For at least 12 months, I have had this routine of staying up late in the night working on this blog and gaming, and then, with no reason to wake up (see the post on how I lost my purpose), sleep a lot and wake up very late in the next day.
That’s a dangerous sleep schedule. Nasty productivity killer that could make your life gloomy (quite literally).
Why is waking up very late not good for you
First off, let me give you an idea about the numbers: I used to go to bed between 5-7am and wake up between 4-6pm (probably a bit earlier in the days when I was motivated to wake up and do something).
What did that schedule translate to in terms of energy levels, productivity and general well being? Gloom and doom.
I used to wake up groggy, knowing that it was gonna be dark really soon (if it wasn’t already), knowing that the rest of the world finished being constructive for the day (the world that was immediately around me), knowing that I may have just lost another day of my life to sleep. It was hard to motivate myself to be productive and constructive when the general feeling those around me were sending out was that it’s time to relax and rest. Made me feel like joining them in that – even though I just got up.
How I started waking up early
Missing that many daylight hours certainly didn’t have good results in my life. Also, I believe that it encouraged and fueled my MMORPG addiction, making it harder to break. But just how I got out of that, I got out of this too. All it really took, for me at least, was the desire to want to do it, the motivation to improve.
I knew it was bad for me. I knew it wasn’t getting me anything other than frustration. I knew waking up early was the better option. So one day I just decided that I have to wake up early – and it worked. Maybe I’m lucky to be able to change this fast, or maybe the change was underway for a while. That is not that relevant though, what is relevant is that being aware of the negative effects it had encouraged the change.
Now I’m going to bed before 1am and waking up at about 9:30am, not the earliest time of the morning, but a huge improvement from 6pm. The change in my energy levels and productivity is noticeable. Both have increased quite a lot, even though I’m still adapting to the new schedule.
Be careful when you sleep
Be careful what sleep schedules you incorporate in your life. If you find yourself having to work late during the night, try not to make a habit out of it, or if you can’t avoid that, try to still wake up relatively early the next day – I know it’s hard. It will save you the trouble of having to re-adapt to the normal life hours, the ones with daylight and good mornings.
Actually, in the end what is important is that you find a sleep schedule that works for you.
What is your sleep schedule and what are its effects on your life?
