Night people vs. Morning people.

[IronFist]

Is it possible to change yourself from a night person to a morning person? I am such a night person it's not even funny. I go to bed at like 3 am every night. I can't even start homework until 10 or 11pm because I just can't focus before then. I don't know if being slightly sleepy triggers something creative in my brain, or if I need the pressure of "this is due in a few hours" to help me get stuff done. I take a shower at night instead of in the morning. When I wake up, which is as late as possible (to maximize sleep), I grab my stuff and go to class.

It has its advantages, however... I'm not one of those people who are all like "I'm sleepy" at 3 am after the bars have closed and the party has moved to someone's house. At 3 am I'm usually still ready to go! (bars close here at 2 on the weekends).

I also lift weights at night because that's when I have the most energy. Not that I would ever work out in the morning, because I need a few meals before I can work out, but working out in the evening would be preferable to at night I think.

So how can I convert to a morning person? Not totally... but I mean it'd be nice to go to bed at 1 or 2am and wake up and not have to go to class immediately. Or is it genetic. I read in an Asian health book that skinny, "yin" type people are more apt to be up late at night etc... while bigger "yang" type people are the early risers. So maybe nature wants me to be a night person. The book was a bit hokey tho, so I don't place too much faith in it, but a lot of it seemed to make sense.

Any ideas?

IronFist

[diego]

Place a garlic wreath around your neck or stick a stake in your heart that should kill your problems of readjusting sleep or at least it will kill you!.

basically i have no idea but usually i find i have more energy and focus at late night definatly because i can get meditative and creative wheras the day i tend to get tired quickly prolly because everything is turned on so i tend to get battie!?.

also im skinny as **** so once agian i think those old chinese guys are correct!@?.

[Leonidas]

I am one such night person. It's almost 4 am as we speak. I go to bed usually at around 8 or 9 am. I wake up in the afternoon. I even finally decided to go to school at night, i eat breakfast 7 pm in the afternoon.......hehe. Been that way ever since i could remember and if possible i do everything at night. When i go outside in the daytime i feel like a moleman. My eyes are pretty sunlight sensitive. i'm always either wearing glasses or walking with halfed closed eyes, it gets annoying.

Even if i stay up for 1 or 2 days without sleep just to go to bed at night and for example go to bed at say 10 or 11pm, i still wake up only after a couple hours, usually around 2 or 3am. As you know, staying up for 2 days straight you get so tired that you feel almost drugged and you dont care about anything but sleep, yet still i wake up. i attempted to become a morning person countless times that i've finally just given the idea up.

[Shadow Dragon]

Normally, I am a morning Person.

But there was a time when I worked shifts, also most of my professional life I had to do callout and standby on a 24/7 basis.

Regardless of how much time I was awake during the night still had to put in the 9~5 grind.
Add onto that working for up 37 hours non-stop at times.

You can get used to anything, it is just a matter of will-power.

Advantage of that lifestyle I can now get fully rested with as much sleep as I can get and don't need an alarm clock to wake up at ANY specific time unless I am really dead-tired.

So if you want to change set your mind do it and ti should work.

Cheers.

[diego]

Leonidas uno that end part of your post is really strange maybe you should lay off the sodapop... i got like that doing graveyard shift drank like 6 cans of pop a night, you pass out for like three hours but wake up anyway even though you are a zombie

things like this **** me off how untuned we are with natures cycles like we sleep half our life then die...wtf

[Leonidas]

I dont even drink soda like i used to few years ago, now i drink it maybe about 2 times a week or less. The strange thing is that my body clock works fine. I can wake up anytime that i want ususally without any external help. Like if i have something really important to do or a show that i wanna see comes on at 6 o clock i can wake up an hour before it at 5 without an alarm clock, and if i still lie in bed ill just wake up every 10 minutes or half hour afterwards. Staying up in the daytime is tough though. Even after getting a full nights sleep, say about 10 pm to around 7 or 8am, i'm still drowsy and kinda tired for the rest of the day and occasionally i even went back to sleep another 8 hours on top of that if i was home doing nothing, but that rarely occurs. Sh!t like that gets annoying when you have stuff to do in the daylight hours. I'm starting to think i am a vampire :D. I dont have any sleep disorders either. I get a regular 7-9 hours and i can go with 3 or 5 if i need to. I think its just the way i am and i dont try to fight it either. Eventually when i get a fulltime job things will have to change (i sure as hell dont know how) but for now i dont stress myself out.

