The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime • Hacker News Board

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#71

Post by Void_ » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 10:16 PM UTC

_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…

Interesting, to me, it doesn't feel like zombie-time.

For me it's the adventure time. Reminds me of taking trips that require getting up at 4AM.

But the hardest part is, of course, getting to bed early enough.

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#72

Post by jspiros » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 10:23 PM UTC

I experimented with this exact sleep schedule when I went from working entirely remotely for 8 years to working in an office for a year and a half. I found that physically going to an office would exhaust me anyway to the point that I couldn't accomplish much after coming home, so this schedule was great for optimizing the time where I'd be most productive anyway, and putting me to sleep when I'd otherwise be useless anyway.

I'm introverted enough that the social interaction I had at the office was sufficient for the day, so I wouldn't be going out afterwards anyway. I'm also a night-owl and find myself much more productive at night.

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#73

Post by lupatus » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 10:26 PM UTC

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 is essentially my grandfather's sleep schedule. He uses the early morning hours to go hiking, snow shoeing, hunting, reading, and journaling. This schedule works especially well during hunting season because it allows him to have breakfast and hike out to his spot before the animals wake up with the sun.

I'm considering adopting it because I telecommute and it would give me some quiet hours to work before the kids and wife wake up.

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#74

Post by pdelbarba » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 10:42 PM UTC

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…

My second life is that of a competitive collegiate rower waking at 4:30am so this all resonates very strongly with me. It's especially noticeable on campus where people will party hard and then sleep until 1pm when possible; you really come to appreciate the tranquility in the morning. Add in the rush of water moving by leaving ripples on the mirrored plane of the river and the sunrise over the city and you get a form of meditation most will never come to experience. I can't say the same as you in terms of my questionably existent social life, however.

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#75

Post by rexreed » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 10:50 PM UTC

I like this schedule as well. Benjamin Franklin is well-quoted as saying "early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise".

In particular, the 1am to 8am work cycle can be highly productive since email and other distractions are generally quiet then.

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#76

Post by Shivetya » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 11:05 PM UTC

_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…

I am on the flip side, I can hold a similar schedule until summer approaches as I find it near impossible to sleep while it lights out.

Gone the route of lined curtains that do a great job of blocking the light. Could never get used to any sort of mask/etc.

I would prefer to drive home in sunlight than drive in, but that may be because I love convertible cars

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#77

Post by eertami » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 11:32 PM UTC

tobeportable wrote: post #66

I did this same thing for the exams of my last year only. Had I known before .... Here's the pattern : while exams{ 0. Study 1. Go to the exam 2. succeed 3. Come back, get fresh a go to sleep [... idle ... forget everything ... reboot ...] 4. Wake up, get fresh & back to 0. for next exam } Here's some advantages : - when you wake up you actually have plenty of time till the exam - you don't have to calculate how much…

I switch to this pretty much every exam period, mostly because I hate doing anything when I've only just woken up, nevermind take an exam.

The rest of the year however, there are far too many things to do between 5pm-1am that make this viable. Instead I flip it and go for the 5am-1pm which I think works well as a University student.

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#78

Post by Zariel » Sat, Feb 23, 2013, 11:35 PM UTC

_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…

I really recommend getting a sunrise simulator SAD therapy light, it really made a noticeable difference for me getting up.

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#79

Post by lsaferite » Sun, Feb 24, 2013, 12:06 AM UTC

Zariel wrote: post #78

_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…

I really recommend getting a sunrise simulator SAD therapy light, it really made a noticeable difference for me getting up.

I just looked at prices for those and WOW. Why so much for a light?

Re: The Serenity of a 5pm Bedtime

#80

Post by AlexDanger » Sun, Feb 24, 2013, 12:07 AM UTC

wybo wrote: post #36

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…

There are two main issues with this sleep schedule: 1) Getting home at 5 (not likely with a job in the US, especially with a startup-job like the one I had in the valley, where performance often seems to be measured mainly by the amount of time one is physically present in the office each day) 2) Most of social life happens in the evening, even over the weekend. I guess one could get away with it in the Netherlands,…

A couple of years ago my wife and I made a concious decision to move closer to the city. We pay more in rent but save a bundle of time/money by not driving so much.

And yeah, I used to have a job where performance was measured by time spent in an office. I got a different job.