If I had my way, I would have some sort of schedule were I stayed up until dawn most days and then woke up in the mid-afternoon.

Unfortunately, I have to be at work at seven, so I end up going to bed around 11 and waking up after a few hours to start getting ready for the day. Because my wife and I have offset work schedules, she gets more sleep than I do. I've wondered if some sort of polyphasic schedule would work better.

Have you voluntarily shifted to an atypical sleep schedule? How much sleep do you usually get? To what extent do you try to make that sleep as restful as possible (i.e. blackout curtains, no electronics, etc)?

5/21/2015 9:10:30 AM

bttt

5/21/2015 9:16:10 AM

bump

5/21/2015 9:18:40 AM

I can't do it regularly due to work, but I love getting to sleep between 5-8 in the morning and sleeping until the afternoon. For as long as I can remember, I've always seemed to be able to sleep much better during the day and I definitsly prefer to be up and active at night as opposed to early as hell in the morning. The only time I need a blackout curtain for that is when the light from a window would be directly over my face. Otherwise, a lighted room doesn't seem to bother me.

[Edited on May 21, 2015 at 9:57 AM. Reason : ]

5/21/2015 9:56:30 AM

I used to work 9-7AM, it sucked.

5/21/2015 10:49:08 AM

I had several third shifts (9ish at night until 730am the next day) and I could NEVER get adjusted to it no matter how hard I tried. I tried adjusting a few days beforehand by staying up later, but that didn't work. I tried to completely black out the bedroom, but I'd still wake up 4-5 hours later. I always felt more tired/rundown, suffered in effort at the gym, and got sick more often. I'll never work shift work again.

5/21/2015 11:44:40 AM

i sometimes do 5-7PM, 1-6AM but when i grab a nap because i'm tired and get stuck in that schedule for the rest of the week

i feel more productive at work but less at home when i do that

5/21/2015 11:51:25 AM

In general I sleep from 1130-630 M-F for work. But my ideal sleep hours are more like 2am - 10/11am, which I, unfortunately, cannot do. Over 10 years of the 1130-630 schedule and my body still fucking hates it

Blackout curtains, daily exercise, sleep meds, etc etc nothing seems to help me sleep well. Unfortunately, I also have moderate sleep apnea and the mask is just not an option for me (tried it for 3 months and couldn't stand the f'ing thing). Of course, sleep apnea should have no bearing on which hours of the night I sleep best.

5/21/2015 12:39:35 PM

There was a short period in college where I slept from approximately 4am-8am and then again from around 1pm-5pm. This was mostly due to me having an early class and being unwilling to go to bed early, but it worked. No blackout curtains at the time...I was usually just tired enough to pass out.

There was also a two year period where I worked from midnight to 8am. I tried like hell to go to sleep right when I got home and I was never able to. Always took several hours to wind down and would end up sleeping until 5-6pm (6-7 hours sleep). This did get a little easier after getting blackout curtains, but it was mostly just inability to go straight to sleep after working.

Nowadays I am asleep by midnight and up at 7...like a normal person I guess. I would consider trying polyphasic again if my schedule would allow it, but it really isn't practical for me right now.

on weekends I normally stay up an extra hour or two, but nothing too extreme.

[Edited on May 21, 2015 at 4:17 PM. Reason : ]

5/21/2015 4:15:25 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep

5/21/2015 6:05:26 PM

When I was single I would nap in the afternoons, now I feel like there's too much to do

5/21/2015 7:27:30 PM

when i get tired i sleep.

9:30pm - 6am

used to take naps but dont feel like i need to after i quit nicotine, not sure if related

5/22/2015 12:36:12 PM

Quote :

"used to take naps every time i am still for more than 15 minutes but dont feel like i need to after i quit nicotine, not sure if related"

there...i fixed that for you

5/22/2015 1:14:40 PM

I had the worst sleep schedule for about 10 years while I bartended/went to law school/practiced law.

I'd bartend anywhere from three to five nights a week...going to bed mostly around 3:30 am. Then getting up most days at around 7 am for class or work....fucking 5:30am when my wife was teaching for about four of those years. The nights I didn't bartend we'd try to go to bed by 10:00pm. Sometimes I would be so exhausted that I could do it...other times my body was on a "You don't go to bed til 3am!" schedule...so I'd lay awake until midnight or 1 am before exhaustion finally crept in.

I took lots of naps...but I think my body aged an extra 5-10 years this past decade. It's amazing how good I felt during the few week long vacations I had where I had a normal sleep schedule.

I'd be perfectly fine with going to sleep at 10pm and waking up at 7am for the rest of my life.

[Edited on May 22, 2015 at 1:19 PM. Reason : .]

5/22/2015 1:19:15 PM

I really hope we eventually move away from the nonsense schedules that we artificially work on. It's got to be a minority who actually like getting up at 7am and schlepping into work for an 8-5 grind. I bet most people would mich rather have a later start to the workday.

5/24/2015 4:28:12 AM

i'd like to start earlier. i want more daylight hours away from work.

i'm at work by 6:30 now. work til 4:30 or 5. i have most fridays off.

[Edited on May 24, 2015 at 9:25 AM. Reason : fqad]

5/24/2015 9:24:11 AM

Quote :

"In general I sleep from 1130-630 M-F for work. But my ideal sleep hours are more like 2am - 10/11am, which I, unfortunately, cannot do. Over 10 years of the 1130-630 schedule and my body still fucking hates it Blackout curtains, daily exercise, sleep meds, etc etc nothing seems to help me sleep well. Unfortunately, I also have moderate sleep apnea and the mask is just not an option for me (tried it for 3 months and couldn't stand the f'ing thing). Of course, sleep apnea should have no bearing on which hours of the night I sleep best."

That describes me almost perfectly.

5/24/2015 10:09:37 AM