[Former castleva]

I´m no expert on this,but from oriental/chinese view,doing any working-out or physical exercise at night is supposed to be bad for you and fight your natural ways.
It is also recommended that stuff as qi-gong and kung-fu exercises should be best done early (this seen as the reason for tai chi chuan practices performed at morning in China)

[guohuen]

Yes. Iwas a night person since I was a young child. Bring the body and the mind will follow. Set an alarm for when you really want to get up. Allow plenty of time for a workout, shower, breakfast and meditation. Don't worry about when you go to bed. Eventually you will get tired enough to start going to bed earlier or napping. You'll be surprised how quickly you'll be able to get up five to fifteen minutes before the alarm rings on your own.

[Water Dragon]

Of course you're a night person, you're in college. It'll change. Believe me, it'll change.

[HuangKaiVun]

Tell us about your schedule, IronFist.

You mention "homework". By that, you imply that you're in some sort of school - likely fulltime.

I will tell you from a trained medical perspective that the grind of daily school will wreak havoc on a person's sleep/wake cycles.

[Aramus]

Method One: Body Shock, just change completely (NOT easy to do in college). Just go to bed even if you don't go to sleep. Force yourself to wake up early. Do that for at least 5 days, your body will adjust (as long as you don't change it over the weekend, and you are in college...)

Method Two: Stop lifting at night, slowly go to bed early, move your work up times up. You can succesfully (usually) move your bed time up by 15 minutes without many issues. Increase the time you get up by 15-30 minutes per day. Your body will adjust

Alternate method: You can sleep when you are dead or out of college (which isn't being dead). If you torture yourself, catch 14 hours of sleep on the "crash day" and force yourself to move. I didn't sleep that much in College either. Especially during pledging (mine or the new people's). I studied, played and stayed up late. I had a crash day every 5-7 days. I made through it OK. Good luck.:)

[omegapoint]

Originally posted by IronFist
Is it possible to change yourself from a night person to a morning person? I am such a night person it's not even funny. I go to bed at like 3 am every night. I can't even start homework until 10 or 11pm because I just can't focus before then. I don't know if being slightly sleepy triggers something creative in my brain, or if I need the pressure of "this is due in a few hours" to help me get stuff done.
...Any ideas?

IronFist

I feel you man. I started DJing in local clubs in the Philippines when I was 16. No real drinking age so us punk dependent kids would frequent bars and clubs 24-7, some of us at least. I'd sneak out on school nights and come home at 4 AM sometimes. Our school started at 6:55 am and we got out at 1:30 pm before it got too hot to walk home (a lot of the kids had to walk b/c there were no school buses).

I found that I was a night owl. My eyes are pretty dark so I'm not sun sensitive, but just the fact that everyone in America follows this antiquated, crowded time scheme just ain't for me.

I went into the AF and became a Pararescue Operator. We trained mostly in the morn, but often we trained around the clock. I was way ahead of everyone in the energy department, especially at night. Even in Basic I couldn't fall asleep before 2 am.

I got out of the AF and went to Medical School. I had to get up (sometimes, if I felt like it) to go to lectures and labs, and it almost killed a mofo. When I started my internship I got no sleep, and this is continuing into residency. When I have to work nights I run circles around everyone. Scientists and MDs seem to think that if you are not exposed to lots of sunlight circadian, then eventually bio- function will be hampered. Lies!!! Utter BS, I'm a little pale at times, but internally---"Strong like bull!!!"

All I know is I'm a bonafide night-owl and I'm just as good a Doc and just as productive as your "get up before 9 am" type that permeates medicine and the world in general. We aren't all farmers stil people, and if you notice there is more room to move about on the streets and less knuckleheads to deal with. One thing that science HAS proven is that you need 7-8hrs./night (or day) for maximal performance, mentally and physically. You can't keep switching schedules from day to night either. It confuses the body, lowers immunity, decreases awareness and brain function. Too bad we never practice what we preach...

I get energized as soon as the sun goes down, and can stay up til 8 or 9 am myself, even when I don't have to. We are not an agrarian society that relies solely on train schedules to get stuff done anymore. America likes to spout change and moderation, but it is the epitome of puritanism and extremist ways.

The secret is to maxize human potential and adapt to change! Oh well whatever.... I don't feel like such a FREAK now. You know "the FREAKS DO come out at night", or so Whodini says!

[dnc101]

I've allways been a night person. No matter how tired I get, when those shadows start to grow I get going. I've never had a problem getting up when I need to, but staying up and functioning are my problem. One thing you might try- most of us have a time in the day when they can hardly stay awake. Try catching a nap then- you may be surprised at how much good it will do you. I chucked it all for a couple of years and drove over the road. If I could get off and take a nap for 2-4 hours at about 2:00 in the afternoon I could drive straight through that night, all day the next, and if I could last until the shadows fell I'd go on throught the next night. I ran a looseleaf log which I allways kept looking immaculate, but if they'd ever checked it against my paperwork Id have been shut down for chronic outlaw trucking (there really is such a thing). I've pushed even harder on cross country motorcycle trips using this technique. But without that nap there are many times I'd have been in the ditch by 2:30.

