Breaking the sleeping pattern

As "freelancers" we have the flexibility to adapt our timetable but optimizing our time and working full of energy every single hour we choose to work is obviously the most important for our business.

The thing is that, for some reason when you get attached in a relationship, married or whatever, with children and social duties of all kind, it seems that you have to stick 99% to a "classic" timetable style with work hours from morning to evening and sleeping at night, like any other job man in the world.

Personally I've been a night owl since my adolescence and despite trying hard to change this and become an early morning lark, the results have been always the same: shitty sleepy mornings and spiky evenings until late wasting half of the day generally.

Lately I've been thinking if there is a way to break this sleeping pattern but not affecting too much my duties as a family guy but taking so advantage of being a f**** "night owl"

And I've come out with a weird formula I want to share but have not tested yet.

I'm thinking when I'm going to start testing it, but I also would like to know others experiences before starting to test this weird sleeping patterns (specially from those with some social duties, not the ones not attached to anything in particular that can do weird things like going to bed at 7pm and wake up at 3am, or sleeping in multiple phases of 30 minutes!)

So here is the pattern:

Day 1: Sleep 10 hours, til late for example from 12am to 10am,
Day 2: Stay awake for nearly 36 hours, till 11pm of next day
Day 3: Sleep 10 hours, from 11pm til 9am
Day 4: Back to day 1: Go to bed at 12am till 10am

This means instead of sleeping 7 hours each day for a total of 21 hours (7h D1-D2, 7h D2-D3, 7h D3-D4), sleeping 10 hours two days in a row, and then stay away for the next day to accumulate sleep.

So essentially the total time slept is very similar as any other person, but just with a very different pattern.

I'm planning to do this next month, maybe on June, still have not decided.

I think there have been studies about not being able to bank sleeping hours like that.

You will kill your neurons and no productivity will be at all.

Power naps, is the way to go, I learned this when I was young, you can cope with 6 hours sleep if you can get a good 1 hour power nap within 12 hours of waking. My brother has 6 kid's he used this method to get his Doctorate by waking at 3 in the morning doing his UNi work then going to work and power nap at lunch time.

I guess it depends on your RL flexibility

Already tried this. Don't do it. You need to adhere to your own circadian rhythm. Your brain works at full capacity this way, ultimately getting more done in less hours. I moved from California to the east coast. And was so accustomed to getting up at 5am in California I wanted to stay on that regiment when I moved. Didn't work out and I don't fight it anymore. I get up at 7:30am EST. One day I'll move back to CA and be back on time again

Best productivity for me personally has come from a sleep pattern of be by 10pm, awake by 6am. I get about eight hours of good sleep each night, might complement that with a 20 minute power nap after lunch or in the afternoon if need be. Did a lot of research into sleeping and then just kept the tidbits what worked for me. Wouldn't change it for the world.

I've actually been trying to get my sleep schedule in check as well. The problem is I stay up late as it's the most quiet and focused time of the day.

Daddykins said:

I've actually been trying to get my sleep schedule in check as well. The problem is I stay up late as it's the most quiet and focused time of the day.

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Yeah, this was always my issue. It seems nighttime always allowed me to hyper-focus and get into the zone where work just flies by and stuff gets done. But then you look at the time and it's suddenly 4 am and now the next day will be a drag.

LostConnection said:

Best productivity for me personally has come from a sleep pattern of be by 10pm, awake by 6am. I get about eight hours of good sleep each night, might complement that with a 20 minute power nap after lunch or in the afternoon if need be. Did a lot of research into sleeping and then just kept the tidbits what worked for me. Wouldn't change it for the world.

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Literally the same pattern here.

Patterns change with age though. When i was younger, i was a night owl, almost a morning owl lol, if that's a thing and i went to bed when other people woke up. Now i do the opposite.

OP: What's the point of switching to a rather unnatural pattern, if you don't win any time at all? Staying awake for 36 hours is doable, but it won't help increasing your productivity, that's a sure thing. I fail to see any benefits.

Oh, you definitely shouldn’t mess with your body like that. Our bodies have a natural inclination to shut down as the sun sets. Sure, nowadays we have plenty of things that simulate sunlight — namely lights and blue light emitting devices. However, we still have that built-in clock telling us to sleep at night. You’ll be a zombie if you attempt what you’re suggesting.

After some days I've tried it and got bad results

At 7am of the "long day" I started to be really sleepy, so tired that I end going to bed at 8am. So I took a sleep of about 4 hours being concious that if I have to "oversleep" 4 extra hours there is no point of changing this habit. Overall I have to say that productivity was lower.

