How bad is your work/sleep schedule?

[Jakez]

I really find it hard waking up and getting straight to work, which usually leaves me to slacking most of the day away if I wake up in the morning or afternoon.

There's hardly much physical energy spent sitting at a computer most of the day so it's difficult to have a normal routine like most people. I think all the time how perfect it would be if a day was like 30 hours instead.

The best hours I've found that work for me is waking up around midnight, slacking for just about as long as I want, until like 6am, by that time the sun is coming up and I can make some breakfast, get started on whatever work I need to do, get into the feeling of a normal day, work more efficiently, and the day just seems to go slower leaving more room to get shit done. If I'm going to spend the entire day working I can stop around 5pm or when the sun goes down and get about 11-12 hours of work in. The only thing that sucks is I'm sleeping most of the night away which is when my friends are off work and slacking/partying. But they're usually up past midnight so I can wake up around then and get straight to getting fucked up for a good 3-4 hours, by the time the sun is showing I am sobering up and it makes the day pretty relaxing.

If I goto sleep around 5am for some reason I end up over sleeping and get up around 2pm, 2-3 hours wasted there, get my slack on until 8pm and that only leaves 9 hours for non-efficient work that probably includes more slacking in between. If my schedule is so messed up that I wake up after 5pm or some shit I can usually plan on not getting a damn thing done at all.

Waking up at like 7am for some reason is extremely hard, I will usually end up going back to sleep a bunch of times until like noon, 12 hours spent sleeping and I'm still tired as hell the entire day.

cliff notes: My schedule is super fucked.

[Grapesoda]

I like to start at 4am... edit until I shoot then edit for a few more hours and then fuck off til about 9-10p and go back to bed.... some days when I have time I powernap in the mid am or early pm... been doing that for 10+ years

[Nicky]

That is one fucked up schedule yep :P

[Agent 488]

try heroin.

[Jakez]

I'm sure most who don't do any physical work in this industry (or online for that matter) have a similar insomniac type problem, since there isn't much energy spent throughout the day and it's hard to get to sleep.

[Agent 488]

i usually get up at 7-8 make coffee and start working. dunno why.

[campimp]

100% fucked over here

[Jakez]

Originally Posted by Agent 488

i usually get up at 7-8 make coffee and start working. dunno why.

/me is jealous.

[CYF]

insomnia sucks.

[Spunky]

I'm lucky if I get 4 hours of sleep each night

[Jakez]

Originally Posted by Spunky

I'm lucky if I get 4 hours of sleep each night

How do you get yourself out of bed with such a short amount of sleep?

[Agent 488]

wrong thread.

[Kiopa_Matt]

I generally sleep twice a day, for 2 - 4 hours each time. It works good, because biologically, I don't think we're built for a 24 hour day. There's no point working when I'm tired, because I never get anything done. This way seems to keep me at a nice, balanced level of "refreshedness".

Then once a week or so, my body will decide it needs some good ole' REM, and I'll crash for about 10 - 12 hours.

[oscer]

Terrible I sleep on a rotating schedule

[ShellyCrash]

Originally Posted by Jakez

How do you get yourself out of bed with such a short amount of sleep?

I'm finding myself in a similar boat. My main motivation to get out of bed every morning is my crew. They don't need me to be there when they are every day, but I feel like I leave them with a bad impression if I'm not.

I need to get more sleep, my health is in the shitter again. I just got over a sinus infection that lasted well over a month. Here I am on GFY after just talking with a few people on the other side of the globe on ICQ and just like that it's 1:00 AM.

I keep telling myself I'm going to wake up earlier and excercise in the morning. When I was primarily working on my own and working from home I woke up and did an hour and a half routine every day. I think the more hours you work the more the quality of the twork you do begins to drop. So instead of putting in 8 to 10 intensive hours a day I'm putting in 14+ half assed insomniac hours. I need to refocus and try something different, even if I have to get out of bed earlier. I need to re-introduce a work out in the mornings and try to work smarter instead of working longer and harder throughout my day.

[John.]

nice routine

[Spunky]

Originally Posted by Jakez

How do you get yourself out of bed with such a short amount of sleep?

Gotta do what it takes to make a buck.work ethic

[topsiteking]

Originally Posted by Spunky

I'm lucky if I get 4 hours of sleep each night

Same here...But,on Saturdays I crash and get about 12 hours of sleep...

[Redrob]

About 5 hrs a night for 4 nights, then 10 hrs a night for 3 nights, the repeat.

