I was a night owl for as long as I can remember. Ever since I was a wee bitty child I’ve sleeping far past my bedtime and never waking up nearly as early as my parents and my sister. Sleeping past midnight was practically a given for me in elementary school and pretty much mandatory by the time I reached high school.
I never seriously considered being an early bird. I couldn’t, because I would immediately dismiss the notion as impossible each time it crossed my mind. It was just too easy to stay up until 3 am and too hard to wake up at 8 am (on a non-school day at least, because I am still a responsible student who goes to school on time).
But ever since 2nd year started for me at UCI, my sleeping schedule immediately flipped 180 and all of a sudden, I’m waking up at 8 am everyday of my own volition and it almost feels like my life has been a lie. Oh, and another thing. Unfortunately, the trend of my sleeping pattern seems to show that I generally require around 10 hours of sleep to function for the day without getting tired (I’m actually like a grown baby). My bedtime is now strictly 10 PM. I’ve had many nights where I simply must pass out at that time. And I don’t like to take naps. With my body I’ve noticed that whenever I fall asleep is when I should stay asleep for the night. If I take naps, history has shown that my sleep cycle is a mess until I sleep at normal intervals again.
My friends who have known me for a while now all think it’s ridiculous. I think it’s ridiculous. But it’s been proving to be ridiculously good for my productivity.
Because I know now that I’m going to knock out early for the night no matter what, I have to force myself to do all the work I need to do for the day actually during the day, rather than procrastinating until nearly midnight and risk feeling dead on my feet the next day. That then allows me to never feel worried about not getting an assignment done on time, which in turn significantly reduces my overall stress (but college and life prevents the complete obsolescence of the stress). I also have time to eat breakfast at a normal time, instead of settling for lunch and having to eat a late night meal and pigging out on snacks at a time I shouldn't be. So yeah, I can definitely say that I’ve experienced an improvement in general happiness since my transition from night to morning person.
I am certainly not bashing the lifestyle night owlers here, I used to be a night owler. But as a current early bird, I can certainly advocate for the change. And who knows how long I’ll stay like this? My body might naturally revert back to night owler status in the future. I suppose I’ll just have to enjoy my productivity while I can. So for those night owlers who actually have decent control over their lives, I encourage a change!