I need to do more research on this topic because there is a main issue: No matter how much I try and how long the period I stick to it, when I wake up before 8am I kill my day in terms of productivity. And even waking up between 8am and 9am makes me feel sleepy most of the time that always "returns" late in the evening.

As some have stated, I'm of those where I start to peak at 8pm and can stay focused until 4am without issues. 8 hours of pure adrenaline, and if I go to bed at 4am I sleep in 5-10min. But when I go at 11pm or 12am it takes at least 20-30min to get sleep on average.

I cannot lie anyone: Culture is not meant for people like me, especially when you have duties like a child and all that, you cannot stay until 4am to wake up at 11am or 12pm
So I need to test alternatives to be awaken most of the mornings and still be productive.

Also tried power napping for a while and doesn't work either.

I had this mate, your circadian rhythm is tuned to the night time, mine was due to staying up late and gaming as a teen. Sleep therapy is how it got fixed. Specifically bright light therapy + melanin supplements to reset my circadian rhythm to days. You honestly need assistance from professionals. You cannot do this alone, sleep therapy is a whole subject in itself, let the professionals help you.

Dark Sky said:

I had this mate, your circadian rhythm is tuned to the night time, mine was due to staying up late and gaming as a teen. Sleep therapy is how it got fixed. Specifically bright light therapy + melanin supplements to reset my circadian rhythm to days. You honestly need assistance from professionals. You cannot do this alone, sleep therapy is a whole subject in itself, let the professionals help you.

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Interesting subject. And what type of results do you expect from this sleep therapy?

SirLouen said:

So I need to test alternatives to be awaken most of the mornings and still be productive.

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Dark Sky said:

You cannot do this alone, sleep therapy is a whole subject in itself, let the professionals help you.

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If you don't have access to sleep therapy, the rule of thumb (for mental health & preventing heart disease) is to wake up at same hour, no matter what!

Maybe even skip the power naps and all, push through the day (and stay as late as you want), BUT WAKE UP AT SAME HOUR.

Guessing you'll pretty soon feel sleepy well before midnight.

Since you are an active person, I take it you are young, OLDER people have to do the opposite (to maintain a healthy heart)- GET IN BED AT SAME HOUR, even if not feeling sleepy.

This is medical advice, but I am not a doctor so consult with yours (or see about that sleep therapy which sounds awesome).

I mean, if we look at Donald Trump as an example, he sleeps around 5-6 hours each night, but he's able to keep his energy due to the amount of calories he eats (people laugh at his eating habits, but little do they know it's strategic). Is this healthy for most people? No, definitely not. From what I've researched, the optimal amount of sleep to get each night is 7.5 - 9 hours.

If you're struggling to get work done, you need to address your productivity, not your sleep (unless you're barely sleeping).

DanielOnYouTube said:

look at Donald Trump as an example, he sleeps around 5-6 hours each night, but he's able to keep his energy due to the amount of calories he eats (people laugh at his eating habits, but little do they know it's strategic).

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Where is this coming from, lol. Isn't 5-6h pretty standard for 70yrs+ people?

You might want to look into polyphasic sleep. Before the industrial revolution humans were aftually polyphasic, so no, you dont have to sleep at night time just because 'thats natural' because in the past people didnt either.

Aulig said:

You might want to look into polyphasic sleep. Before the industrial revolution humans were aftually polyphasic, so no, you dont have to sleep at night time just because 'thats natural' because in the past people didnt either.

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Being polyphasic also contributed to early deaths. Need to enter REM cycle for deep sleep.

I can't go polyphasic, as I said, I don't like formulas that can make me fulfill my "morning" duties. I cannot be "attached" to sleep strings that happen maybe, in the middle of the morning.

I read also about the "chronotherapy", don't know how useful it might be, but essentially is programming for 1 week or 10 days some sleeping patterns. For example I saw this model on reddit:

Night #1: Fall asleep at 4AM, wake at 12PM.
Night #2: Fall asleep at 7AM, wake at 3PM.
Night #3: Fall asleep at 10AM, wake at 6PM.
Night #4: Fall asleep at 1PM, wake at 9PM.
Night #5: Fall asleep at 4PM, wake at 12AM
Night #6: Fall asleep at 7PM, wake at 3AM.
Night #7: Fall asleep at 10PM, wake at 6AM.

And theoretically this guy comments that after doing this process he was able to "reset" his circadian system, and he was able to keep it consistent at 10PM til 6AM permanently something that would be wonders for me. I taking note of this because in the next "holidays" I have I might try it also

LinksForPros said:

Where is this coming from, lol. Isn't 5-6h pretty standard for 70yrs+ people?

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He's been doing this for his entire working life believe it or not. Just do a quick Google search and you'll see more.