I'm definitely a night person, but my natural cycle is set a little earlier than datan0de's. Left on my own, I naturally fall into sleeping from 2 or 3 a.m. thru 11 a.m or noon. (8.5-9 hours seems to be my ideal sleep period, but when deprived, I can easily sleep 11-13 hours in a row.)
I have also worked every possible shift, and done okay with all of them, even when I was splitting my sleep into two multi-hour periods. I *can* adjust my sleep-wake schedule and stay on a particular "unnatural" one without having problems falling or staying asleep.
However, it takes me over two hours to become socially functional and to be capable of problem-solving if I wake before noon. (I can operate on auto-pilot, and my lifestyle is heavily routine-laden in the mornings to make this possible, but I have no tolerance for social interaction in that state.)
Being in the sun makes me sleepy any time of day. Seeing the sun rise triggers my "must get to bed *now*" reflex, even if I've only been up for a short while. I get a refreshing burst of energy after sunset, and another around 11 p.m. One of the things I hate about DST and summertime is that I have to wait so incredibly long to feel energized in the evening. Winter is *so* much better for me in that regard! (Plus, I get to drive to work in the dark, and don't typically see the sun until quitting time!)
Also, on the temperature thing (from other threads in this post), I tend to generally be easily chilled and unable to regain a comfortable surface temperature without an outside heat source. However, when I sleep, I put out *lots* of heat. I have a strong preference for sleeping under some weight, so I use a comforter year-round, but I heat up a lot more when I'm unconscious than I do just laying under the blankets while awake.
I've dated "morning" people, and it can really be a problem, because a 3-4 hour difference in sleep schedules can really eat into productive time together. Add to that the "peak" energy times being offset, and you get a lot of wasted peak time, and a lot of low-energy-level time spent together instead. It's great right now because datan0de and I typically see each other for less than 10 minutes in the mornings, and he gets home near sunset, so we get a lot of our best time together, and get to avoid the arguments that I'm prone to in the mornings.
I was also fortunate in being a 3rd generation (at least) night owl among the women in my family, so I never got any flack for wanting to stay up really late at night and sleep in on the weekends. My mom did *all* of her housework after 9 p.m. She worked an office job during the day, and afternoons were for napping. Dinner was often 8 p.m. or later. :)
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Date: 7/27/09 10:35 pm (UTC)From:I have also worked every possible shift, and done okay with all of them, even when I was splitting my sleep into two multi-hour periods. I *can* adjust my sleep-wake schedule and stay on a particular "unnatural" one without having problems falling or staying asleep.
However, it takes me over two hours to become socially functional and to be capable of problem-solving if I wake before noon. (I can operate on auto-pilot, and my lifestyle is heavily routine-laden in the mornings to make this possible, but I have no tolerance for social interaction in that state.)
Being in the sun makes me sleepy any time of day. Seeing the sun rise triggers my "must get to bed *now*" reflex, even if I've only been up for a short while. I get a refreshing burst of energy after sunset, and another around 11 p.m. One of the things I hate about DST and summertime is that I have to wait so incredibly long to feel energized in the evening. Winter is *so* much better for me in that regard! (Plus, I get to drive to work in the dark, and don't typically see the sun until quitting time!)
Also, on the temperature thing (from other threads in this post), I tend to generally be easily chilled and unable to regain a comfortable surface temperature without an outside heat source. However, when I sleep, I put out *lots* of heat. I have a strong preference for sleeping under some weight, so I use a comforter year-round, but I heat up a lot more when I'm unconscious than I do just laying under the blankets while awake.
I've dated "morning" people, and it can really be a problem, because a 3-4 hour difference in sleep schedules can really eat into productive time together. Add to that the "peak" energy times being offset, and you get a lot of wasted peak time, and a lot of low-energy-level time spent together instead. It's great right now because
I was also fortunate in being a 3rd generation (at least) night owl among the women in my family, so I never got any flack for wanting to stay up really late at night and sleep in on the weekends. My mom did *all* of her housework after 9 p.m. She worked an office job during the day, and afternoons were for napping. Dinner was often 8 p.m. or later. :)