Up with the Lark

Orionaut

Orionaut

Orionaut

Soldato
Joined
2 Aug 2012
Posts
7,809
I have for the last month or so been trying a little experiment.

Now, I have always been a late riser (09:00 or even later. Being self employed has its advantages :p ), but recently I have been sleeping with the bedroom curtains open.

I now find, literally, that I am up with the dawn (IE 05:30 )

The downside, as such, is that I now struggle to stay awake much beyond 21:00. Now whether this is due to "Hours of Sleep" or "Daylight" I do not know.

(IE will I wake even earlier but manage to stay awake later as the nights shorten, or will I still need my 8 hours or so??)

I also find myself really quite drowsy around 14:00 and unless I am actively involved in something I will doze off for half an hour or so (This is actually quite natural, Something that we should probabally all do but which most people don't. See https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/sleep-drive-and-your-body-clock )

Now, I am sure that this represents a much more natural sleep cycle, But it doesn't fit well with the wider modern world.

I wonder how this will develop as the year progresses.

As an aside, I have also noticed that my desire for Alcohol has declined, which is a good thing too for all sorts of reasons! ;) :p

Has anybody else tried this?

(Though I accept that it is only really likley to be an option for self-employed/semi-retired people. It would be almost impossible for anybody with a regular job to try and especially if they have a family)
 
I have a regular 8-4 job and a young family (kids 9 & 6). I'm up at 5am-ish every day. I tend to fall asleep at about 10pm-ish. Never been one to lie in but as I've gotten older, I now much prefer mornings. This also has the added bonus of wife and kids still sleeping so I get some quiet, peaceful time to myself.

As for daytime energy, I'm usually fine. If I've had a lie in for whatever reason, that's when I'll feel tired through the day. That and a hangover!

My wife on the other hand, could and would sleep all day if allowed!

Horses for courses! :)
 
I get up early almost everyday 4AM + for as long as I can remember, just a normal 8-5 job think it's just my natural sleep pattern now. On the odd occasion I do sleep in late 7-8 AM I feel like I wasted a good chunk of the day :)
 
I've struggled with mornings my whole life, but never had curtains really. I have blinds now but insist they're open so the sun comes in. I don't wake with the dawn but winter is impossible without some light. In summer, I wake up easier as there's a couple hours daylight before my alarms go off.

It just feels like my body needs 3-4 hours' warm-up before I'm always able to function! I wish I could become a morning person.
 
Regular desk job here but I have to get the kids up for school, work longish hours and have a 1.5 hour commute each way. So I am up at 6am every day and don't get back in the house again until 8pm, followed by eating, showering and helping the kids with homework they couldn't do. So I get to bed aroind 11pm to midnight on a good night.

Frankly I'm constantly shattered and drowsy in the afternoon.
 
I can't nap, I wake up feeling worse than i did to begin with if I just have 30 mins. If I go to sleep for a nap I also don't want to wake up and sleepy me ends up turning the alarm off and I then wake up at 1am wide awake.. Never again.
 
I used to work permanent night shift 10pm-6am for 10yrs solid. For the last 4yrs i've been working split shifts of days. Was hard to adjust for a few months at first i just couldn't get into the swing of it. Now though i love waking up 4-4.30am just to sit down and have an hour to myself before the mayhem starts. On a weekend i can't sleep past 7am as either i need a massive **** or my back just hurts so much i want to get up anyway!
 
I’m up most days just after 3am (4am Start) I’ve experimented at weekends to see if daylight makes any difference to my normal (non alarm) time of getting up, curtains open or closed I’m naturally waking between 6-7am.

Found the same when I used to work nights, curtains open or closed, I’d be in bed around 6am and awake by 1pm
 
Always been a late sleeper, tend to get most of my energy later in the day and evenings tend to be my most productive. That's been the same when I've had blackout curtains and when I had no curtains at all, I can sleep through the day if needed.

Was an interesting program on BBC1 the other day about sleep and it seems that their is a genetic link to our sleep patterns, some really are natural morning people and others are night owls and to actually break away from our natural type is a very hard thing to do. The biggest factors seemed to be blocking all blue light from very early on and sticking to a regime of sleeping hours, they also recommended that night shift workers stay on night hours for their days off but that isn't really feasible.
 
Up until recently I was normally up by 04:45 to get to the office. Did that for many years and after a while you just get used to it. Used to be able to go to bed fairly normally around 22:00.
 
Scania said:
I’m up most days just after 3am (4am Start)
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I'm guessing your shift probably ends about noon or early afternoon? I bet you probably manage to get more miles done before about 7 than after it!

I often have to get an early start on various sites (do electrical testing, switching stuff off has to be done outside of normal hours), its so relaxing driving about when theres not much traffic about. It also works that way for the rest of the job though, you get on so much better when the site is empty, and if Im in the office writing up reports, if I start when the office is empty its so much easier to do stuff without people asking questions, wanting other stuff done etc
 
Adam_151 said:
I'm guessing your shift probably ends about noon or early afternoon? I bet you probably manage to get more miles done before about 7 than after it!
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I wish mate!

