It's not only about being tired enough to fall asleep early. If I stick to a 10pm-6am sleep schedule I feel exhausted during the day, and by early afternoon I'll be falling asleep. It's like being jetlagged permanently; my body simply doesn't want to keep to that schedule. It's not just an "oh, you need to stick to the schedule long enough to adapt and get into a proper routine" situation either - it's something I struggled with for years while I was in school and university, despite getting enough sleep.

It's amazing how much better and more energetic I feel - physically and mentally - now I'm able to keep to a sleep schedule that suits me. Obviously exercising is a good thing, but early/delayed sleep phase syndrome are real things.

[–] Demdaru@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago

This. I work physically, get up just before 6 am, return tired as fuck and can easily go lights out at 8-10 pm half of the year. Doesn't help. If I wake early, I feel tired all day.

[–] altima_neo@lemmy.zip 21 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yeah, whenever I get up early, like 5 am, I wind up feeling sleepy and groggy all day and need a nap when I get home. Yet I can get up at 7 and feel fine all day, not need to go to bed till 11 pm.

[–] Gork@lemm.ee 16 points 1 year ago

I once had to do 12.5 hr shift work.

Going from 7 am to 7:30 pm wasn't too bad compared to the nightmare that was 5 am to 5:30 pm, which meant I had to get up by no later than 4 am.

Same amount of time but the phase shift just completely messed everything up because my body just refused to comply that early in the morning.

[–] punseye@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

So, what is your current sleep schedule?

[–] dependencyInjection@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 year ago

Not OP but mine is 00:00 - 06:00.

I can’t fall asleep at 22:00. But my ideal schedule if I work permitted it would be 02:00 - 10:00. When I’ve kept this schedule before it’s literally night and day how better I feel.

I could go to sleep however early you like but I’d still be wrecked at 06:00.

[–] loobkoob@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago

Typically around 04:00-12:00 for me. Fortunately, I have a job that fits nicely around that, so I'm in a pretty good place overall, but when I do have to try to shift to more "normal" schedules it really wreaks havoc on my energy levels and mental clarity.

I've tried all sorts in an attempt to make a "normal" schedule work for me, like sleep monitoring, therapy, sleeping pills, and just being really over-the-top about my sleep hygiene (like not allowing screen usage for X hours before bed, no drinking or eating X hours before bed, etc). I can sort of make a "normal" schedule stick but I never feel good for it. And it takes constant work because my body naturally wants to gradually drift back towards a 4am sleep time, and I find going to sleep earlier than previous nights very difficult so once it starts slipping it usually takes an all-nighter to get it back to where I want it.

Like I said, I've generally got things pretty good right now with my job and lifestyle working around my sleep schedule. But it'd certainly be a lot easier if society didn't think I was lazy and was able to accommodate me (and other people with less "normal" sleep schedules) a little more.

[–] CohortCzort@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Still not op but Working days i wake up at 2000 head to sleep around 10 - 12 Days off i gwt up at 6 and generally go to sleep around 2200 - 0000