Owls And Larks

[nailit]

Are our sleep patterns set in stone?
Ive had jobs in the past where I had to get up at 5 in the morning. I always felt cr p while doing these jobs despite getting enough sleep the night before (going to bed at 9pm).
If I go to bed at around midnight and arise around 7am (thats 1 hour less sleep than the above) I feel much more refreshed and able to face the day.
Why is this? Is it possible to change our sleep patterns and feel just as refreshed?
Thanks.

[grasscarp]

The body's wakefulness and sleepiness depend on body temperature. This is part of circadian rhythm (daily pattern). Body is at high temperature around 6 to 7 in evening so hard to sleep at that time. It is lowest around 4 to 5 am so hard to stay awake at that time. As your later going to bed and getting up is a better match to what your body wants to do it makes sense that you found it suited you more.

[Baldric]

I don't normally go to bed before 01:00, usually up again between 05:00 & 05:30 to sort Dog out and then do coffee and breakfast for OH when we get back if it's one of her work days.
Depending on what's happening I still find I can sleep for any 4 or 5 hours out of 24 probably because of the best part of 20 years spent in The RMs.

[nailit]

Thanks Grasscarp, that all makes sense but sometimes on AB you get the folk on the GMEB thread that are up and running at 4 - 5 in the morning.

[nailit]

Baldric, I envy you. I really do. I was talking to my mates a bit ago about how we would all love to sleep less and 'live' more.

[grasscarp]

Ozzy is in a different time zone. The others are doing what suits them. I have a friend who gets up every morning at 4.30 no matter when she goes to bed. I can think of nothing worse!

[jno]

I used to work late evenings/nights and hoped to get into more normal patterns when I retired, but it never happened. I am just too old and my body is too set in its ways. Younger people do find it easier to adapt, though. If you have the opportunity to sleep at a time when you wake up feeling more refreshed, do it.

[cazza247]

I am awake till all hours whether I have done a 13hr shift or if I'm on a day off.maybe there is some truth in needing less sleep as you get older who knows

[ummmm]

I tend to go to bed about 1am as well. If I'm left to my own devices I'd wake naturally about 7.

When the kids were little I really struggled waking up and now they've all grown I wake really easily...

[jd_1984]

My pattern has largely been dictated by age, responsibilities, stress and work (or a combo of all)
I tend to work 4 or 5 days a week (6 on occasions) 10am - 6/7pm. Therefore my internal "clock" wakes me up, without alarm at 7am daily, whether I am working or not. It doesn't matter if I go to bed at 9pm or 2am, its always up at 7am.
Now, rewind to my early twenties, I could lie in for England! If I didn't have to get up, simply, I wouldn't - sometimes until lunchtime.
During times of stress, my stupid thoughts keep me up and this effects a regular pattern. Luckily this happens a lot less to me these days.

It terms of when I feel most "refreshed". I would say its on the occasions when I get about 7 hours un-broken sleep

[Hopkirk]

Annoying isn't it Ummmm?

Just when you have the time for a slow wake up and a lie in, you wake early.

[DEESMITH1970]

I am the opposite nailit !.....the earlier I go to sleep say 10pm and wake at 5am the better I feel - than going to bed at midnight and waking at 7am even though it is the same amount of sleep. I never need an alarm clock always awake by 7am any day of the week ....can never "sleep-in" feel worse for it.

[pusskin]

I would give the world to be añ early ríser, but I,m not sorry to say!
I go to bed at twelve every night, but wake often and drag myself out of bed 9 o'clock thinking I could sleep a bit more! I,d love to get up at 6 like I used to for yrs while at work.

[pastafreak]

I'm very much a night owl...more so as I get older. 1am is the closest to normal for me and easily later. Not good on those work mornings when I need to be up at 5:15. Six hours is about right for me. I'd like to sleep more but when I do,I don't feel all that great.
I read recently that about 1/3 of the population is waking/sleeping against their normal body clocks. So what's normal or right must vary from person to person.