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work/sleep incompatibility
cuberat
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
My body's natural wake-up time is around 9:30 am. Additionally, my brain isn't ready to concentrate until at least noon. I'm a programmer, and my workplace's core hours are 9-3.
If I'm forced to wake up before 9:30-ish, it takes me forever to wake up and get going. (Conversely, if I'm allowed to sleep until I wake up naturally, I'm up and active within 15 minutes.) This means that in order to get to work by 9, I need to wake up at 7:30, two hours too early. Then I'm groggy all day from having my sleep interrupted. Also, my stomach is upset all morning from being awakened too early, and sometimes this persists into the afternoon as well. (I eat breakfast because I can't function without it, but my stomach is NOT HAPPY to have food in it so early.)
I spend the whole day desperately craving a nap, but unable to take one because I'm at work. I don't dare take a nap after work, because if I do, I'm awake until 2-3 am. In the late evening, around 10:30, I finally start to feel awake and alert, so it's a struggle to go to bed by 11 pm. Even when I do, I'm tired and groggy the next day.
My work schedule and my sleep schedule are fundamentally mismatched, and I feel like it's tearing me apart. I've been working a full-time cubicle job for a year and a half, and I have never been anything other than miserable with it.
If I have at least three or four days off of work in a row, I slip into a pattern of falling asleep between midnight and 1 am, and waking up between 9 and 10 am. I also become a completely different person: relaxed, optimistic, creative, happy. But when I come back to work after a long weekend, it takes me an entire week to adjust back to waking up early, during which time I get practically nothing done.
Various efforts to reset my sleep schedule have not worked. Clearly, I can force myself to be physically awake and present when my office decrees that I shall be in my chair; but I cannot force my brain to focus. I like programming and have no desire to freelance. What can I do?
tl;dr: A daily schedule that works for me looks nothing like a 9-5 job.
If I'm forced to wake up before 9:30-ish, it takes me forever to wake up and get going. (Conversely, if I'm allowed to sleep until I wake up naturally, I'm up and active within 15 minutes.) This means that in order to get to work by 9, I need to wake up at 7:30, two hours too early. Then I'm groggy all day from having my sleep interrupted. Also, my stomach is upset all morning from being awakened too early, and sometimes this persists into the afternoon as well. (I eat breakfast because I can't function without it, but my stomach is NOT HAPPY to have food in it so early.)
I spend the whole day desperately craving a nap, but unable to take one because I'm at work. I don't dare take a nap after work, because if I do, I'm awake until 2-3 am. In the late evening, around 10:30, I finally start to feel awake and alert, so it's a struggle to go to bed by 11 pm. Even when I do, I'm tired and groggy the next day.
My work schedule and my sleep schedule are fundamentally mismatched, and I feel like it's tearing me apart. I've been working a full-time cubicle job for a year and a half, and I have never been anything other than miserable with it.
If I have at least three or four days off of work in a row, I slip into a pattern of falling asleep between midnight and 1 am, and waking up between 9 and 10 am. I also become a completely different person: relaxed, optimistic, creative, happy. But when I come back to work after a long weekend, it takes me an entire week to adjust back to waking up early, during which time I get practically nothing done.
Various efforts to reset my sleep schedule have not worked. Clearly, I can force myself to be physically awake and present when my office decrees that I shall be in my chair; but I cannot force my brain to focus. I like programming and have no desire to freelance. What can I do?
tl;dr: A daily schedule that works for me looks nothing like a 9-5 job.
cuberat on
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Make sure you eat breakfast. Bring something like grapes to work and pick at it throughout the day. This is what keeps me alert. If I skip breakfast and don't at least bring something I feel like shit, and most people do. Don't eat heavy things for lunch (no fast food) and you should at least feel a bit better during the day. It's a lifestyle change and not really much you can do but try things that work for you.
Your bodies internal clock is easily adjustable. It sounds more like you're psyching yourself out more than anything else. Like Bowen said, eat a little breakfast (maybe get a juicer and do some fresh squeezed in the morning) and you'll feel much better and have much more energy. A good breakfast. Like some toast, maybe some yogurt and a banana? Oatmeal is great.
Have you tried taking melatonin before sleeping?
It got me to switch from my ~10:30 to pre-7 for a new job I got.
I've read that it takes two weeks to get your body totally adapted to a new schedule though, so maybe Bowen's solution will work for the short-term while you get adjusted?
