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Early riser or night owl? New study may help to explain the difference

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Re: Early riser or night owl? New study may help to explain the difference

#71

Post by dijit »

sk0g wrote: post #51
dijit wrote: post #39

I've been a night owl my whole life, with the exception of that period during secondary school where I was so depressed in the evenings I went to bed early and as a consequence woke up super early. I have followed every advice, meditation (1yr), excercise (3*1.5hrs per week for 18 months), staving off screens after 18:00 (8mo), no caffiene, no sugar, no food of any kind, I also tried: too much food, cooling my body d…

How do you manage to exercise 31.5 hours a week? That's basically a full time job! I'd say I'm in pretty good shape, and I gym around 5 hours a week and play sport another one hour, so that's 6 total.

My EDIT: caused my first * to be consumed.

I exercise 3 times per week roughly 90 minutes. each time.

Re: Early riser or night owl? New study may help to explain the difference

#72

Post by sk0g »

OJFord wrote: post #70
sk0g wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you manage to exercise 31.5 hours a week? That's basically a full time job! I'd say I'm in pretty good shape, and I gym around 5 hours a week and play sport another one hour, so that's 6 total.

Notice that's where the italics start, i.e. '3*1.5 hours a week', and if I carefully don't use another asterisk at the end of my post (unlike GP)...

That makes a lot more sense! The comment is edited now though, much more readable :)

Re: Early riser or night owl? New study may help to explain the difference

#73

Post by sk0g »

rriepe wrote: post #68
sk0g wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you manage to exercise 31.5 hours a week? That's basically a full time job! I'd say I'm in pretty good shape, and I gym around 5 hours a week and play sport another one hour, so that's 6 total.

He meant 3 times a week, 1.5 hours at a time.

The edit makes it a lot clearer, indeed. Cheers!

Re: Early riser or night owl? New study may help to explain the difference

#74

Post by arcturus17 »

If left to my own devices I'll tend to go to bed towards 3-4am, plus sometimes I'll be anxious and gloomy in the mornings and my mood will pick up during the day, which makes me thing I'm a natural night owl.

However, the most productive times in my life have most definitely been when waking up and getting to work early. I don't like working at night, just slacking off.

I've read a lot of articles in this vein, but I never see myself quite represented.

Anyone else in a similar boat?

Re: Early riser or night owl? New study may help to explain the difference

#75

Post by mlangenberg »

dijit wrote: post #39

I've been a night owl my whole life, with the exception of that period during secondary school where I was so depressed in the evenings I went to bed early and as a consequence woke up super early. I have followed every advice, meditation (1yr), excercise (3*1.5hrs per week for 18 months), staving off screens after 18:00 (8mo), no caffiene, no sugar, no food of any kind, I also tried: too much food, cooling my body d…

So recognizable! Thanks for sharing. It can be so frustrating lying awake at night, with no probable cause.

The more I look forward to a new day, the later I fall asleep. Causing the new day to turn into a total disaster as I walk around like a zombie on 20% of my usual energy level.

That makes me even more anxious to go to bed, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Re: Early riser or night owl? New study may help to explain the difference

#76

Post by mFixman »

dijit wrote: post #39

I've been a night owl my whole life, with the exception of that period during secondary school where I was so depressed in the evenings I went to bed early and as a consequence woke up super early. I have followed every advice, meditation (1yr), excercise (3*1.5hrs per week for 18 months), staving off screens after 18:00 (8mo), no caffiene, no sugar, no food of any kind, I also tried: too much food, cooling my body d…

I had the exact opposite experience as you.

I was a night owl my entire life until my last few years of college, when it got difficult. Then I was able to transition to being an early riser in a couple of weeks, and I carry that experience many years later.

Waking up early does have a practical advantage: your free time is before you go to work, so then you have energy to do important things.

Re: Early riser or night owl? New study may help to explain the difference

#77

Post by sarora27 »

arcturus17 wrote: post #74

If left to my own devices I'll tend to go to bed towards 3-4am, plus sometimes I'll be anxious and gloomy in the mornings and my mood will pick up during the day, which makes me thing I'm a natural night owl. However, the most productive times in my life have most definitely been when waking up and getting to work early. I don't like working at night, just slacking off. I've read a lot of articles in this vein, but I…

I'm pretty similar. Left to my own devices, I usually go to sleep between 2-3AM. I definitely relate to the feeling of anxiety and gloom in the mornings. My mood picks up as the day goes on but I think it may also have to do with a few factors in my routine (coffee, using a daylight lamp, etc).

Re: Early riser or night owl? New study may help to explain the difference

#79

Post by dijit »

grumpy8 wrote: post #53
dijit wrote: post #39

I've been a night owl my whole life, with the exception of that period during secondary school where I was so depressed in the evenings I went to bed early and as a consequence woke up super early. I have followed every advice, meditation (1yr), excercise (3*1.5hrs per week for 18 months), staving off screens after 18:00 (8mo), no caffiene, no sugar, no food of any kind, I also tried: too much food, cooling my body d…

You say "You've followed every advice", but what were you trying to achieve exactly? Is it that you can't fall asleep or that you're not productive in the morning, or something else? Personally what worked best for me is just to wake up at 6am for 2 weeks without nap during the day. Most people try to adjust their sleeping time to match their waking time, but they've got it backward. Set your wake up time and listen…

> You say "You've followed every advice", but what were you trying to achieve exactly? Is it that you can't fall asleep or that you're not productive in the morning, or something else?

Well, that's a good question since I assumed that the answer was obvious but putting it down is important:

I wanted to:

A) Not spend hours trying to fall asleep at night.

and

B) Have energy in the Morning, not feel groggy all day after forcing myself awake.

--

When I was in my early 20s and had long vacations my body fell into a natural sleep cycle of 4am to 12pm, when I woke up I had enough energy that I actually _wanted_ to do things and the energy lasted until I fell asleep in the night. Now I'm just groggy and tired and procrastinating all the time.

Of course, I'm _really_ conflating things because; Vacations are inherently less energy consuming, waking up naturally is going to make you feel more energised too and, obviously, I'm falling asleep naturally also.

Re: Early riser or night owl? New study may help to explain the difference

#80

Post by bilekas »

arcturus17 wrote: post #74

If left to my own devices I'll tend to go to bed towards 3-4am, plus sometimes I'll be anxious and gloomy in the mornings and my mood will pick up during the day, which makes me thing I'm a natural night owl. However, the most productive times in my life have most definitely been when waking up and getting to work early. I don't like working at night, just slacking off. I've read a lot of articles in this vein, but I…

I am simular enough in the sense that if I can make it to the office early in the morning (usually from just not bothering to try sleep anymore) I can get a lot done because of the solitude, I focus a lot more when left alone with no distractions, which probably adds to the mental energy at night preventing sleep.

Of course there is a limit though and tend to eventually crash. Which is not healthy at all either.

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