Quote:
Originally Posted by Alarin  It sounds like you're an 'early bird' as opposed to a 'night owl'  Everyone has their own circadian rhythm which dictates when they're sleepy and when they're awake, yours definately sounds like it has an early start so you're awake and alert early in the day and you start to flag in the later evening. I'm the exact opposite, I can make myself get out of bed by 6:30am but I'm a zombie for the next hour and my mornings are slow, however from about 8pm to midnight I'm at my most alert and creative.
If you're an early bird it's good to listen to your body clock, and it sounds like you're doing that which explains your good results. If you want to shave some more time off your sleeping hours you could try setting your alarm clock half to one hour earlier and seeing how you feel when you wake up - if you're more alert then you've woken up at the end of a REM cycle and it's a good time to get up, if you're groggy just go back to your usual waking time. |
I'm an early bird as well, and have done just what you are talking about, more or less step by step. Now, for the past 2 + months, I've been regularly getting up at 3:45AM in order to get 2 hours of guitar practicing in, before leaving for work. Being the early bird that I am (with just the reverse circadian rhythm as you describe, Alarin!), I also find that work days go phenomenally better when I get in early as well.
I did this by just what Alarin is suggesting here, shaving off abt a half hour every week, in the morning. I set the alarm but more often than not, wake up just before it goes off, which feels quite good.
I'm now getting into biphasic sleep. I find the 90 minute cycle idea pretty workable within my own physiology, and my 90 minute nap in the afternoons really makes a difference for both the rest of the day (having gotten up at 3:45
) and for feeling good when I first get up. There is a lot on the polyphasic sleep threads here on various aspects of sleep efficiency, as you've probably seen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by coma Hi Guys,
I'd like to reduce the hours I sleep too -- to make way for more productive activities, however, I've been facing massive resistance getting down to sub 8 hours.. I have 2 questions:
1. Do you think sleeping less just creates a sleep debt which can possibly be stored for weeks, months, even years? I know of some workaholics which claim that they get by 4-5 hours of sleep a day but they crash on the weekends. Is less sleep sustainable in the long run?
2. Has anybody tried to gain weight (muscle that is) and survive with less sleep at the same time? Cos i am trying to do so, but it feels very unnatural and my body keeps telling me that I need to sleep! |
I do think it's really, really important to listen to your physiology. Maybe right now is not the time for your body to try to get less than 8 hours of sleep. Or maybe there is something you are regularly doing or exposed to which makes your body work best on 8 hours. I think people are different but also that a person is likely very different at different times during their life, either due to developmental changes (individually progressive through the life cycle) or environmental differences (just what's going on internally and externally for a person AND/OR things a person is doing)--have more of a choice about which affects their environment.
For the latter, I think first of caffeine, sugar and alcohol intake (other drugs, sure quite likely--both medical and "recreational" as they say). Also sleeping, work and other activity environment, stressors of various types including the stress of not much to do. And certainly the physio chemical effects of an active athletic program, muscle building or other would certainly have a strong effect on sleep need, and one I'd be listening to, both for the success of the athletic effort and for my health
Also, if sleeping less is not the best option, there are so many other ways to affect one's own productivity or efficiency....this site is full of discussions and links to helpful sites on that.
Just my 2 cents. Good luck ! Let us know how you are doing!
all best,
Ati