Complex Numbers

It's Alive!

I am fortunate in that, most days, I can set my own sleep schedule. Most people can't, due to work, kids or other obligations.

Previous entries have gone into more detail about this, but left to my own devices as I usually am, I'm basically biphasic, sleeping twice in a 24 hour period.

I've long believed, without any real evidence to support this, that everyone has their own sleep preferences, and that to disturb these sleep cycles leads to more stress. Well, now I might have some evidence.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/if-you-re-just-not-a-morning-person-science-s...

I've seen some of these assertions before - that humans have a greater-than-24-hour natural cycle, for instance. I recall one study that left people in a windowless, indoor environment without clocks for an extended period, and let them sleep and wake on their own. I think the study concluded the natural cycle is about 24.5 hours. Which is weird, because a) the earth's rotation is gradually slowing down due to tidal friction from the moon, so if anything we should have inherited a less-than-24-hour cycle from our distant ancestors, and b) Mars' day is approximately 24.5 hours, and we're probably not Martians. So I don't know what's up with that; as far as I know, no one does.

What's not controversial is that there are individual differences from the "standard" sleep cycle of 11pm-7am or thereabouts. I was on such a schedule for most of my working life, and it messed with me. The times when I could sleep past 7 were rare, but I always felt that those were the occasions when I got my best sleep. Further, trying to fall asleep around 11pm was a chore for me.

I still have questions, though, such as: what happens when someone with a nonstandard monophasic cycle switches time zones? Say, moving to another longitude. We know that jet lag is a thing, but usually it's overcome in a few days of adjusting one's internal clock to local time. But can this be used to adjust, say, someone who sleeps from 2-10 in one time zone to adapt to an 11-7 schedule in another, without too much stress?

Seasonal variations in daylight hours almost certainly play a role in this as well. Right now where I am, it gets dark around 5; in the summer, during DST, darkness might not occur until 9pm, with sunrise coming earlier (I don't know offhand when sunrise happens, for the obvious reason that I'm asleep at the time). And we know that many people, myself included, "enjoy" seasonal mood swings related to the amount of light we get from the accursed daystar.

But probably the worst thing about being a night owl is suffering the scorn of morning people. I used to vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina every year, with a bunch of friends, and I was usually the last one to go to sleep and the last to awaken (I don't believe in keeping strict time schedules on vacation). Inevitably, I'd get up around the crack of noon, and everyone else would be all sarcastic with their "Morning, sunshine" and "It's alive!" It got on my nerves, and then my friends wondered why I'm antisocial.

Now, I could probably fix some of that by kicking the caffeine habit, but I don't really want to. In fact, I tried it a few times when I was working, but all it did was make me grumpier and give me a headache, so these trials never lasted very long. Perhaps now, when I can pretty much set my own schedule, I could try tapering off on the wakey-wakey juice to see what my unmedicated cycle might be like. But honestly, for the same reason that I can, I don't feel a pressing need to do so. I have far more urgent habits to revise, such as eating better and getting more exercise. Fortunately, there's a 24-hour gym nearby. Unfortunately, I can't be arsed to go to it at any time. Too many other things to do.

So I'll just urge everyone here to recognize that sleeping late is in no way a moral failing; it's natural for many people. Leave us alone and can the snark. We'll get up early if there's something to do; otherwise, let us sleep and don't give us shit about it.