I love staying up late. Going on nighttime snack runs. Sitting on rooftops sipping on chamomile tee or a blue moon beer depending on the mood. Knowing that the rest of the timezone is doing the horizontal to prepare of a long day tomorrow. Doing work at night makes me feel more inspired, my art comes to me more easily and my math seems more serious. Being a nighttime owl is like being in a secret club.
But being an early bird is even more exclusive. Early mornings create this vibe that so few of us appreciate. And I love it so much. The feeling of being ahead of the game. Eating breakfast while watching the sun come up. Witnessing the dew on the grass and silent streets. I feel the crisp fresh motivation of making this day count.
The real challenge is catching both experiences. And that is why I've been following a split sleep schedule.
There are various split sleep cycles out there that people follow, but I try to split mine into three bits. A chunk at the middle of the night, and then a shorter chunk during the day and a power nap in the evening if I get the chance.
It's a little different now that my summer schedule is different, but during the school year my schedule looks roughly like this:
1:30pm-5pm (4.5 hrs)
11am-12:30pm (1.5 hrs)
5pm-6pm (.5 hrs )
Why do I do this!?
Like I said, I'm in love with these the vibes I find during these times of day. But I also practice split sleep for practical reasons.
I find that when I time it right, I experience extra boosts of energy and feel refreshed and rested for the tasks that I need a clear focus.
After waking up I feel an inspiration of 'a fresh start'. I can re evaluate myself and my goals and my progress. After working on something for a while I start getting bored, and having this new start gets me excited again.
Especially early in the morning, this time is just for me. I don't get distracted by friends wanting to spend time together. Answering incoming emails or text messages. This is a time that I have for myself alone when it comes to either getting something productive done, or simply enjoying an activity for fun.
I end up requiring less sleep than if I slept all at once. I didn't sleep enough before I did this anyway, but now I spend more hours more focused even though overall I sleep the same amount, thus getting more done!
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Tricks to making this work
There are a lot of challenges that come with making this sleep schedule successful. Especially depending on your schedule this can be difficult. Not to mention how glorious sleeping is.. Here are a few tips that I have found helpful for me to make this habit successful.
Know your sleep cycle lengths and measuring each chunk of time so that you wake up at the end of your cycle. The average length is about 1.5 hours. So as you can see all of my "naps" are multiples of this number. This way you wake up when your body is most awake, instead of pulling yourself out of your deep sleep. --> this prevents you from waking up groggy which is super counterproductive.
Know exactly what you will do when you wake up. If you wake up with a purpose that you care about, it is MUCH easier to actually get up and continue your day. If you don't have a reason to wake up, why not just keep snoozing? I have found that if I'm anticipating an activity that I find important, I wake up before my alarm even goes off.
Drink a glass of water and stretch right as you wake up. These two habits are so easy to do but make a huge difference in waking you up and giving you energy.
Leave your house or at least your room, or which ever spot you end up sleeping in. Again, its part of finding a purpose and getting your next segment of your day going. Other wise it is so easy to just crawl back and continue the snooze.
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This is my experience so far, but I'm hoping to perfect this odd habit and experience more benefits. Let me know if you've tried this and your thoughts about it -
I love this. I think people naturally work in split cycle - there are references in old books of people getting up in the middle of the night for several hours for a second awakening. If you're able to sleep in split cycle and don't have to be at work for 8 hours it's a great experiment to try to see if your happiness and productivity improves.
Yes, I've read about this too! I'm one of the lucky ones that has a schedule odd enough to do this
HA! I have been doing this and never knew there was a name for it. Writing is a pleasure when I am feeling refreshed, but a misery when tired. In a way I almost feel like I am getting more good days of life like this lol. Great post and I followed :)
Yeah! I felt a lot better about that habit once I found out it was a real thing
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