[JFK]

Originally Posted by CYF

insomnia sucks.

indeed, posting this at 3.50 am est

[tical]

Originally Posted by Kiopa_Matt

I generally sleep twice a day, for 2 - 4 hours each time. It works good, because biologically, I don't think we're built for a 24 hour day. There's no point working when I'm tired, because I never get anything done. This way seems to keep me at a nice, balanced level of "refreshedness".

Then once a week or so, my body will decide it needs some good ole' REM, and I'll crash for about 10 - 12 hours.

Actually, we are built for a 24 hour day.

We have a circadian rhythm that is directly related to sunlight and darkness.

In the morning, our adrenal glands begin to release peak amounts of cortisol, a stress hormone. This is what will wake you up in the morning, similar to adrenaline. Cortisol levels are supposed to drop off throughout the day and into the evening, and melatonin is released. Melatonin causes drowsiness and reduces body temperature (preparing you for rest).

If our cortisol rhythm is off, we can have problems staying asleep (i.e., waking up every night at 3-4am wide awake). We also can find that we get a second wind after around 11-12am (as cortisol increases / melatonin decreases). Fatigue, lack of motivation, and brain fog are common in people with low cortisol.

[comeplay]

Originally Posted by JFK

indeed, posting this at 3.50 am est

true dat'

[Matyko]

I wake up at 6:45 AM. I arrive in my office around 9:00 AM after I took my daughter to kindergarten. I stay there working hard until 3:00 PM, than I pick up my daughter and drive home. There I spend my time with my daughters and my gf, help around the house, and meanwhile I visit my computer a few times to answer my American friends who just start to reply my ICQs and emails around this time. Between 8:00-9:00 PM I return for a night shift but for a few hours only. Than I 420, bang my gf, watch and episode of a series of her choice, and go to bed.

[tical]

Also, LCD monitors are very intense and emit the type of blue light wavelength that suppresses the production of melatonin.

This is a cool app that "reduces" this wavelength as it gets darker based on your clock and location http://stereopsis.com/flux/

Basically, as it gets darker, the color becomes more "warm" (red tones) and the bright white / blue tone increases as it gets brighter outside.

Unless you're doing a lot of color intensive work, this could help you regulate your sleep schedule.

[Sarah_Jayne]

My body has NO idea where it is at the moment.

In the last month alone this is where I have been time zone wise - London before the clocks changed - Cardiff the day they clocks changed in the UK - two days later Philadelphia where the clocks had not yet changed - then Philly when the clocks finally did change - then San Francisco - then back to Philly - then back to London.

I think my body clock has just given up.

[GlazedMedia]

I`m lucky as I have never had any problems sleeping. I get up at about 07:30 - 08.00 ish, take my son to school, get back and have breakfast, take the dog over the park for an hour and then get onto the computer about lunchtime and begin work right through until I go to bed (around 01:00 ish). I take a few breaks in the evening so to spend time with family, eat and watch TV.

I`m happy and so fortunate to have this type of set-up.

[scuba steve]

Went to sleep at 1:30 am woke up at 6am. Haven't been able to fall asleep yet. Looks like I'll be the first one at the office

[u-Bob]

I don't having a problem falling asleep, but I do have a big problem going to bed

[Chris]

due to me having to get a kid up and reading for school im pretty normally

bed by midnight .. i get up at 6

[selena]

Get up at 5 am, and shoot for a 10 pm bedtime. I generally don't make that, but 11 is the absolute latest, and that is cutting it short on what I need to function the next morning.

[Fletch XXX]

with baby and working from home my schedule is crazy insane

[BlackCrayon]

you must be single.

[loreen]

Originally Posted by tical

Actually, we are built for a 24 hour day.

Tests show that if you put humans in a room without windows or clocks, they will adjust to a 36 hours "/ day" program.

[selena]

Originally Posted by tical

Also, LCD monitors are very intense and emit the type of blue light wavelength that suppresses the production of melatonin.

This is a cool app that "reduces" this wavelength as it gets darker based on your clock and location http://stereopsis.com/flux/

Basically, as it gets darker, the color becomes more "warm" (red tones) and the bright white / blue tone increases as it gets brighter outside.

Unless you're doing a lot of color intensive work, this could help you regulate your sleep schedule.

I installed this after seeing your post this morning. It's going on 6 pm my time, and the monitor change is making me sleepy. I think that is the purpose though.

Thanks for sharing!

[96ukssob]

my sleep & work is fucked. sometimes I sleep for 5 or 6 hours and work for 12 or more, while others I may sleep for 12 and work for 8... all depends on the day and what I did before.

[djroof]

insomnia.....

[MaDalton]

fucked - i sleep around 6 am and get up around 2 pm

[thickcash_amo]

I get up around 5:30am-6am then get to bed around 10-11pm.....