On a good day I’m done for 4-5pm it’s often 7pm (legal maximum shift 15hours)

The early start gets me down to London for example before the rush hour(s) delays me too much, I’ve still got to get back home mind you.

Usually - going from Stoke-On-Trent to Tottenham for example- it’s 3:30 to get down but a good 5+ hours coming back up.
 
Orionaut said:
Has anybody else tried this?

(Though I accept that it is only really likley to be an option for self-employed/semi-retired people. It would be almost impossible for anybody with a regular job to try and especially if they have a family)
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dabbled with rising early and I wish I could keep it up as I value solitary time and i've garnered the impression that morning is mentally the most productive time. unfortunately a my leisure activities skew towards staying up late instead.

like you I found I'd run out of steam early if I rose early.

early to bed, early to rise is the idiom, I think.
 
Is that 5 days a week :confused:
65-70 Hours a week... constantly driving:eek: don't know how it doesn't send you mad!

Went down to southhampton once to test an office building a few years back, left East Mids at about half three, got down there just before 9 I think, did the testing and then got to a premier Inn at about 8 in the evening, as I'd been prohibited from driving back the same day (Don't know why though... its not like small vans have tachographs...;)) !
 
Adam_151 said:
Is that 5 days a week :confused:
65-70 Hours a week... constantly driving:eek: don't know how it doesn't send you mad!

Went down to southhampton once to test an office building a few years back, left East Mids at about half three, got down there just before 9 I think, did the testing and then got to a premier Inn at about 8 in the evening, as I'd been prohibited from driving back the same day (Don't know why though... its not like small vans have tachographs...;)) !
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Sometimes 6 days, it’s not all driving, you can do 10 hours accumulated driving twice per week, 9 hours on other days to a maximum of 90 hours driving in a fortnight.

The rest of the time is other work (loading/unloading) waiting around and breaks.

Looking at my tachograph app, last week over 5 days I did 36.25 hours of driving.

Some weeks it’s less, usually a lot more.

Whilst the concentration levels I’d guess are higher, I find it far less tiring driving an artic a long distance than any car, you’ve got a much better view of the road ahead (you sit above other traffic as such) and trucks are built for huge distance driving (air suspension on your seat for example) not to mention a modern truck nearly drives itself certainly on a motorway - taking a six axle artic through central London is another matter mind you!

Give me a truck any day for a long drive.
 
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Scania said:
Sometimes 6 days, it’s not all driving, you can do 10 hours accumulated driving twice per week, 9 hours on other days to a maximum of 90 hours driving in a fortnight.

The rest of the time is other work (loading/unloading) waiting around and breaks.

Looking at my tachograph app, last week over 5 days I did 36.25 hours of driving.

Some weeks it’s less, usually a lot more.

Whilst the concentration levels I’d guess are higher, I find it far less tiring driving an artic a long distance than any car, you’ve got a much better view of the road ahead (you sit above other traffic as such) and trucks are built for huge distance driving (air suspension on your seat for example) not to mention a modern truck nearly drives itself certainly on a motorway - taking a six axle artic through central London is another matter mind you!

Give me a truck any day for a long drive.
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Do you kip in your cab?
 
Orionaut said:
I have for the last month or so been trying a little experiment.

Now, I have always been a late riser (09:00 or even later. Being self employed has its advantages :p ), but recently I have been sleeping with the bedroom curtains open.

I now find, literally, that I am up with the dawn (IE 05:30 )

The downside, as such, is that I now struggle to stay awake much beyond 21:00. Now whether this is due to "Hours of Sleep" or "Daylight" I do not know.

(IE will I wake even earlier but manage to stay awake later as the nights shorten, or will I still need my 8 hours or so??)

I also find myself really quite drowsy around 14:00 and unless I am actively involved in something I will doze off for half an hour or so (This is actually quite natural, Something that we should probabally all do but which most people don't. See https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/sleep-drive-and-your-body-clock )

Now, I am sure that this represents a much more natural sleep cycle, But it doesn't fit well with the wider modern world.

I wonder how this will develop as the year progresses.

As an aside, I have also noticed that my desire for Alcohol has declined, which is a good thing too for all sorts of reasons! ;) :p

Has anybody else tried this?

(Though I accept that it is only really likley to be an option for self-employed/semi-retired people. It would be almost impossible for anybody with a regular job to try and especially if they have a family)
Click to expand...
I always sleep with my curtains and windows open.

I go to bed between 2200 and 0300. I always sleep until the alarm goes of the third or fourth time.

I can and probably will sleep through a world-ending nuclear war/alien invasion/zombie apocalypse.

I'm not self-employed but I roll into work between 0930 and 1000. We're so chill. Flip side is I work till about 1900.
 
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