attending the lessons was not mandatory and there was nobody to tell me to go to my bed or my room early in the evening.

30 or 40 years later, I am typing this message, it is 5:45 AM and I might fall asleep soon.

Re: 4 a.m. Is the Most Productive Hour

#160

Post by lsc »

cortesoft wrote: post #154
_asummers wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does this manifest itself in practice? What hours do you generally keep? If they're odd, has it affected social/family life?

Yeah, this only really works if you are single with a very flexible job. Parents can't just sleep when they are tired, and a majority of jobs require you to be there at least a few specific hours.

yeah. I did this when I worked for myself, but I found that with the addition of social (and business social, and errands that must be done at a certain time) I would end up either missing appointments or waking up mid-sleep cycle.

I mean, the regular down 10 up 14 isn't great for me, either, I seem to be on a 26 or 28 hour cycle naturally, but I end up getting a lot more uninterrupted sleep if I keep it to a mostly 24 hour cycle that very slowly creeps forward, with occasional resets. (and end up being a lot more productive when awake.)

Post reply on HN