Nightowls
I’ve always been a night owl. It’s gotten more extreme as I’ve gotten older, and I’m beginning to think I have DSPS (delayed sleep phase syndrome), a condition about which I’d never heard until I read this article.
It was so extreme for me that even as a half-day kindergartener at the age of four, I much preferred the afternoon session to the morning. And don’t get me started on what it was like to have split sessions in high school, when my first class began at 7! I had to take a lengthy bus ride, too—municipal bus, by the way, crowded with rush-hour travelers, because there was no school bus—which meant getting up at something like 5:45 AM.
It may seem trivial, but forcing yourself to go against your biological clock isn’t easy, although of course it can be done if the motivation is there. When I was the mother of a young child—well, let’s just say the motivation was there, but I lived in a perpetual state of exhaustion. Now that I can pretty much set my own hours, I could be singing my own version of this song from “Guys and Dolls”:
[NOTE: By the way, that’s Robert Alda, Alan’s dad, who played Sky Masterson in the original.]
Neo: if you haven’t read Anne Fadiman’s recent book, At Large And At Small, I highly recommend it:
http://www.amazon.com/At-Large-Small-Familiar-Essays/dp/0374531315/
Among other things, it has an essay about night owls — she is one — which I imagine will resonate with you strongly.
I’m a night owl too, at least I don’t wake up until midafternoon, but I do find that getting a good dose of sunshine in the middle of the day helps a lot. It syncs your biological clock.
I was a night owl when I was younger, and usually got up about noon. I had a hard time in high school from having to get up early, but did well in college because I never took a morning class. When I had a regular job I had a lot of trouble getting started in the mornings, but I managed to get my employer to agree to my coming in at 10am. However, I sleep less now and usually get up about sunrise. I don’t know why, as I’m now self-employed and could get up later if I wanted to. That’s just when I wake up now.
There is substantial research indicating that school starts much too early in the morning for adolescent brains.
I’ve sent this article to my mom, though I think she may have been more of a classic insomniac.
I, however, am a night owl. I used to work the early shift at a grocery store. It took a tremendous amount of will to get up when I needed to. In some ways, I liked the shift since I got get my work day out of the way, but it was hard in the morning.
I am a night owl by nature, however, I have never found it difficult to orient my sleeping schedule to whatever I require to function adequately.
Having worked nights- both 24 hour readiness- and night shifts- I can testify that I am not a night owl.
I know I am an early bird. I’ve always been one. I’ve gone for retreats at monasteries where they begin Morning Prayer at 5:00 am. No problem at all.
I was diagnosed with this about 15 years ago. It took me about seven years and a lot of medications to beat it. I still wouldn’t say I’ve beaten it, really; if I altered my meds I wouldn’t last a week before I’d be awake all night and asleep most of the day. I won’t mention which meds worked for me because everyone’s different.
The funny thing is, a lot of people with circadian rhythm disorders are really sensitive to melatonin. Most supplements are 5mg or 10mg; I can barely handle 1mg. I used to think I had a really weak circadian rhythm. It turns out that I’ve got a really strong one, just one that naturally kicks in about at sunrise.
It’s an unusual condition, because sleep doctors can do very little for it. They stress sleep hygiene and will tell you quite frankly that you may never get better.
As a farm boy I started as an early riser. Now retired for 3 years I have discovered I am a night owl, and rarely go to sleep before 1am, though I do awake by 8 am to the smell of coffee. The great thing about growing older is feeling less need for sleep. Now if I could convince the wife to retire to the Florida Keys I could be deep sea fishing everyday. 😉
Oh? You have that, or some form of it, too? It’s a horrible thing. I fight it with every ounce, but it is a losing battle. Mostly nocturnal, but that shifts too.
For me the sun, and season, can alter my ‘clock’. Stretching days, or shrinking them, or upsetting any balance I might have gained. I’ve been battling it since early childhood too. It’s one of the nice things about being “retired”. And yet, all business is a day thing. Doctor appointments, bank hours, even package pickup. Even retired I have to, so do, attempt days.
