"There is only one formula for healthy and refreshing sleep: Go to sleep only when you are very tired. Not earlier. Not later. Wake up naturally without an alarm clock."
Then kids + career = 10pm-5am sleep schedule and pretty much feel tired (struggling-to-function tired) 24/7.
I think the worst aspect of it nowadays is that the cycle seems difficult to break. Thanks to this conversational reminder, I'll try to hit the hay when the body seeks it, no matter how early. Waking up is not a problem. It's the falling asleep part that has caused me to gray severely in the past 3 years, through and post pandemic.
It came on so quickly and strongly, I still feel robbed.
It's ultimately a synonym for worry - and whatever it entails.
As for literally dying my hair, I did once a while ago. Never again. It felt awkward, impersonal, awkward (x2), fraudulent, and so on. It's good to feel comfotable in one one's skin, even while it whithers.
The kids would go to bed around 2am and wake up around 11am. My wife and I would go to bed around 3-4am and wake up at 11am. It was fantastic.
Sadly modern life doesn't allow for that, as we have to take them to school at a set time and I have to meet with other people now.
Some days I wake up late and miss a portion of the work day but I'm able to work later and have a fresh mind for the entirety of my work time. With this routine I've found I'm managing to accomplish way more than I did in a previously more rigid environment.
Currently I'm an IC so it's easier to have this kind of schedule. At past jobs when I was in more of a managerial role so this wouldn't have been as easy due to the amount of meetings with various partners and employees.
This experience has been so positive it's made it so that I'm now pursuing a job/career where I can maintain this lifestyle. I loathe wasting time sitting around because I'm tired.
I mean, my post above is pretty much all there is. We basically lived on that schedule until my daughter started online kindergarten. Then we made her roll out of bed at 8:38 to be online by 8:40.
When did the sun set where you lived during that time? I suppose that was a big influence on sleep times?
We live in the Bay Area, so the sun was setting around 8pm since it was spring/summer. Our whole family are night owls, but regular society just isn't designed for that.
Of course now that they have regular school they have a regular bedtime that still gets them 9+ hours sleep (actually closer to 10 hours), but they are still groggy and slow in the morning because it is not when their body wants to be awake.
As an additional plus, if you are in the United States, sleep disorders qualify as disabilities, which means employers are generally required to make reasonable accommodations, including later working hours. I find that tech companies are generally fine with varying hours anyway, but it's a nice tool to keep in your back pocket in case you have a manager that insists on 9am meetings.
I wonder where and how to get this diagnosed though.
I did that for years when I was younger. For me that meant a longer-than-24-hour day which quickly led to being completely nocturnal. Those were dark days, literally and figuratively. I can distinctly remember my first "day" without daylight. It wasn't a nice feeling. I would usually try to correct it when that happened which was like having a 12 hour jet lag.
Yes, it causes issues within our society. That's the only thing keeping me from it and I bemoan this on a daily basis. If we were more flexible I could thrive.
The sleep formula article said “truly sleepy” which, to me, is significantly different from “very tired”.
I wake up with the alarm only if I go to bed too late, otherwise I assume I have to sleep for 10 hours, go to bed and my body naturally wakes up between 830 and 930 hours of sleep. Very resting. Also if I gwt 2 days of 9 hours, the next day usually I end up sleeping 8 and still feel rested, so it seems the body naturally adjusts