Is anyone else here a night owl?

[2Fragile2TakeCriticism]

I am a night owl, my parents hated the fact that I was a night owl and expected me to “get into routine” aka “early to bed, early to rise”. Every time I try to force myself to meet their standards, I always wake up feeling cranky and sluggish. I’ve been told that no one is a night owl and we so-called night owls need to stop making excuses and blaming other people for our own bad decisions.

But I’m here to clarify that the genes in my body that prevent me from sleeping at night are not a choice. I was told that I’m just complaining and what I’m facing is not discrimination and that I actually deserve to be treated that way. Yeah, these people honestly don’t know what they’re talking about. Some of us are not made to sleep at night, and that’s alright. And also, to ostracize night owls is to display acts of ableism, because most of us night owls have a disability. I will admit that not all of us are this way and we have our own sleep schedule to go by, but the fact is we autistics have struggled to sleep at night (as well as many others in the neurodivergent community) therefore our body clock functions much differently.

There is honestly no need to shame others for being different. We just need to be understood.
Is anyone else here a night owl? I’d love to hear your experiences. Know that you are not alone.

 

[Raggamuffin]

Used to be when I drank and was addicted to gaming.
Now I go to bed early and I'm awake between 04:30 - 06:00 most days.

Ed

 

[Ella Spell]

I go to bed around 4 - 5 am most days. I'd stay up until sunrise but my pets wake me up around 8.

 

[DaisyRose]

I used to be a night owl. I take my meds at a certain time now and I don’t stay up late anymore. I’m happy because I would always be sleep deprived.

 

[Au Naturel]

Hooo. Hooo.

 

[SusanLR]

Absolutely.
No one ever tried to change me, but it was rough when appointed times required getting up early. Such as grade school and a few times at work.
I always tried to get work that began in the late afternoons or night.
That fit my go to bed at 3-4am circadian rhythm.
Now that I am retired, it's alright except for days I may have some early medical appointments.

Getting up early is fine for those who have a body rhythm that fits it.
Normally, I don't do mornings. Except to sleep.
Don't give a hoooot.

 

[Luca]

Funny that I'm posting in this thread right now since it's 2am and I'm still wide awake. That answers your question, I guess. Lol

 

[Shevek]

Humans are generally active in daylight, but when we evolved, we were safer if a group included a night owl who could stay alert on watch. That need may also be why old people have to pee at night.
I never liked having a bedtime, and, on my own, really enjoyed the quiet streets at night, and the eclectic mix of people who were around, being quiet. However, when I do have a day appointment, I may be badly jet-lagged or half-awake, which is one of the reasons I have a severe sleep disorder now.

 

[Misery]

A night owl, no. Well... not always. Sometimes the ol' clock just happens to line up. Sometimes not.

I have a condition called "non-24 sleep wake disorder". This is an easy to understand definition I found in my searches:

"Non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder (N24) is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder in which an individual’s biological clock fails to synchronize to a 24-hour day. Instead of sleeping at roughly the same time every day, someone with N24 will typically find their sleep time gradually delaying by minutes to hours every day. They will sleep at later and later clock times until their sleep periods go all the way around the clock. (In extremely rare cases the sleep rhythm will gradually advance rather than delay.) Patients’ cycles of body temperature and hormone rhythms also follow a non-24-hour rhythm. Attempts to fight against this internal rhythm and sleep on a typical schedule result in severe and cumulative sleep deprivation. N24 occurs in 55-70% of completely blind people, but also occurs in an unknown number of sighted people."

Now, as of right now this is self-diagnosed, because this is one of those things that cant be diagnosed by a normal doctor... ya gotta go to a specialist for this sort of thing. Or that's sure how it seems, any medical professionals I talk to just look at me as if an entire bear just crawled out of my ear if I describe the symptoms to them.

Generally I dont like the idea of self-diagnosing but as the condition is basically harmless (since I just roll with it instead of fighting it) and I wanted to know purely out of curiosity, I made an exception here. And it was really easy to figure it out once I started searching.

As a kid, I did indeed have that constant and severe insomnia. Because of school, you see. I rotate, but school didnt rotate with me. So as a kid.... insomnia to the point where I just thought that's how sleep was for everyone.

As an adult? Well... I'll just say, it's lucky that I dont have to work. I cant imagine how anyone could hold down a traditional set-schedule job with this condition. Since I dont have to deal with any set schedules though, the condition is harmless. I just let it happen. So, I rotate between my "day side" and "night side" of my cycle. This also leads to odd times where I'll go to bed at like 3 in the afternoon. Confuses everyone.

The plus side? I sleep like the dead. Once I'm out, nothing will wake me. Unless something specifically prevents me from falling asleep in the first place... like last night's fireworks... I'll konk out real fast and then wont wake up unless it's time to use the bathroom, and then once that's done I'm generally asleep again within like 2 minutes. So, I get a solid 7-8 hours of sleep every day/night/something.

Right now as I type this I'm on the day side of my cycle, having just gotten up at 4:30 in the morning. Tomorrow I'll get up at 5:30. The day after I'll get up at 6:30. And so on.

So that's my own general oddity.

 

[Gerontius]

Used to be one. Then I went to college and then to work.

 

[Lemon Zing]

I used to be, but not for a while.

 

[Judge]

I used to be....though I suppose old age caught up with me. Usually go to bed around 11:30pm most every night and get up between 6:30 and 7:00am.

 

[Shevek]

A night owl, no. Well... not always. Sometimes the ol' clock just happens to line up. Sometimes not.

