I am missing the 1am-6am period, this is by far the time I feel most alert and manage to get the most work done. Apparently having utter silence and few distractions help! (even though I always listen to music while I work)
Ask HN: When are you most alert?
11–20 of 26 posts
Re: Ask HN: When are you most alert?
#12I'm most alert in the late morning or late evening.
However, for me, alertness is almost negatively correlated with actually getting things done --- unless I'm working on the "1% inspiration" parts, I have major trouble staying on task.
For the "99% perspiration" that makes up any project, the early morning is often better. I'm not so tired as to fall back asleep, but I also feel as dull as a butter knife -- which actually helps with plowing through the necessary tasks that don't necessarily inspire excitement.
Re: Ask HN: When are you most alert?
#13I'm most productive when it's light out, but I like to stay up late and get up late.
Re: Ask HN: When are you most alert?
#14I'm most alert in the mid-morning, about an hour after I sit down at the computer. My mind is active and energetic at that time, and I'm keenly aware of practical issues, such as schedules and customers. This is the best time to prioritize my tasks and do straightforward design work. I also spend this time figuring out what practical preparation needs to be done and making sure I have the resources (docs, working boxes, software tools, and so forth) to do it. If there are any bugs or broken tools that will hold back my work, this is when I'm most likely to have the initiative to fix them.
Later in the day I'm more theoretical and less practical. This is when I crank out the LOC, when I'm relaxed into a groove and really inhabiting the world that I mapped out that morning. I definitely don't get as much coding done when I'm super-alert. The right state of mind for coding is entirely different from the right state of mind for grunt analysis and design work. This can be a problem when I need to mode-switch back and forth between coding and analysis. HOWEVER, really difficult design questions that require imagination are usually solved late in the day, in my relaxed, theoretical frame of mind.
Re: Ask HN: When are you most alert?
#15"# Afternoon tiredness can be overcome by coffee or a 20 minute nap (ideally both, since caffeine takes 20 minutes before it gets through your system).
# If you like to limit your caffeine intake, you may want to save your quota for when you experience your natural dip. "
Evil! I don't drink caffeine! I usually get 6-7 hrs of sleep but I am most awake at around 10pm-12 or 1 am.
I found NOT drinking caffeine improves my overall alertness. Without it I set my own rhythm for waking up, sleeping, being tired, etc. With it I just get these spikes of alert after drinking coffee, then even more down, then more alert, etc. It makes my day completely unbearable, and god forbid I don't get my coffee.
However I noticed my most alert time is mainly due to the fact that around 10pm to 1am nobody bothers me. I can pretty much do whatever I want without anyone pestering me for "honey-dos" or any distractions.
Re: Ask HN: When are you most alert?
#1612 am.
Re: Ask HN: When are you most alert?
#17Not in the mrnging
Re: Ask HN: When are you most alert?
#18Generally around 11 am for a few hours and then again from maybe 6-10. I try to get to bed by 1:30 and wake up around 8:30.
If I don't eat and have coffee I'm like a monster.
Re: Ask HN: When are you most alert?
#196pm
At midnight when I go hunting the man eaters of Bengal Sunderbans
Re: Ask HN: When are you most alert?
#20"# Afternoon tiredness can be overcome by coffee or a 20 minute nap (ideally both, since caffeine takes 20 minutes before it gets through your system). # If you like to limit your caffeine intake, you may want to save your quota for when you experience your natural dip. " Evil! I don't drink caffeine! I usually get 6-7 hrs of sleep but I am most awake at around 10pm-12 or 1 am. I found NOT drinking caffeine improves…
Yes, I find that having no caffeine at all improves my average overall alertness, almost completely cutting out the highs and lows, both. However, I really like the hyperalert state that caffeine brings, and I don't know any way to get it without, so I put up with the lows that accompany it, going off caffeine every year or so for a few weeks to reset the effect (which gradually wears down so that the hyperalert state approaches mere alertness).