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The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

ngokevin.com

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Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#51

Post by logn »

I tend to sleep from 5am - 10am and take a 3 hour nap during the day, say 1pm - 4pm. It's a bit degenerate but I work from home and can do this.

The advantages are I fulfill all my night-owl hacking needs and have a good social life. And I can make any morning meetings by adjusting my first sleep to 4am - 8am.

Apparently before the invention of the light bulb, most people divided their sleep into two sections. The details are sketchy but there's widespread reference of "second sleep" throughout history. I think it was the sort of thing they went to bed at 9pm - 1am and then 4am - 8am.

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#52

Post by shalmanese »

My most productive period was when I was waking up at 8pm, grabbing dinner and drinks with friends from 9pm to midnight (I would drink water), hacking at the lab from 12:30am to 8:30am, run errands from 8:30 to 10 and then sleep from 10am to 8pm.

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#53

Post by ngokevin »

antoko wrote: post #32
ngokevin wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, this sleep schedule is not very sustainable due to can't-miss evening functions. But it is working out very well for me for now because it is late in my school quarter. I spend a lot of time studying and working, and I haven't had any things come up during the evening. Since I'm in school, my rhythm gets messed up easily regardless. Another productivity hack, I use LeechBlock during the day so I limit my Int…

You've only been doing it a week... going to bed at 5pm when it is sunset is well and good in February. Come summer time trying to tell your body to sleep when the Sun is high in the sky might be a big problem. Certainly not impossible but it might not feel so great for you. I fell into a very natural (seeming) sleep pattern from 8am - 3pm which worked for me at the time. That was a lifetime ago though and it simply…

I mention that I do not plan on keeping this schedule up for a few weeks or couple months. My schedule is working for me for now, but one day it will soon also become impractical.

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#54

Post by theologic »

While many comments bring up the anti-social aspects, I think it interesting to use the thread to think about one of the biggest, and often overlooked personal productivity attributes: making sure that your body gets a good dose of sleep every day.

Good sleep means better cognitive behavior, less accidents, lower bodyfat, lower inflammation, and many other benefits.

Sleep has a long list of very positive effects, and I might suggest reading Coren's "The Sleep Thieves" to get a full idea of this.

One of the central cores of getting a good night's sleep is "sleep hygiene," which includes having a regular schedule. In other words, get to a schedule and stick to it. Also, exposure to light seems to keep the schedule synced.

As many have written, 5pm hardly seems to be reinforcing of the above points.

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#55

Post by niggler »

_delirium wrote: post #46
AlexDanger wrote: post #12

I always considered myself a night owl. I'd stay up until 2-3am for the night time serenity. My partner and others disapproved and considered it unhealthy. Now I wake around 3-4 am and get the same night time serenity. But the perception of this patten is different. I'm considered an early riser - disciplined and driven. I've noticed my concentration is much better under the new early rising regime. Here's my schedul…

I've tried this, but find waking up in the darkness hard to get used to. I mean, I can set an alarm and get up, drink some coffee, and pretend I'm now up, but it still feels like weird zombie-time until the sun starts rising to mark it "really" being morning. Whereas when I stay up late the nighttime doesn't feel like that. Could just be familiarity, but seems like the sleep->wake transition happening during darkness…

It's much easier than you think. The hardest part isn't the lack of light but getting past the instinct to go back to sleep.

This is a habit you can break regardless of your sleep time: when you first notice you are awake, just roll off the bed and do 20 pushups.

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#56

Post by niggler »

AlexDanger wrote: post #12

I always considered myself a night owl. I'd stay up until 2-3am for the night time serenity. My partner and others disapproved and considered it unhealthy. Now I wake around 3-4 am and get the same night time serenity. But the perception of this patten is different. I'm considered an early riser - disciplined and driven. I've noticed my concentration is much better under the new early rising regime. Here's my schedul…

This whole scheme makes sense if your work is flex-time or if you are in california interfacing with people in new york (guessing based on "- 7am. If I havent done so already I start work to coincide with my team on the other side of the country.")

When you are in new york and working on a set schedule (like the US equities markets running from 9 AM to 4 PM) its difficult to maintain a nonstandard schedule.

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#57

Post by graue »

dfc wrote: post #50
graue wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like a silly generalization. Surely it depends who your partner happens to be and what schedule they follow.

To be honest my generalization has less to do with schedules/who your partner is and more to do with the supply of partners. I think that (in the US at least) in college sex is less dependent on one partner compared to later in life. I read your profile and appreciate the sentiment re: votes. I am not trying to be crude. Within this context this is my best effort at a thoughtful response.

Y'know, maybe I'm off base, but my perception is that for people not in a committed relationship, college sex was basically like this:

1. Go to party

2. Get wasted

3. ????

4. Wake up hungover: "What, I'm really in bed with this person? WTF, how did that happen?"

Anyone disciplined enough to maintain an unconventional sleep schedule, probably isn't doing that to begin with. And doesn't it fall under the general "lack of social interaction" complaint?

But I don't know if this is a particularly productive line of discussion. I'm only here because there were no posts about Haskell on the front page. :)

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#58

Post by ebiester »

_delirium wrote: post #46
AlexDanger wrote: post #12

I always considered myself a night owl. I'd stay up until 2-3am for the night time serenity. My partner and others disapproved and considered it unhealthy. Now I wake around 3-4 am and get the same night time serenity. But the perception of this patten is different. I'm considered an early riser - disciplined and driven. I've noticed my concentration is much better under the new early rising regime. Here's my schedul…

I've tried this, but find waking up in the darkness hard to get used to. I mean, I can set an alarm and get up, drink some coffee, and pretend I'm now up, but it still feels like weird zombie-time until the sun starts rising to mark it "really" being morning. Whereas when I stay up late the nighttime doesn't feel like that. Could just be familiarity, but seems like the sleep->wake transition happening during darkness…

Light boxes can help.

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#59

Post by jthol »

shalmanese wrote: post #52

My most productive period was when I was waking up at 8pm, grabbing dinner and drinks with friends from 9pm to midnight (I would drink water), hacking at the lab from 12:30am to 8:30am, run errands from 8:30 to 10 and then sleep from 10am to 8pm.

This worked pretty well for me in my final year of school when the only time the lab was open for our project was midnight to 8am. Weird having an end of the day beer at 10:30 in the morning though :)

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#60

Post by androgen »

ebiester wrote: post #58
_delirium wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've tried this, but find waking up in the darkness hard to get used to. I mean, I can set an alarm and get up, drink some coffee, and pretend I'm now up, but it still feels like weird zombie-time until the sun starts rising to mark it "really" being morning. Whereas when I stay up late the nighttime doesn't feel like that. Could just be familiarity, but seems like the sleep->wake transition happening during darkness…

Light boxes can help.

I used to use light boxes in the morning, but have recently switched to heavy boxes, and find them much better personally.
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