The critical thing I've found is that you can't slack off and sleep in on weekends, you have to keep your sleep schedule consistent 7 days a week or you're hosed. Melatonin works wonders, also reducing the amount of caffeine you drink during the day will help you sleep better.
I should have been more specific: I'm wondering if anyone has experience with adjusting their work schedule to fit their life, rather than the other way around.
Can you be more specific? Not quite sure what you're asking here. Are you wondering how to adjust your hours? Cause in the professional world, a 9am job is pretty normal.
It can't hurt to ask but don't get your hopes up.
e: also, 9am is probably the latest start you'll find in regular (i.e. not-shift work) days.
Yeah, 9am is pretty normal. 8am actually seems to be the normal where I am. Unless you have a job that lets you pick your shift, you aren't really going to be able to shift your work schedule to your personal schedule. You usually have to do it the other way around.
Since you've been at this job for 1.5 years, I would recommend seeing a doctor about it. You could have a case of mild sleep apnea or something along those lines that isn't letting you get good, deep REM sleep.
Even if you find a way to adjust your work hours to match your sleep hours, it's not going to last forever. You'd be better served professionally by learning how to properly adjust your sleep schedule. There's no such thing as your "natural" hours- it's just a habit, one you can break like any other.
Your biological imperative is to wake up with the sun, after all. Anything other than that is learned (and unlearnable) behavior.
When I was having to be up at work for 7:30 am (waking up at 6:30), I started going to bed at 10 pm. Your body will adjust and then when needed you can stay up until 11 or later OCCASIONALLY and drink coffees for the morning.
Oh yeah. This. Open your drapes/blinds overnight so that in the morning the natural light wakes you and helps you get up. If you're sleeping in a cave, it's very hard to get up and motivated.
That's great advice I would have overlooked b/c it's obvious to me. Do this. Figure out a timed light if you can't get light in your bedroom. Do you stay up late reading or playing games ever? Doing that even a little bit can completely hose you in terms of feeling rested and alert.
Yeah, I used to be a night-owl and now I work from 6:00am-4:30pm every day. I go to bed around 10:00 every night and get a solid 7-8 hours of sleep. Granola and fruit get me going in the morning, followed by a cup or two of coffee/tea about 45 minutes-1 hour after getting up.
If you're not getting much, or any, try to get more. Sitting in front of your computer for hours at a time isn't great.
Trust me.
Assuming you don't live in an area where it's dark until 9. But otherwise all around good. Sunlamps will help if you can't, they're not a great replacement but they work.
Wake up at the same time every day. That includes weekends and other days off. I've found that to be a big help for me. There may be a little flexibility there, such as allowing an extra hour of sleep on weekends, but I would just stick to the exact same schedule until your body is used to it.
That is really cool. Thanks! Works like a charm on my MacBook Pro.
office is empty at 9
but the solution is really just go to bed earlier and earlier
things that will help is turning off electronic devices, using that f.lux thing helps, but turning off most electronic devices and even dimming lights earlier and maybe reading or something, ought to help you get to bed earlier
and then slowly you shift your sleep schedule to whatever is appropriate for your job
The holy grail is a Results Only Work Environment (gorowe.com, if you're curious), but I'm not holding my breath.
The more/later I eat for dinner the more tired I am the next morning, I'm guessing because it causes my body to work overtime digesting the food while I'm sleeping. This also kills my appetite for breakfast the next morning.
I go to bed at 10.30pm to wake up for 5.40am. I'm bloody knackered all the time, so I'm thinking of changing that to 10pm. I did it one day last week, and it worked wonders (better concentration).
I chose to go into music because I knew that the 9-5 cycle of just about any other job would destroy me. I'll probably be broke for my entire life and not have much of a retirement to look forward to.
It's... not for everyone.
Seconded. This app is absolutely amazing.
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The answer is to go to bed earlier, and do whatever you have to in order to knock yourself out.
i used to be totally crippled by this pattern as well, but now if I can get in bed at 11:30 sharp I can wake up at 7:30 without any problems and in fact the morning has become my most productive time as a programmer
You just have to force yourself to do it.
ANOTHER idea that I've been kicking around (because alarm clocks don't always do the trick), move your TV into your bedroom and program it to come on at the right time on the morning news or something. That way at least your brain has something to think about other than just wanting to sleep some more.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
ROWE is just a dumb idea invented to sell books and employ management consultants. Like an eclair full of poop, it's much better to look at than internalize.
I sort of do this with my phone. When my alarm goes off I've trained myself to grab my phone and play a few puzzles in one of those block-sliding games, or a quick game of chess.