I may look into treatments. I know, for me, sun lamps, anti-depressants, and most common lore or folk-remedies that I have tried do nothing. Even a minor dose of ritalin didn’t really help. I sleep well, at nights, I just sleep better in the days (when it is cool enough anyway… summers are easier to do days in, because of the heat at mid-day, for me).
Oh, blathering… comparing notes (or more offering my notes). Though any fixes, or comparatives, you might have would be interesting. A disease? I just thought it was just me, sort of.
If you force yourself to get up at a certain time, you can go to bed whenever you want. You may stay up too late initially, but chances are you’ll adjust and go to sleep a little earlier so that you may feel tired but can still function. At least that’s my experience.
“It may seem trivial, but forcing yourself to go against your biological clock isn’t easy.”
Yep, I’m an early bird. I get most of my productive work done between 6AM and 9AM. And, afternoon meetings are killers for me!
Too bad most of my bosses have been late people. Most, by the time they get into the office, have had their coffee, and now are ready to start work don’t realize that I’ve already been working for 2-3 hours.
Then, they see me “zone out” in an afternoon meeting or leave at 5:00 PM on the dot and think that I’m just old and lazy.
They need to understand what you have said; but, apply it to everyone who has a different “clock.”
Boy, this is my song. Average bedtime, 4:30 am!!!
Going on a trip with some normies in a week, so I’ll have to start forcing my bedtime back, an hour at a time….
I have a delayed sleep onset cycle it seems to be caused bya
*racing brain*, like my mimd gets flooded by neurotransmitters that never let sleep take over!!
Seems almost like a form of epilepsy.
Glad to know I’m in good company. Like a small child, I never really get sleepy until quite late. I wake up after 7-8 hours and it takes me an hour to get the motor started again.
I wasn’t like this when I was working. Had to fly all kinds of hours day and night and could fall asleep whenever I wanted to. Something about getting old? Naw, must be something else. 🙂
}}} I’m beginning to think I have DSPS (delayed sleep phase syndrome), a condition about which I’d never heard until I read this article.
It makes sense, if you think about it. SOMEONE had to take on the job of guarding the camp at night. Some people were prone to doing that, so they became the night watchmen (and their wives).
I have a tendency to like the night, myself, though I’m more likely to have FRD (Free Running Disorder) — because I’m fairly certain my own circadian rhythm is about a 26-27 hr day.
I have always been a Creature of the Night, which made being a 2300-0700 Deputy a lot easier. I was at the library one day last winter, and they have a book sale cart. There was an autobiography of an artist, who called her book, ” And I won’t go to Bed Until Noon “. I thought, Man, I don’t like staying up that late “.
My late business partner was a total night-owl, and ran her own business for thirty years, so she had the luxury of waking and sleeping as she felt. Usually, that meant getting up around two or three in the afternoon, and going to bed around six in the morning. This really worked out for our clients, because I am a morning person, and was usually up by seven … so, we could see to our client’s needs almost around the clock. We usually did meetings with clients around 4 in the afternoon – but sometimes that was awkward because I would be tired from working all day, and she hadn’t got up to full speed yet.
I’m not a night owl, but one of my children is. It was apparent from birth and very obviously biological. Getting him through high school, when the adolescent dormouse sleep-need ganged up with his circadian rhythms, almost killed us all.
Me too! I am a night owl and it has apparently gotten more intense as I have gotten older. I think it has been a major issue with my “day jobs” since they are usually literally “day jobs”. As a writer there’s my work, and there’s day jobs! Any way, it has been a huge issue most of my life because normal job hours are usually early hours. I have adjusted for short periods of time but it is always a hardship and more so as I get older. I’ve had to be at a job at 6 AM and that was really tough and I felt ill after awhile. Normal 9 to 5 is better of course, but still hard. And of course, people tend to think you are just lazy or lack will power when really, you just come alive at around 9 PM!
I can knock it back, my sleep time back, to an earlier hour if I have to and I do right now but again always an issue.
I don’t think we have anything “wrong” with us though, the world is just on another schedule.
I understand that Ann Coulter is a night owl and writes mainly at night.
There is a quiet after midnight that I love. I also find it conducive to writing. It is also recommended to do serious study of the Kabbalah after midnight since the quiet is good for thinking and study.