Sleep late? There's a scientific reason, and change is likely needed to reflect this

[á´…eparted]

My biggest #1 worry when I am done with school and get a job is: "How am I going to deal with early hours?". Most jobs start at 8am, and I honestly wonder if I can do that. If I could, I would go to bed around 4am every night, and going to bed before 1am is damn near impossible (I have to be totally exhausted in order to do so). My sleep overall is fairly chaotic and has it's own problems, but one constant is it's always late. Fighting it causes a lot of problems too. I have tried for years and in many ways I have given up on trying to keep a regular sleep schedule. I'm thankful my research adviser acommidates to this for me.

It's not just me either, a lot of people I know have sleep cycles that seems out of alignment from the rest of the world. This article explains the background of this in short, and it suggests the work force and school needs to change somewhat to help accomidate these individuals. It would make it better for them, and increase productivity.

Late sleepers are tired of being discriminated against. And science has their back. - Vox

We live in a world that worships the early riser. Think of everything we're told on the virtues of waking up early.

We tend to assume that late wakers are the partiers, the deadbeats, the ones who are so irresponsible they can't keep a basic schedule. The people I spoke to found these assumptions to be personally damaging.

Delayed sleep phase is extreme. Less than 1 percent of the population has it. But in talking with people who have the disorder, I wondered if their experiences are mirrored in people with less extreme chronotypes. What happens if you naturally like to sleep until 9 am but are forced to go in for an 8 am meeting? Or what happens to teens — who have delayed sleep phase in much higher numbers — who need to wake up for early morning classes?

[MENTION=23583]21lux[/MENTION] obviously I thought of you as well.

Discuss.

 

[Andronas]

Fuck yes. Science to support it? Finally. I've always been a night owl.

 

[highlander]

I have a job where people tend to work late in the evenings. They generally start around 8:30am though. What ends up happening is I don't get enough sleep during the week and make it up on weekends. It's not a good solution but that's what I do.

 

[Coriolis]

Fuck yes. Science to support it? Finally. I've always been a night owl.

Same here.

 

[Andronas]

What's interesting to me is the fact that this article at least asserts that the health effects of going to bed late are connected to one's individual clock. So it apparently isn't universally true that night owls are damning their bodies to hell.

 

[Yama]

I've suspected that I've had delayed sleep phase disorder for a while. I hate when people suggest that I "just go to bed earlier." How the hell am I supposed to fall asleep if I'm not tired? Just laying in bed when you're not tired causes even greater insomnia than I'd otherwise have. Ugh.

This is so real.

 

[chubber]

I always thought that when I travelled 20 years ago to California and went back home East, my schedule was ruined. Maybe it's just this. I just got a certificate from my therapist to say that I can come in 30min later at work, which is 9am, compared to others. I told my boss that we were moving backwards instead of forward. Because we were allowed to come in at 9am, then the new boss (ESTJ) moved it to 8:30am (because of some people who decided to come in at 11am). Moving it earlier, meant higher volume traffic to work, which means, more stress just getting to work, which means, not only was it 30min earlier I had to go, but another 30min just to counter the amount of traffic to get to work on time at 8:30am. It's really counter product but the ESTJ insists that, that is the way it must be done, to "punish" those 11am late comers. So everyone must be punished, like a bunch of kids in class.

 

[á´…eparted]

I've suspected that I've had delayed sleep phase disorder for a while. I hate when people suggest that I "just go to bed earlier." How the hell am I supposed to fall asleep if I'm not tired? Just laying in bed when you're not tired causes even greater insomnia than I'd otherwise have. Ugh.

This is so real.

My father used to say this to me a lot. It wasn't until my sophmore year of high school that started to stay up really late and have trouble waking up. Either way, he has been saying to me for years "You'll outgrow this when your older" on to of "why do you sleep so late? You're wasting the day" and "go to bed earlier". His rationale is that he can make himself go to bed whenver, and wake up whenever. I can't. Every now and then he'd bang on my door going "Oh goddamnit Hard, it's 11am wake up!" but I'd ignore it. Now that I'm 26, and recently explained some of my tangential issues connected to this, I think he's finally starting to accept that this isn't a phase. I mean, it doesn't matter, but my smug self is pleased that he realized this.

 

[hjgbujhghg]

Yes, I am a late sleeper myself and almost everyone my age is a late sleeper as well. It's a trend that young people these days are night owls and feel better when they can go to sleep later and wake up around the noon. My sleeping range is usually from 3am to 12-1 pm and it's completely normal for people in their 20's or teenagers.
I think society of people who wake-up early is slowly dying and it's a matter of time when the younger population will raise their voice against starting the work early in the morning. I think currently the middle-aged population of people in their 40's is still in the lead when it comes to work habits and the system is made to meet their needs, but not the needs of younger population.
The positive fact is, that some jobs are becoming more open to starting work later, around 9-10 am. But still... the population of older people who are used to be the early morning birds is holding the young population back in developing the change. And that is ironic, because we're supposed to be the new work force they all are going to need one way or another.

 

[Cellmold]

I've always had issues going to sleep even as a child and my parent's complete unwillingness to accept this has resulted in some pretty fucked up sleeping patterns I got into.

