Otohiko wrote:In a word, well, terrible
I actually get lots of sleep (usually anywhere between 7 and 11, sometimes even more, hours a night), but when I am on my own (which is 90% of the time), I tend to slip into 25-hour days so my schedule constantly shifts. This is not a problem until work gets into the equation, then it gets pretty miserable. I survive by regular dosage of coffee and post-work naps. It's not all bad though. When I get into a reverse-day in that cycle (sleep during the day, up at night), I am often at my most productive.
The way it gets fixed is stupidly simple though. When I live around other people, it goes back to more or less normal almost immediately. When I'm off visiting my parents or friends, I tend to go to bed reasonably early, get up around 7 or so. A lot of it, I think, is tuning myself into others' routine patterns and being more in contact with things like natural daylight patterns by being out more. Eating meals with others and being out, especially in the morning and around sunset, really helps my body pace itself.
Then I go back 'home' to living on my own and it all goes to 25-hour hell again .__.
My sleeping patterns were the worst as well. Sleeping at 9-11 am, and waking up around 7-8 pm. This went on for months/years. I've managed to fix my sleeping patterns at times, by sleeping around midnight and waking up at 6-7 am. While it felt really good, it didn't usually last long... lol. I plan to fix my sleeping patterns soon though, such as sleeping by 4 am max and waking up around 10 am. For some reason, when you have messed up sleeping patterns, it feels like time just flies by, but when you sleep/wake up at a reasonable time, day feels longer.Qyot27 wrote:My patterns are actually pretty similar to what Otohiko described (even the 'most productive when up all night/sleep all day' thing), except that being around others doesn't cause my schedule to shift at all. At first, it was just because the job I had in high school screwed up my brain's response to activity so that I couldn't wind down until about 3am, and after graduating this progressively got worse since I didn't have much in the way of important engagements to keep my schedule sane. Effectively, I don't have much in the way of circadian rhythm anymore. Nowadays, though, a good part of it is because I've taken over the tasks of doing the dishes and laundry, and there always seems to be time constraints during the day, so those usually get done during the dead of night when everyone else is asleep.
Usually I can go through a full cycle in about 2-3 weeks, if I force myself. Otherwise, it tends to stay most often around sleeping from 4 or 5am to 2pm, but once it gets thrown way off (like, going to bed at noon and waking up at 9pm), it starts to shift later and later on its own. If I have to, the only way to forcibly shift it is to make myself stay up until I just can't take it anymore, and then go to bed. It may not do it in a day, but there are definitely times that I've stayed up for 22 hours and then slept for 10-12 just to right my schedule by force. Being up that long starts messing with my eyesight and alertness, though. Usually I stay up between 14-17 hours and sleep for 8-10.
I actually can't meaningfully nap, in the same way that I can't really force myself to sleep if I'm not tired. If I'm tired and go to bed, I'll be out for at least 6 hours.
If you don't mind me asking, how do the both of you go on about your daily routine? Like you know, having to go out for may be work, socializing, or to even to buy something? I'll admit, as shameful as this is; with my terrible sleeping patterns, I wasn't able to get out of the house for months. It wasn't a healthy lifestyle at all, n it still isn't, but at least it isn't half as bad as it used to be.