Sleep schedule for productivity
Quick quiz: Are you an early riser?
Do you have a hard time getting out of bed?
Is it hard to keep a regular sleep schedule?
Well, it affects your productivity, according to an article published in FastCompany.
Sleep expert Michale Breus says there are four types of sleepers (and thus optimal schedules for productivity). The Dolphin has irregular sleep patterns and often considers herself an insomniac. The Lion is the Type A personality who gets up before everyone else. The Bear has a pretty typical pattern, getting up at the same time every day and working straight through ’til five. Wolves hit the snooze button and dislike mornings intensely, waking up to productivity in the afternoon and evening.
Read the whole article here:https://www.fastcompany.com/40491564/how-to-design-your-ideal-workday-based-on-your-sleep-habits
Take a look and let me know which one you feel fits you best. Honestly, none of them fit me very well except perhaps the Wolf but I am SO irregular with my sleep schedule that it’s a toss up with the Dolphin.
I guess I do have a schedule – I just don’t stick to it all the time. There are the all-nighters when I go to bed at 6 am. There are the “I can’t stay awake another minute” days when I take a late afternoon nap and then want to work late.
But more and more I realize I like to get up early when the world is quiet and dark and no one talks to me or has something I need to do. That time is mine. And, shockingly, I have also realized that in order to get up early, I need to GO TO BED EARLY! I know, I know. It’s elementary. But I like to burn the candle at both ends. Problem is, it doesn’t burn well that way and eventually meets in the middle and burns out. Oops.
So, while I don’t do it all the time, I am starting to notice the clock a little sooner. I am playing with relaxing using those coloring books that are mindless yet absorbing (I like playing with color). I even took the gel topper off my bed because it made me hot in the middle of the night.
I’m getting it, this sleep thing. Especially when I learned that lack of sleep or irregular sleep patterns can cause weight gain. Just what I don’t need. Ok…what’s your sleep story today? Share it with me and the rest of the ADDiva crowd.
Jackie—When my cats wake me at 6:00, I feed them and go back to bed!
Definitely a Wolf here. I hate going to bed, and hate getting up even more! It’s not quite as bad as it used to be since I’m retired now! Thank God!
I too am a wolf or dolphin. Sometimes I feel I can do my best work at night. Husband is sleeping, no distractions to go outside but I pay for it the next day especially if I have to get up early. I can relate to everyone’s comments. I’m glad I’m not alone.
I’m like a little kid at night. I want to stay up another hour, two hours, three hours, ad nauseum. I need to leave my phone and other absorbing materials out of the bedroom, or I could easily stay up all night and be miserable when the dogs wake me at 6 am!!!
I feel your pain. This is my life trying to fall asleep each night. Every light noise sounds like a thunderstorm I take a small does of melatonin (low is important because high doses can cause the opposite effect and keep you awake) and high doses of magnesium, and it helps a lot. Definitely groggier in the am, but overall I get a better night sleep.
I also just took off my gel topper; love being 50 (insert eye roll here). By nature, I’m a night owl and would prefer to go to bed at 1 am and sleep until 8 A.M. & lay in bed until 9. Children and life do not let me do that. So, there is no rhyme or reason and I muddle through as best I can. I do know, I’m most productive when the sun is shining which means in the winter I’m far less productive than I am in the summer. If it’s raining out and cloudy for days, forget it.
My sleep story is a study in frustration. I used to work in the specialty mattress industry and part of our training was on sleep hygiene. We had seminars and read Dr. Michael Breus’s book. Mine sleep hygiene is on point. My ADHD brain doesn’t care. I could be literally trembling with exhaustion as I lie there waiting for sleep to happen. I’ll be almost on the cusp, teetering on the edge about to plunge into unconsciousness.
And then something will happen, the dog will adjust slightly and jingle his collar, the house will make a settling pop, the fan will cause the pull chain to lightly clink against the globe, it doesn’t matter how soft or subtle – the sound is like a gunshot heralding the start of the racing of my heart and adrenaline. Or nothing will happen, but still my body will react. I startle back awake and the cycle continues.
It wasn’t always this bad – I was just a “night” person. It’s okay, I can work swing or graveyard shifts and sleep during the day. No problem. But now I have kids – they have to get up for school. I have a “real” job that starts at 7:30 a.m. I don’t have the luxury of sleeping till noon. I have to function in the adult world of neurotypical people.
So for me, it’s a monster dose of rX Ambien every night with a 500mg Magnesium supplement chaser. Now I just have to force myself to crawl out of the hyperfocus rabbit hole of whatever evening activity I’m engaged in to get upstairs and take my meds at a reasonable hour. It’s a work in progress…