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by tertius 3188 days ago
Wake up at the same time every day. Pick that time and stick to it. Whether you get too little sleep or not.
4 comments

I've personally tried this, and it only sometimes works. It depends on the wakeup time. I can go as early as 9am and feel rested. This is a few hours before my natural waking time - and wake up. 8am? That's a bit of a struggle, but overall doable. Any earlier than that and I get a sleep debt. The quality of sleep simply isn't good enough to keep me going and it winds up bad for my mental health.

To be fair, I've been like this since I was a child. Everyone thought I'd grow out of it, but I'm 39. I work evenings and nights with some ease, though, and luckily have generally had jobs that start later in the day or allow days I can sleep later (even if I had a few early days during the week).

Agreed, 5 years ago I would have made the same post. I just did the "wake up" time for 4-6 months, which had a lot of bad days, but eventually it clicked in that I wake up then, so I get tired at 12.
Also, get some exercise. I have a hard time falling asleep if I haven't done enough physical activity during the day.
I've tried doing that. Even if it is possible, I really don't like it. When married to a fixed schedule, life just isn't as much fun for me.
Have you considered a polyphasic sleep schedule? If you truly do have a non-standard circadian rhythm, you should be able to adapt one of the dual core schedules towards it.

https://www.polyphasicsociety.com

Maybe? I was thinking more that stuff comes up that affects my schedule, and I don't be forced into living with the constraints of a 10 p.m. bedtime (or whatever time I set). More to the point, I am more disciplined about getting to bed before 12 a.m. I do not want to go bed at a fixed time.
I think it can make one feel trapped. Trapped to a schedule.

But you have to think of it as something that you choose, i.e. your own limitation, not some external limitation.

Having a normal circadian rhythm makes the rest of life a lot more enjoyable (fun) than not. Especially after 30.