There is a huge amount of pressure in modern society to get up early in the morning. If you sleep late, it's thought to be a vice and a sign of laziness.
But the reality is that most people fall into one of two camps. They're either Early Birds or Night Owls. Personally, I'm a Night Owl. My natural rhythm is to go to bed at 3 in the morning, and sleep until around 10am. If I have to get up earlier than that, I am useless until after my second cup of coffee. Strong coffee.
If you look at an historical perspective, however, this malarkey about getting up and working a 9-5 day is a relatively modern invention. It is possible that with our always-online computer-age society, we're slowly drifting away from a fixed working day again.
The fixed working day came about as a result of the Industrial Revolution, because factory owners wanted to regiment their workers and have predictable fixed-length shifts.
Before the Industrial Revolution, at least in medieval Europe people didn't get 8 hours solid sleep. Instead, there were two "sleeps", each of about 4 hours length. You'd go to bed at dusk (electric lights hadn't been invented), wake up and potter about by lamplight after about 4 hours, then after an hour or three, go back to bed and wake up at dawn.
I suspect the Spanish practice of the midday siesta has it's roots in a similar pattern, of sleeping through the most awkward part of the day. But pressure from other countries business demands appears to be forcing the Spanish to comply with "modern" habits.
Image created by AI in NightCafe Studio
But to come back to the Early Bird/Night Owl dichotomy, recent studies have been able to take advantage of fitness watches, with the technology advancing enough that they can track sleep. Used with the few remaining hunter-gatherer societies, they have revealed something interesting.
The most successful groups have a spread of sleep patterns, and it is rare for everyone to be asleep at the same time. One study found that in a one month period, there were only 18 minutes where everyone in the extended family was asleep simultaneously.
From an evolutionary perspective, the advantage is obvious. If someone is always awake, there is far less chance of a leopard or other predator sneaking up on the group. Having a spectrum of sleep preferences improves the life expectancy of everyone in the group.
So if your sleep patterns don't fit what modern society expects of you, embrace it !
Find a job which works with your natural routine. Ignore the self-proclaimed experts who say that you have to get up stupidly early and do an hour in the gym before you even think about starting work. Or go to bed with a cocoa at 9pm, if that's what works for you. Work out when you are at your best, and do the most mentally demanding things at that time of day. If you need 9 hours sleep a day, or can get by on five or six, that's fine !
But it is important to be mindful and self aware. While it is normal for your sleep pattern to change slowly over a lifetime, if there are any sudden changes you should get them investigated. In my case, finding I was getting by successfully on less than three hours a night led to some tests that indicated thyroid problems.
Apart from that, though, find your natural routine and make the most of it ! If you're at your most awake at 2am, that sounds like an excellent time to make Hive posts 😁
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I totally agree man, I just have to admit, I almost always wake up late 😂😂😂Sometimes, getting up late is the best way to relax and recharge. Thanks for sharing this, it really makes me feel better bruv😂💯🥰
I am an early bird, and for obvious reasons, I cannot wake up late in the night. I also cannot get how people spend the whole night sleepless 😅. But after all, if that is how they are doing well, then so be it. I will never oppose them until if only it becomes hazardous.
Thanks for your replay ! I think the problem is when we define what is considered normal and try to push people to conform. It's hazardous to expect night owls to travel to work really early in the morning before they're fully awake (which for me means anything before 10am, lol). But it could be just as hazardous to force early birds into working evening shifts.
Very true. My entire family are night owls. All a time when others go to bed. One only works night shifts the youngest wants too but school... Well it's forced to get out at 5 to catch the bus at 6 to be at school at 7:30.
Not old Europe but even cavemen most likely only slept a max of 4 hours. It's about a few hours awake, a few working and back to bed.
Btw it's proved that not only most accidents happen between 3-4 pm with us but people are also less productive! No one is allowed to have a break it's 9 hours at work and many travel 1-2 hours to work (and school) and back. It's no wonder many complain about burnouts.
Thanks ! I think modern life is very unhealthy for a species which evolved to live so differently. There's a perception that pre-agricultural life was hard and brutish.
But studies of surviving hunter-gatherer cultures show that while they haven't got all our technological luxuries, they only spend a very small percentage of the time actually working. Maybe a couple of hours a day. The rest of the time is spent sleeping, chilling out and socialising.
It's thought that when people first started to live a settled agricultural lifestyle, disease from increased exposure to more people, longer working hours, poorer diet and tyrannical leadership led to a massive drop in life expectancy.
The average age is still around 43 or so which isn't high. Might have dropped after the lockdowns+.
The stupid fiddling with the time twice a year doesn't make it any better either.
I can't help thinking the more high tech/help the less time left.
🤯
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