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What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

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Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#81
post #50
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm unemployable just because of this. I cannot "work" in the morning or when my employer thinks I have to.

I'm confident you could work in the morning if you readjusted your sleeping habits. And there are a ton of jobs out there that start later in the day or have flexible work hours.

My hours of efficiency are not like in grandparent, and after I'd tried a lot of things with switching the sleeping time, the only conclusion that these hours are tied to internal clock of what is day/night (1 to 10 a.m. for me, varies a bit in winter/summer). I know two ways around: constant jet lag or submarine mode, and can't go for any of them.

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#82
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. I believe this is due to will power depletion (plenty of studies conclude that will power is finite resource) and after our normal 9-5 drains away our will power, people have a heard time being self-motivated - very true for me at least.

Yeah, and if you use your will power before work, you run out of it earlier in the work day and you get less done at work.

I do this and just front load my day to have the more demanding stuff in the morning with the less demanding in the afternoon. It works well for me and if anything I feel my productivity has increased.

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#83
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do this, but seasonality can be an issue. The last few winters I've added some artificial lighting that ramps up before sunrise, with seemingly positive results.

Curious how you implemented this. I bought a Phillips “sunrise alarm clock” about a year ago, but the light was weak and I didn’t feel a difference at all. Did you hack together something yourself?

Nope, I'm lazy: Lifx.

They were a little annoying to set up, but have worked well since.

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#84
post #28
post #18

I can't read TFA, but wanted to note that there's an interesting statistic in the book Why We Sleep : Something like 30% of the population are hard-wired to be "night owls" and 20% early risers. The author hypothesized that this may be an evolutionary survival mechanism that allowed bands of humans to always have people who were awake or more likely to wake quickly if threatened after dark or in the early morning. Fo…

I just finished the book, and am putting a lot more focus on my sleep. One thing it made me realize is, I don't think it's possible for people to know if they're night owls or not, until they're routinely getting 8 hours of sleep a night. Of course if you're not getting enough sleep you'll find it hard to get up in the morning and thus claim you're a "night owl" and "can't function in the morning".

Well, it's not just about it being hard to get up in the morning. It's also about the tendency to stay up late when everyone else is tired, isn't it?

Though, I get your point that probably many claim to be born "night owls" when it's probably just the constant light from the monitor and internet addictions that keep them wide awake.

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#85

I was a lifelong night owl. Six months ago I decided to start going to the gym and meditating every morning in an effort to completely reprogram my habits. Now I look forward to the mornings and find myself going to bed as soon as I feel like I can sleep. I'm convinced that our behaviors are mostly determined by our habits, and we can freely change our habits with sufficient commitment.

Good one, same here. About 2 years ago I started doing just this. One hour of seated meditation followed by exercise while still leaving 20-30 minutes of "nothing" time before starting work. It has changed my life for the better in so many ways its hard to overstate.

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#86
post #78
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confident you could work in the morning if you readjusted your sleeping habits. And there are a ton of jobs out there that start later in the day or have flexible work hours.

> I'm confident you could work in the morning if you readjusted your sleeping habits. This subthread is about the possible/probable genetic reasons why some people have more trouble adjusting their sleeping habits to that of everyone else. Saying that he just needs to adjust his sleeping habits is not really helpful.

I was a night owl from the time I was 16 until 33(sleep 2-3-4AM until 10AM-11AM-12PM), and then I adjusted my sleep cycle to be an early riser(sleep 11-6). It took about 4 days before I felt physically right. The hardest part was lifestyle adjustments around the differing hours. I don't believe I have any kind of special power.

OP sounds depressed with a self-defeatist mindset. He considers himself unemployable because he is a night owl. I don't know if telling him 'It's okay, it's not your fault' will help his situation. And I don't think what I'm doing is similar to telling a paraplegic to just try really hard to walk - is there any science that these 'hardwired night owls' can't actually change?

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#89

I've been waking up at 5am for the past 5 months so I can head to the gym (my first telecom meeting starts at 7am). Because no one is ever going to bother me between 5am and 7am, I've been able to consistently got to the gym at least 3x per week (trying to bump it up to 5x per week for the new year). I started doing this because it was very difficult for me to consistently go to the gym after work. Things come up, I…

I've barely adjusted waking up at 6 daily, and consistently going to sleep around the same time has been near impossible for one reason or another. What is your secret

Re: What’s the rush? The power of a slow morning

#90

I can recommend the practice; for the last few years, I've gone to bed around 10pm every night, and gotten up at five before heading to work around nine. (Adjust to taste depending on your sleep needs; the important point is to give yourself a few hours to yourself in the morning.) In practice, this means moving discretionary time from last thing in the day to first thing, and I think there's great value in that. Aft…

do you have a SO or kids? I ask because my experience is this doesn't work as well when you move past single responsibility. It tends (a) reduce discretionary time and (b) push it earlier or later

Yup - life becomes more complicated with kids especially. You get a schedule which works for a year or two, then school start times switch. Then your partner has to leave at 5.30am a couple of days for work shifts and you're on duty those days!

Currently managing most weeks Aikido twice a week 6:30-8:00 (I teach), and 1-3 runs per week with a buddy on a flexible schedule 6:45 - 7:30 start depending on getting kids off and being able to work at home a couple of days a week.

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