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I'm a night owl. So was my mom and both our kids are also.
A couple of times in my life I have worked late shifts and I still notice my best hours of productivity start in the later part of the afternoon. It's been an irritation most of my working life having to present fresh and ready for work at eight am.
What has never worked for me is a forced schedule - You will go to bed at ten and arise at six. My body doesn't cooperate well with that.
I think I understand what the OP says about compulsion. When I was younger there was a sense of not wanting to go to bed in case I missed something. I could call it a habit of "little kid syndrome." What were all those people doing that was so much fun after I had to go to bed?
Now that I'm retired I stay up late and enjoy having the quiet to read or watch a movie. I have no problem getting eight hours of sleep a day and am able to catch little cat naps if I need one.
I can still remember my father waking me at home when I was a teenager with something his father had said to him. "You can't soar with the eagles in the morning if you're going to hoot with the owls all night." I'd answer, "Who said I wanted to soar with the eagles?"
Someone who feels compelled to stay up late for no apparent reason, night after night?
I was way more familiar with it in my teens and 20s, when going to bed before 11pm seemed to be a crime.
But now in our 40s and 50s I wonder what the compulsion is. FOMO? Sleep cycle issues?
Interested in thoughts.
I am one of those people. I just call myself a night owl. I am much more productive at night, so I just like to stay up and keep on with whatever I am doing. No compulsion or sleep issues at all. It's just how I roll. And I am retired now so who cares?
Basically, people are just different in what they prefer and/or what works for them.
My adult son with developmental disabilities sometimes has issues sleeping, and when he does, I give him 10 mg Melatonin (the most that is supposed to be used), but as time went on, it isn't as reliable, so I started looking at the Bach Flower Remedies, and added "Rescue Sleep" liquid melts (tiny little things) which one can take "as needed" and supplemented with them, and it works!
Some people just have a schedule, don't need to sleep even a certain amount of hours to be refreshed, etc. Sadly these days, everyone is supposed to be the exact same, or something is considered wrong with them by far too many people, and this is especially difficult for children. "Same" is just boring! I miss the olden' days, when "different" thrilled!
Basically, people are just different in what they prefer and/or what works for them.
Some people just have a schedule, don't need to sleep even a certain amount of hours to be refreshed, etc. Sadly these days, everyone is supposed to be the exact same, or something is considered wrong with them by far too many people, and this is especially difficult for children. "Same" is just boring! I miss the olden' days, when "different" thrilled!
Tell me about it! Gotta love/hate the people who insist that you are sleep deprived or headed for an early grave if you don't get their recommended (harped on ad nauseum) number of hours of sleep every night. It's like a religion they must proselytize. We've had a few around here over the years. Seem to recall some C-Der who didn't feel they were adequately rested unless they slept 10+ hours a night.
If there's nothing going on in my daily life that puts sideboards on how long I get to sleep, my natural tendency is to sleep for about 6 hours on average. Not 9, 8, or 7. 6. I wake up naturally feeing rested, ready to do whatever for the entire next day. I only start to feel tired and short on sleep if I get less than 5 for days in a row.
Then there are the folks who think they can "make up" for a poorly managed work/social life/lost sleep hours by sleeping away their weekends! Doesn't work like that. In fact, that feast or famine approach probably makes the whole situation worse.
Someone who feels compelled to stay up late for no apparent reason, night after night?
I was way more familiar with it in my teens and 20s, when going to bed before 11pm seemed to be a crime.
But now in our 40s and 50s I wonder what the compulsion is. FOMO? Sleep cycle issues?
Interested in thoughts.
It's some people's natural sleep rhythms. I work both night and day shifts depending on the time of year, and the night shift is far easier on me, I get more sleep, get more done at work, and feel like I have more free time.
Being up with the sun has never worked for me. I hated doing it as a kid, pretty much had to go to bed at 9:30 to be up by 6:30am and not feel wrecked. As an adult on day shift, those first couple of hours of the day are useless, my brain isn't turned on yet. Seeing the sun rise has always made my nauseous, I try to avoid it as much as possible. 9am is the earliest I wake up and make it through a day without a nap, or feeling like crap until bed time, wash then repeat if on the same schedule.
My wife is the opposite. She is out at 9pm at the latest. It's like me at 7:30am, nothing is going to make her lucid at those time of the night, she is just out. But 6am is a fine time for her, she can up and get going and be fine day after day.
In a world where I could pick my own sleep schedule, I would go to bed about 1:00pm and wake up about 9am-10am. Yeah, that's a good bit of sleep, I can live with a bit less, but it would mean going to bed later, not getting up earlier.
Someone who feels compelled to stay up late for no apparent reason, night after night?
I was way more familiar with it in my teens and 20s, when going to bed before 11pm seemed to be a crime.
But now in our 40s and 50s I wonder what the compulsion is. FOMO? Sleep cycle issues?
Interested in thoughts.
My late father-in-law, into his early 80's, used to work what my son joked was a "9 to 5" schedule at his law office; 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Early in my relationship with my wife I had a sit-down meeting with him that started at 8 p.m. and wrapped up at 1:30 a.m., so he could get some work done.
I'm very much a night owl. If I have any amount of time off from work and don't have a reason to be up, my body naturally resets at falling asleep around 3-4 and waking up closer around 11.
Even if I wake up at 6 am, I'm my most mentally sharp from around 4-7. Drives me absolutely nuts in a work setting- especially when most people are firing off emails at 9am.
It's very easy for me to remain alert up until the moment I fall asleep. My body doesn't really wind down, but I can fall asleep pretty easily once I'm in bed. If an alarm wakes me up, I am very, very slow to rouse.
I don't know about other people's sleep habits, so I'll talk about myself.
I used to be a night owl in my teens, 20s, & even often 30s (staying up till 1-2 AM something)...not staying up late to be out of the house, but just staying up late watching TV. (I was never the out-at-night type of person anyway.)
But yes, as I got into my mid-40s, I noticed I couldn't stay up late as often. My body couldn't physically do it nearly as much & nowadays, I'll go to bed at 9 PM often times & it's not like I'm waking up earlier & am tired. I could really see the difference. I wish I could stay up later a little more often, but I can't seem to. Then, maybe every once in a while, my body seems to be able to stay up at 11 PM something.
But, currently, I can't remember the last time I stayed up during the 12 AM hour.
My mom often talks about her neighbor, who is in her 80s, and from what I understand her daily routine for years consisted of recording countless hours of daytime TV shows all day long, then staying up well past midnight watching them all, then sleeping until 11:00 AM or later.
Last I heard, this woman's doctor finally told her to cut it out, as it was affecting her overall health.
What in the world makes you think the person is "compelled" or that it's "a compulsion"? Maybe the person just prefers it. Does "bent on" suggest that you've tried to talk the person out of it? I see no reason to pathologize what's simply an individual difference.
Last edited by otterhere; 02-27-2024 at 09:09 PM..
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