Now I'm older and work it's perhaps even worse. I have to will myself up at 5am on the weekends but then roughly normal times in the week. With the occasional late shift mixed in. This means I'm all over the place sleep wise to the point it was affecting me mentally.

My only solution has been to will myself to go to bed around the same time every night. It doesn't really work though; the world runs on 9-5 mentalities as a middle finger to what comes naturally.

 

[Dyslexxie]

Before noon I'm basically a waste of flesh because there's nothing I can do successfully but occupy space and look miserable. It's probably a mental thing, but regardless of the amount of sleep I get, if I wake up before 8 or 9 I feel incredibly nauseous, hungry but have a hard time eating, and my brain activity is minimal. If I could just work nights forever I would be SO happy.

 

[Cowardly]

I've changed my sleep routine recently. I sleep at 9PM and wake up at 5AM. I'd go to bed earlier if I could but my family's too noisy at 8PM.

I took the following steps:

* Downloaded one of those calm instrumental songs to help me fall asleep. If it's not too loud it can distract me from my mind. My mind is the only reason why I stay up late. If I choose to focus on the song instead, I fall asleep faster.

* From 8:30 made everything less noisy and less bright. That includes lights, computers, cell phones, all of it.

* Got myself tired by the time I went to bed.

* Meditation.

* When I do wake up, I play heavy metal (not too loud though, there are people sleeping) in order to wake me up. Heavy metal and yoga.

 

[fetus]

Yes, I am a late sleeper myself and almost everyone my age is a late sleeper as well. It's a trend that young people these days are night owls and feel better when they can go to sleep later and wake up around the noon. My sleeping range is usually from 3am to 12-1 pm and it's completely normal for people in their 20's or teenagers.
I think society of people who wake-up early is slowly dying and it's a matter of time when the younger population will raise their voice against starting the work early in the morning. I think currently the middle-aged population of people in their 40's is still in the lead when it comes to work habits and the system is made to meet their needs, but not the needs of younger population.
The positive fact is, that some jobs are becoming more open to starting work later, around 9-10 am. But still... the population of older people who are used to be the early morning birds is holding the young population back in developing the change. And that is ironic, because we're supposed to be the new work force they all are going to need one way or another.

I'm the same way. 2:30 AM to 11:30 AM are my sleep hours.

 

[Yama]

I stay up until 3 or 4 and wake up around 1 to 2. I just can't do it any earlier without being miserable.

 

[cascadeco]

I've read elsewhere (I think it was the for-the-masses book called 'Brain Rules', with a set of scientific facts and findings about the brain) this thing on sleep, that a small % are wired to be night owls, a small % wired to be early birds (both of these groups won't effectively be able to adjust their sleep schedules), and most people fall in the middle, or somewhere in that spectrum, where they're able to adjust to a degree.

I'm more of an early bird by nature, but I think I can adapt to a degree. But lifestyle wise, and the things I like doing, make me want to get up early. I love the daylight and there's not much I'm interested in doing when it's dark out, other than sleep.

(example: if left to my own devices, and if I didn't have reason or desire to get up earlier, I'd prob fall into a rhythm of waking up at 7-8:30 am. But I'm now on a schedule of waking up at like 4:30-5:30am due to work, and that's doable for me. Sleepwise, when unemployed years ago, I fell into rhythm of going to bed at around 11pm. Now, it's like 8-9 pm, 10 at latest, that I'm wiped out (I mean I can do later, but it means I only get 4-5 hrs sleep because body clock now begins waking me at 5)

 

[Norrsken]

I never liked going to bed early. I always fought with my parents even as a small child about going to bed at 9:30 PM. I just love the night time so much; there's something eerie yet serene about the darkness. I just feel so at home with it, though mornings are nice too. I think I'm just sort of split on this, but really, I lean towards going to bed and waking up late.

 

[/DG/]

Atm I have a part time job in a lab at the school and I can go whenever. I love going in at like 4pm and leaving at 1am. I'm a bit worried at how I'll do in the "real world."

Anywhere from 12-2pm is a good wake up time for me.

 

[/DG/]

Yes, I am a late sleeper myself and almost everyone my age is a late sleeper as well. It's a trend that young people these days are night owls and feel better when they can go to sleep later and wake up around the noon. My sleeping range is usually from 3am to 12-1 pm and it's completely normal for people in their 20's or teenagers.
I think society of people who wake-up early is slowly dying and it's a matter of time when the younger population will raise their voice against starting the work early in the morning. I think currently the middle-aged population of people in their 40's is still in the lead when it comes to work habits and the system is made to meet their needs, but not the needs of younger population.
The positive fact is, that some jobs are becoming more open to starting work later, around 9-10 am. But still... the population of older people who are used to be the early morning birds is holding the young population back in developing the change. And that is ironic, because we're supposed to be the new work force they all are going to need one way or another.

Maybe we should hold rallies. Evening ones of course...

 

[D'Ascoyne]

I vote for starting a nation of late sleepers.

 

[Tilt]

I get to set my own hours, but I think I would really struggle with an 8-5 job...