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Comment by rtx | Hacker News Reader

I think we have it backwards, the problem is going to sleep late.

Some people aren't tired just because the clock says 9pm or even 12a. Some people are more awake and energetic in the evening, and less so in the AM, and other vice-versa.

The early rising == good thing is an old moralism that can't die quickly enough, since it's not fair to people who for whatever genetic reason don't have bodies that behave like that.

I thought this too then I lived in a room without shades for months. Amazing how I started to wake up earlier and earlier and get tired earlier and earlier.

People with the night owl genetics wouldn't care about sunlight.

They do. Light still has a massive regulatory effect on the circadian rhythm, whether it's shifted slightly forward or back. Before the advent of the industrial revolution and electricity in homes no one was staying up all night unless they had to work through it.

Take a night owl and move them several time zones away, they'll end up shifting forward again in a week's time.

People with night owl genetics might have a low production of sleep hormone. Or have autism which is linked with a low production of sleep hormone.

The problem is not listening to our body requests. If you are tired, you should you sleep, and then avoid alarms to wake up.

I have found discipline to be better.

I think that sometimes it takes a bit more than discipline, if you are going to really do it right. Sometimes there is an underlying medical issues keeping you from quality sleep (and leading to a delayed sleep phase) and other times it might actually be that, given your genetics or what not, you just don't sleep until later.

I am a fan of "early to bed, early to rise." But for me it's got to be with a PAP machine.

It’s as if the millions of people with insomnia all cried out all at once and condemned this post.

People who seek treatment for insomnia are often told to institute some form of sleep hygiene. My immediate thought was the comment was made by someone who found the advice worked for him/her.

My immediate thought was it was someone that looks at the clock at 11:30 and goes "alright, it's time to go to bed" and goes to bed, even if they're really enjoying that video game or whatever and that they think it's that easy to sleep, afterward.

> The problem is not listening to our body requests.

I learned in my late 20's when you constantly burn the candle at both ends, your body will eventually make that decision for you and just shut down on its own.

The problem with avoiding alarms is that perpetually sleeping in will shift forward your circadian rhythm.

I agree, I'm a night owl myself, but I don't think it's natural or healthy. In hunter-gatherer societies the last one to go to sleep was at midnight (youngsters) and by 8 am everyone was awake.

Go out and look at the some for a couple of minutes whem it rises, it will make the body set the max() brightness to know what is low() and when to start with sleep hormones..

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