If none of the suggestions that we've all given you works, you should look on the bright side: most martial arts classes take place in the late afternoon!

[Starchaser107]

I'm definately a night person, for some reason I just function better after the sun goes down. Besides it's cooler quieter and I can concentrate better on my work.

[Leonidas]

I get what your saying about feeling energized at night and another strange thing is that if it's cloudy outside, even if i just stayed up for the entire night until the morning, i dont get sleepy like i normally do when it gets bright outside. I can stay up a full day if the sun never comes out and its completely gray outside, almost like its stuck at dawn. That can't be normal......

[straight blast]

I'm a total night person too and I always have been. The only catch is that now 'cos I don't have to be up during the day as I work 6 graveyard shifts (22:00 to 08:30) a week I have lost my bronze aussie tan, and the part that ****es me the most is that my hair has gone from blonde to a sort of crappy brown colour. My wife hates the hair!

But I fully understand the night thing. My eyes are painfully sensitive to direct sunlight and I have to wear glasses whenever I go outside during daylight hours. I even have two spare sets in case I lose one. I'm actually toying with the idea of dying my hair dead black to go with my horribly pale skin. I've always kind of liked the Gothic look...:confused:

And it is much better to train after dark. I know it sounds silly but when the moon is full or completely dark I feel invincible. Anyone else get a little moon-mad (as my wife calls it)?

[popsider]

I agree with whoever said getting a 9-5 job will make you into a day person - if you have kids that will help too. You will soon find that you are unable to keep awake much after midnight without the aid of something illegal. I used to work late at college all the time - I still sometimes tell myself that I'll finish some work off at night but I never do because I am always too tired to bother now.

It is good to get out early morning though - so why not do that and stay up late too - but take a nap early afternoon - that's a crap time of day anyway so you may as well sleep through it. This is especially good if you have a 9-5 job because it means you are getting paid to sleep.

[fa_jing]

I used to be an insomniac, from the early teens, and during my college years stayed up late alot. However, somehow I always knew that it sucked to live like that. Now, I get up relatively earlier. Best time for everything is the morning, before noon. That's when I like to get things done. Yeah work changed me, and old age - I'm 28 :) Get up with the sun, preferably. The only time it sucks here is when it is at it's coldest in the early morning. I hate walking out of the door to go to work and its about -4 degrees (-20C). But there's nothing I love more than sunshine in the morning. I envy the lives of fishermen - up at 5, drinking at noon. Also, when I was in the tropics, there was always a lot of activity going on in the morning, before the sun got strong. Also, I don't have a problem sleeping anymore, partly because I'm perpetually tired from my responsibilities.

[IronFist]

Originally posted by HuangKaiVun
Tell us about your schedule, IronFist.

You mention "homework". By that, you imply that you're in some sort of school - likely fulltime.

I will tell you from a trained medical perspective that the grind of daily school will wreak havoc on a person's sleep/wake cycles.

I generally go like this.

MW: Get up at 9:20, class from 10:00-11:00, Class from 11:00-12:00, Class at 3:30. Yes, that's a long time, from noon to 3:30, but the business building where my classes are is far away so I usually stay there and make use of their ethernet during the break. I also go to McDonalds every day and get two McChicken sandwhiches for $2.00. Why? Because I'm poor and I can't afford better food. The 3:30 class goes til 4:45, so I get home at 5:15. Time to eat again. After that, it's time to study or whatever. I don't watch TV very often. Sometimes I train or lift around 9 or 10pm. Once I get done, I eat more and take a shower. That takes like an hour. Then, it's time for real studying because I can't remember anything I did from 6-9 because I'm usually still tired. As midnight approaches, my mind turns itself on and the next hour is the most productive. I need my internet fix sometime after that. Somehow it usually becomes 3am and I'm still not ready for bed.

TTH: Same as MW except class at 11 instead of 10. Get up at 10:20 (it's my sleep in day :D). Class till 4:45. Eat. Study.

Friday: Same except no 3:30 class so I'm essentially done at noon.

edit: Oh, I forgot. Weekends = get up at 2pm, do a little work, perhaps a workout, party, bed at 4 or 5am, up at 2 or 3pm again the next day.

The class work is that of a Senior level MIS major, cuz that's what I am. 15 credits (5 classes, full time in other words).

Geez, I sound like I'm ****ing whining, but I always run out of time, go to bed late, get barely enough sleep (knock on wood), and then repeat the whole thing again.

I think my main problem is starting. It takes me so long to start an assignment that I have to do. I always find other things that need to be done (ie. cleaning up my apartment, doing some obscure thing that I've been thinking about for weeks, update my training logs in Excel, etc. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.)

Oh well. Time for eat/shower/bed. Somehow that will take me 2 hours.

IronFist