Comment by fastball
2 years ago
My problem with regular sleep is that the sum of "good night sleep" + "energy for the day" is > 24 hours. Realistically I think it is about 26 hours on average. If I sleep for a normal amount (7-8 hours) I will generally have about 18 hours of energy. So if I just sleep when I'm tired my schedule is constantly shifting. If I go to bed when not tired I just stair at the ceiling for hours, which feels like a waste.
You might need stronger environmental queues for your body to wake up. The body has both internal and external data to know when you have to wake up - lights, noise levels etc.
If you set up your bedroom “too well” - quiet, light blocking roller blinds etc, then your body can only rely on the internal clock.
I used to have that but since moving to another place without those “niceties” suddenly my body quite easily finds “the correct time” every day.
Also you can experiment with this on long flights to get rid of jet lag. After I land, if I spend the first night drinking and fall asleep, I effectively ruin my internal clock for the night, and then the body has only the environmental queues. Wake up in the morning and my clock is effectively reset. Might not feel great for the day but suffer zero jet lag as I start waking up in the morning at the “correct” time even though I’ve flown halfway across the planet.
My problem isn't really waking up though, it's the going to sleep.
This matches my experience. I think I have a 25 hour circadian rhythm, which has me always wanting to stay up one hour later than the night before.