People's sleep cycles are just different, even if it's not fashionable to acknowledge that. They differ with the person and they differ with the personal situation at the time. This notion that there is The One True Sleep Pattern and that everybody should adhere to it is not tenable in my opinion. It's a strategy that sells books on how to become "normal", nothing else.
I'm a night person, I viscerally hate mornings, and when I can I "oversleep" until 10 or even 11 in the morning. I go to bed when I'm tired, I usually sleep well and wake up rested in the morning. Sometimes I get tired during the day and when I can I respond to that by napping for a little while. In the absence of outside disruption, this works fine. I feel great and productive. On average I sleep 7-8 hours total, sometimes more, sometimes less. It's still possible to do a standard 7-to-5 workday, but after a while of doing that I simply become less productive and I start hating my day.
I've been told, directly and indirectly through "sleep experts" in the media, that my natural pattern is unhealthy and I must take steps to align myself with the same standardized day that is working so well for everybody else. Waking up feeling like you just got steamrolled, traffic jams, morning grumpiness, and being in the office before the boss arrives. Fuck that.
I'm deaf, and I can't wake up to the traditional beepy noises that alarm clocks have, so I have this really awesome vibrating alarm clock that clips on to my pillow.
I used to have such difficulty waking up, but this vibrating alarm clock annoyed me so much, I'd actually end up waking 5mins before to turn it off before it could vibrate...
I did that all through high-school, and now I've gone from a night-owl to a morning person, by training myself to hate that alarm clock.
I've had it for about 10 years I think. Changed the batteries twice. Love this thing to death. (this is not a plug by the way, the link above was whatever came up in Google)
I think the point made above is that sleep patterns are not 'natural' but 'flexible'. I also have experience where a long-term need to wake up super-early for something that was very important for me made it easy for me to turn gradually into a morning person.
I was curious why you replied to me specifically, even though my point was so obviously not related to yours (and in some ways directly opposed to it). In some way it felt like I was declaring "X, not Y!" and you replied with "I solved for Y with Z, it's awesome!".
Right now, my normal work day starts with my waking up 5am and I feel like shit most of the day regardless of how long I've been doing it and how disciplined I am about getting to bed.
My natural cycle has me waking up at around 10am and falling asleep at around 2am.
Guess how many days it takes for me to readjust back to my natural cycle when I have some time off and turn off the alarm clock?
The next day. I'll crash early like normal the night before and sleep through an extra 5 hours to wake up almost on the nose at 10am then fall asleep the next night at around 2am.
This happens when traveling overseas too. Within one or two days I'm back on the 2-10 sleep schedule.
And I feel awesome when I'm on that schedule. Even better, I avoid most traffic on those days.
Same. I've been working three years at a job I have to be in at 7am for and it has really only gotten worse in terms of how I feel each day. I accidentally slept in a few times the first few months I'd started, and even though it doesn't happen anymore, that doesn't detract from the fact that my body is still not okay with it and all the coffee in the world doesn't change that.
I have no problem working till 2 or 3am (regardless of travel - I adjust very quickly), but if I have to get up before 8am, I feel miserable all day. I can still function, but then I have zero creativity and people annoy me. It's like the bottom part of bipolar. Let me sleep late, and I kick ass.
It's difficult to wind your sleep cycle back, but what works for some people is to wind it forward - keep going to bed later and later until you clock around again. Of course, you do need the freedom of time to be able to do this.
I'm even later than you, if not actually in constant flux (in those periods when I haven't had to stick to a work schedule). I often think I'd be more suited to a planet with 4 or 5 more hours in the day. Then I could go to bed when I actually get tired, get a decent night's sleep (10 hours) and be good for work.
I'm a night person, I viscerally hate mornings, and when I can I "oversleep" until 10 or even 11 in the morning. I go to bed when I'm tired, I usually sleep well and wake up rested in the morning. Sometimes I get tired during the day and when I can I respond to that by napping for a little while. In the absence of outside disruption, this works fine. I feel great and productive. On average I sleep 7-8 hours total, sometimes more, sometimes less. It's still possible to do a standard 7-to-5 workday, but after a while of doing that I simply become less productive and I start hating my day.
I've been told, directly and indirectly through "sleep experts" in the media, that my natural pattern is unhealthy and I must take steps to align myself with the same standardized day that is working so well for everybody else. Waking up feeling like you just got steamrolled, traffic jams, morning grumpiness, and being in the office before the boss arrives. Fuck that.