I have a condition called "non-24 sleep wake disorder". This is an easy to understand definition I found in my searches:

"Non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder (N24) is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder in which an individual’s biological clock fails to synchronize to a 24-hour day. Instead of sleeping at roughly the same time every day, someone with N24 will typically find their sleep time gradually delaying by minutes to hours every day. They will sleep at later and later clock times until their sleep periods go all the way around the clock. (In extremely rare cases the sleep rhythm will gradually advance rather than delay.) Patients’ cycles of body temperature and hormone rhythms also follow a non-24-hour rhythm. Attempts to fight against this internal rhythm and sleep on a typical schedule result in severe and cumulative sleep deprivation. N24 occurs in 55-70% of completely blind people, but also occurs in an unknown number of sighted people."

Now, as of right now this is self-diagnosed, because this is one of those things that cant be diagnosed by a normal doctor... ya gotta go to a specialist for this sort of thing. Or that's sure how it seems, any medical professionals I talk to just look at me as if an entire bear just crawled out of my ear if I describe the symptoms to them.

Generally I dont like the idea of self-diagnosing but as the condition is basically harmless (since I just roll with it instead of fighting it) and I wanted to know purely out of curiosity, I made an exception here. And it was really easy to figure it out once I started searching.

As a kid, I did indeed have that constant and severe insomnia. Because of school, you see. I rotate, but school didnt rotate with me. So as a kid.... insomnia to the point where I just thought that's how sleep was for everyone.

As an adult? Well... I'll just say, it's lucky that I dont have to work. I cant imagine how anyone could hold down a traditional set-schedule job with this condition. Since I dont have to deal with any set schedules though, the condition is harmless. I just let it happen. So, I rotate between my "day side" and "night side" of my cycle. This also leads to odd times where I'll go to bed at like 3 in the afternoon. Confuses everyone.

The plus side? I sleep like the dead. Once I'm out, nothing will wake me. Unless something specifically prevents me from falling asleep in the first place... like last night's fireworks... I'll konk out real fast and then wont wake up unless it's time to use the bathroom, and then once that's done I'm generally asleep again within like 2 minutes. So, I get a solid 7-8 hours of sleep every day/night/something.

Right now as I type this I'm on the day side of my cycle, having just gotten up at 4:30 in the morning. Tomorrow I'll get up at 5:30. The day after I'll get up at 6:30. And so on.

So that's my own general oddity.

I have heard that in experiments with no external cues about the time, most people adopt a 25 hour day. I was running like that for a while. Now, I'm being fussy about regular meal times, and that does seem to help with regular sleep times. Even if I'm feeling a bit manic with a project, if I lay down at the same time as usual, fatigue will usually kick in. However, I'm now firmly on the pre-electric sleep schedule of being awake for a few hours around midnight and sleeping twice. In Mediterranean culture, they have a night sleep and a siesta. For me, it started when I was using wood heat,and like my ancestors, had to feed the fire in the night.

 

[tree]

What would happen if the people who are 'night owls'
when they live in one hemisphere of the earth, moved
to the other?

Would they still be awake at night after they moved?
Or would they sleep?

 

[theidealist]

Now I have a break before (hopefully) entering uni this October and I can now enjoy spending my nights doing something productive or just doing leisure activities. Staying up late at night is awesome, cause there's no one to interrupt me and as an enjoyer of silence I don't have to deal with sound overstimulaiton - which happens a whole lot during the day.

Frankly, I wish I could lead a night-life. Totally gonna take night shifts at work later on - my mind works the best when it's dark outside.

 

[All-Rounder]

What would happen if the people who are 'night owls'
when they live in one hemisphere of the earth, moved
to the other?

Would they still be awake at night after they moved?
Or would they sleep?

Depends when their friends are awake xD

 

[tree]

Depends when their friends are awake xD

That's a social supposition, not physiological.

 

[autism-and-autotune]

I cannot be a night owl; my brain will not allow it. I must be asleep by 8:00 or 8:30 at the latest.

 

[All-Rounder]

Sounds like we're studying humans like a species of owls.

Homo sapiens are untied by such animalistic instinctual compasses, like the rising of the sun. They are dependant upon the necessity of shopping and whether the stores are open. Whether the neighbors are loud, unheard or inexistent. Thick curtains or blinds.

However there is the concept of a mythical being named "the morning person."

 

[All-Rounder]

I’m having a hard time finding a place to post this, so I might as well post here. I am a night owl, my parents hated the fact that I was a night owl and expected me to “get into routine” aka “early to bed, early to rise”. Every time I try to force myself to meet their standards, I always wake up feeling cranky and sluggish. I’ve been told that no one is a night owl and we so-called night owls need to stop making excuses and blaming other people for our own bad decisions.

But I’m here to clarify that the genes in my body that prevent me from sleeping at night are not a choice. I was told that I’m just complaining and what I’m facing is not discrimination and that I actually deserve to be treated that way. Yeah, these people honestly don’t know what they’re talking about. Some of us are not made to sleep at night, and that’s alright. And also, to ostracize night owls is to display acts of ableism, because most of us night owls have a disability. I will admit that not all of us are this way and we have our own sleep schedule to go by, but the fact is we autistics have struggled to sleep at night (as well as many others in the neurodivergent community) therefore our body clock functions much differently.

There is honestly no need to shame others for being different. We just need to be understood.
Is anyone else here a night owl? I’d love to hear your experiences. Know that you are not alone.

There was this nosey neighbor who would ask mom why my lamp was on so late at night. I wonder what she was doing up and outside on the street at that late time.