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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

#211

Post by jetpackjoe »

ldng wrote: post #208
sqs wrote: post #17

I used to be a night owl but switched to being an early riser in the last 3 months. I didn't intend to switch and am not sure why it happened, but here's what happened that probably contributed to it: - Started working out 1-2 hours per day (trail hiking/running) - Stopped reading my iPhone in bed at night, now I just read my backlit Kindle - Company switched to all-remote (used to commute to SF) - Had a daughter (~9…

What is IC work ? Seen it a lot around here lately but have no idea what that is.

I think he means "Individual Contributor". i.e., not management.

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

#212

Post by jb775 »

I've been a night owl my entire life, have been unsuccessfully trying (or kind of trying) for years to shift my schedule to wake up earlier. Whenever I tell myself to go to bed early, I feel like I'm wasting an evening that I will not get back...I know it isn't really logical, but it's strong enough to derail the progress I make.

One approach that I've found successful (in bursts) is if I focus on getting to sleep at a reasonable time on Sunday night. This seems to naturally put me in a good groove for the rest of the week.

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

#213

Post by arcturus17 »

Anthony-G wrote: post #128
arcturus17 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've done everything too, and the only thing that works for me is sleeping pills. I think it's a very unpopular view nowadays (esp. after Why We Sleep), but a small dose of a benzodiazepine changes my life completely. I'm in the midst of a full diagnostic course including cerebral scans, a sleep study and blood analysis, but my neurologist told me there's a good chance that nothing actionable will be revealed and tha…

I’ve upvoted your comment but I would disagree with saying “ your clock is messed up ”. The OP’s clock is fine and acting as it it’s ‘programmed’ to. What’s messed up is the way society places a higher value on the circadian rhythms of early-risers over those of night owls. I recall hearing a theory that having individuals with differing circadian rhythms within the same social group provided an evolutionary advantag…

I agree with you, but I wasn't saying OP's clock was messed up, I meant they might feel so due to the societal pressures you describe.

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

#214

Post by codr7 »

I've been up writing code at night since I got my first computer at 8, I'm 42 now, don't remember much about my schedule before then.

Never could concentrate much during daytime, once my surroundings wake up my productivity goes down the drain.

One thing that works pretty well for me when I'm allowed to set my own schedule is taking a 2-3h snooze in the afternoon/early evening. Then I can go on and work until 3-4am and still get up early without feeling like a zombie.

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

#215

Post by adjkant »

BuildTheRobots wrote: post #28

I like the fact they present it as an either/or choice. My natural sleep cycle seems to default to a 28 hour day (eg I go to bed slightly later every evening then morning) which makes interfacing with reality pretty difficult. This seems to be something shared with a number of geeks I know.

27 hours checking in here. Melatonin can help but generally I tend to go in stages of not getting enough sleep, some forms of biphasic/polyphasic sleeping, and basically going to bed early when not getting enough sleep to buy me a few normal days.

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

#216

Post by pengaru »

Nav_Panel wrote: post #204
pengaru wrote: post #201

For some reason I don't get creative and productive until the hours I should be sleeping. Throughout my teens and twenties (I'm in my 40s now) I indulged this tendency and it served me well, often staying up for multiple days without realizing it and the productivity was incredible. Since then I've become more interested in preserving/improving my health and how such behaviors may be harming it, so I try to keep a re…

Were you averaging around 7.5 hours of sleep a night, even with your long vigils? If so, I doubt it's a harmful pattern. Based on some studies I've seen recently, oversleeping is a larger health risk for many than undersleeping.

No, I would stay up for 2-3 days straight and it'd end with just a longish ~12 hour sleep, often leaving me with a sleep cycle randomly out of phase with the rest of the world to boot.

The stuff I've read about sleep being when your brain bathes itself in spinal fluid convinced me this was probably not a good long-term strategy for preserving cognitive health.

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

#217

Post by GuB-42 »

archarios wrote: post #157
Raphmedia wrote: post #84

If you were able to "no longer be a night owl" after changing diet, through exercise or by other changes in your behavior, you were in fact never an actual night owl but simply someone with bad sleeping habits. You read the same thing whenever there's a discussion on clinical depression. People push their anecdotes about mindset changes but fail to acknowledge they were never clinically depressed in the first place.

I have a very hard time believing that this stuff has to do with anything other than having the discipline to have a proper sleep schedule. It's possible to adjust your sleep schedule. People do it all the time when they change timezones. I didn't read the article, I'll go read it and update if I change my mind..

Sure, you can change timezone, but you usually feel like shit in the process. The idea seem to be that it takes about a day per hour to adjust.

Now the idea (somewhat supported by the article) is that night owls have a natural cycle longer than 24h. It means they are in a constant state of jet lag. The (unrealistic) solution to get in sync with the rest of the population would be to always go west.

Early birds are in the opposite situation. They have a natural cycle shorter than 24h. It is just that for some reason, waking up and going to bed early is not seen as a problem in our society, while the other way is.

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

#218

Post by arcturus17 »

aegis4244 wrote: post #206
arcturus17 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've done everything too, and the only thing that works for me is sleeping pills. I think it's a very unpopular view nowadays (esp. after Why We Sleep), but a small dose of a benzodiazepine changes my life completely. I'm in the midst of a full diagnostic course including cerebral scans, a sleep study and blood analysis, but my neurologist told me there's a good chance that nothing actionable will be revealed and tha…

Has your GP checked your electrolytes ? I had insomnia for 30 years. Couldn't find any fix, and I tried everything but prescribed drugs. (Addiction issues in my family.) Fixed my insomnia on accident. Tried the 4HB diet. The supplements advice did it for me. Magnesium, calcium, and potassium. Overnight fix. Turns out, the culprit was my poor diet. Now, I only have trouble sleeping if I try to sleep less than 12 hours…

No, but I will inquire about it, thanks for the tip.

I have taken magnesium supplements and multivitamins before (I do quite a bit of exercise), and many dietary permutations.

I do notice my insomnia becomes worse on a caloric deficit so it might be accentuated by nutrition, but I doubt it's the only cause.

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

#219

Post by jb775 »

randomdata wrote: post #193
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…

> Based on the comments here, I just need to have a kid. That did work quite well for me for the first year or so. Now with a two year old I’m back to staying up until the middle of the night and then being painfully tired when the child decides to wake me in the early morning.

Same here. I have a 15 month old and find that I'm slowly reverting back to my pre-baby sleep routines. I'm well rested most days, but when I'm forced to wake up early it impacts my entire day.

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

#220

Post by snazz »

aegis4244 wrote: post #206
arcturus17 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've done everything too, and the only thing that works for me is sleeping pills. I think it's a very unpopular view nowadays (esp. after Why We Sleep), but a small dose of a benzodiazepine changes my life completely. I'm in the midst of a full diagnostic course including cerebral scans, a sleep study and blood analysis, but my neurologist told me there's a good chance that nothing actionable will be revealed and tha…

Has your GP checked your electrolytes ? I had insomnia for 30 years. Couldn't find any fix, and I tried everything but prescribed drugs. (Addiction issues in my family.) Fixed my insomnia on accident. Tried the 4HB diet. The supplements advice did it for me. Magnesium, calcium, and potassium. Overnight fix. Turns out, the culprit was my poor diet. Now, I only have trouble sleeping if I try to sleep less than 12 hours…

Even if you eat healthy, magnesium is a good way to help you fall asleep.
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