[lamontcg]

I'm 46, still not an early riser. I sometimes wake up early, usually due to a bit of stress, but that just messes me up worse since I can't shift my schedule backwards (jetlag going West-to-East is hellish for me). I have become more 'rigid' in my sleep schedule which is better for fitting in with the rest of society than the phase I went through in college when I was on a 26-hour sleep schedule and every 2 weeks I'd rotate my sleep schedule around (generally trying to time the period when I was sleeping right in the daytime for weekends although I'd skip classes on either side). But that rigidity means that its hard to nap (and of course if I nap a bit too long in the day then I wind up staying up until 3am, so usually if I get up too early I wind up having to push through with sleep dep all day and then just hope it doesn't happen the next day -- but the stress itself from not getting enough sleep can cause me to get up early again in a bit of a viscious cycle).

[droopybuns]

>> but the stress itself from not getting enough sleep can cause me to get up early again in a bit of a viscious cycle

This resonates with me.