It is not necessary to be a lark and get up early to be alert and productive.
You need to study your sleep patterns and understand what is right for you.
Being a night owl is normal
It is believed that early rising is good for you. Early suggest all the books to improve efficiency and every other “life rules”. It is considered that all great men get up early. In fact it is certainly not the case. Among the owls a lot of celebrities (Bob Dylan, Charles Bukowski, Franz Kafka), and a direct connection between the success and rise time there. In 2016, Brian Resnick of Vox published an article under the comforting name of “Science believes that if you are not a morning person, never will not be.” It says that the “standard” schedule of sleeping from 11 PM to 7 am is natural for only 40% of people.
Many people know that we all have internal clocks that help to maintain a consistent sleep cycle. Much less is said about the fact that these watches are different. There are owls — those whose sleep schedule is shifted forward, and there are larks — those whose schedule is shifted backward. The shift may be small, and can be extremely large — for example, 0.2% of people prefer to go to bed around 4 am. Most often this shift occurs in teenagers but with age it can decrease gradually.
The good news is that this shift is determined by our genes, and with them dangerous to argue: you can harm the health. Therefore it is better to stop fight with yourself and try to determine what the sleep time is the best for you. The most common advice is to shift the sleep schedule for 30-60 minutes and watch the reaction. Sometimes an extra half hour can greatly improve the situation.
The duration of sleep
The optimal sleep duration is also different for each person. The average healthy person needs about 7 hours and 40 minutes of sleep — 7.63 hours for women and 7,76 for men (If Our Bodies Could Talk: A Guide to Operating and Maintaining a Human Body, James Hamblin). There are people who are missing and 4 hours, but very few of them. Don’t try this at home: the sleep deprivation is starting to talk in sleep duration less than 7 or 6.5 hours. And someone for recreation need all 10 hours.
So just sleep as much as you like.
Sometimes a long sleep can be a symptom of some problem in the body. But if you spend your life sleep more than eight hours of sleep regularly or just on the weekends after the work week, nothing to worry about. Rather, sleep is not a good idea, it is best to sleep every day the same number of hours at the same time. But if there was a deficit of sleep, a longer sleep in the night is a natural reaction of tired of the body.
Jetlag
After flying from one time zone to another circadian rhythms of the person cease to coincide with a day rhythm. Sleep still want the “old” time, regardless of the time of day in the current geographical point. The greater the time difference, the more difficult: stronger shifted sleep schedule and take longer to return to normal. Thus it is better to fly East to West than Vice versa. It is believed that in the first case, for every half hour time difference will need one day of recovery; second, every hour. For example, if the time difference is 3 hours, when flights to the West will need 2 days and when flights to the East — 3.
Straightening better hours the most peaceful way. Just not sleeping one day is possible, but unpleasant. Better sleep, but a little less than usual, and then go to bed early.
While jet lag affects not only sleep, but also on appetite and mood. The best thing you can do in this situation is to monitor the regularity of meals yet the body is not ready to do it himself.
Sleep deprivation
Lack of sleep, or sleep deprivation is the lack of sleep, leads to poor brain function, bad mood, increases the risks of some diseases. It was used for torture, but more often people deprive themselves of a good rest. Too much to do, too little time, too much influence from the outside world on our sleep schedule.
Owls are particularly difficult: training and work hours are usually focused on a lark, but all the others have to adjust for them. In the standard schedule (5 working days, 2 days off) people not getting enough sleep on weekdays, and then sleep on the weekends. The whole situation eases a little coffee, although there are lucky ones, whose body is on it does not respond.
Since the earthquake, many in the habit, it pretty easy not to notice — in the sense that the constant fatigue is becoming the norm. On the one hand, consider just how insane the number of people suffering from lack of sleep right now (in developed countries about one third of the population, while among women the figure above). On the other — imagine how much humanity can do if we just start to sleep. But to solve it is first necessary to be aware of.
Lack of sleep can manifest itself in different ways. Constant irritability, insatiable hunger, rumpled appearance, constant illness, inattention and the ability to sleep in any convenient or inconvenient moment. And yet, oddly enough, you turn into an owl and felt a surge of strength closer to the night. Thus the body tries to restore you to normal sleep, but it usually ends because you again went to bed late and not getting enough sleep.
To break the vicious circle, you need to cheat a little to tired at the right time. Try not to relax in the evening, not to read Facebook and books, and to do different things to the night tired and easily fall asleep. The easiest way to do this outside, then to just come and go to bed.
Owls are at risk for certain diseases (obesity, depression, heart disease). The main problem here is that most of the owls have to constantly sleep. Similar problems can occur and larks, if they need to work late. So if your natural sleep schedule was incompatible with work, there’s only one way out: to change the work schedule.
How to sleep?
There are many ways to help your body to sleep. 1-2 hours before bedtime to turn off the TV, close the laptop and put the phone: blue light screens suppresses melatonin production. For about the same 1-2 hours needed to finish the job, training and other activities: brain needs to relax and prepare for bed. You can meditate or read a book.
Perfect sleep environment — a cool (but not cold) room, the silence and total absence of light.
If it is not possible to block all sources of light and noise, you can use a sleep mask and ear plugs. To sleep better all at the same time, even on weekends. Bedtime should not drink coffee and alcohol: the first will disturb sleep and worsen sleep quality. If you can’t sleep more than 20 minutes, it is better to get up and do some business, until you get tired enough to try sleep again.
To Wake up easier, you can try to use a smart alarm clock. Some of them know how to Wake her up with light, simulating a sunrise. Others Wake us up when it’s easiest — in REM sleep. And eventually you can even learn to do without the alarm clock. When you sleep sufficient number of hours, the body wakes you up myself.
The most important thing to do is sleep when I want. And as much as you like. Because only you know what’s good for your body.
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