The other day I listened to this episode of The Girl Next Door Podcast, “Our Early Bird and Night Owl Habits.” Kelsey shared that she’s an early bird, while Erica is a night owl. I actually have a hard time defining myself as one or the other.
When I was younger I was definitely a night owl. Whenever my schedule allowed, I loved to stay up late and sleep late. Then I had kids, and we all know what that means. I was forced into an early bird schedule, but I realized I kind of like being up early.
On the podcast, Kelsey said that every once in a while as a treat, she likes to get up at 4 am on a Sunday and go to Starbucks. She’ll sit there for several hours working and return home before anyone else in her family is up. Erica said the thought of that made her nauseous, but I thought it sounds kind of fun- think how much you could get done! But I would want to take a nap later on in the day.
I think my ideal schedule would be this: wake up early. Nap in the afternoon, then stay up late at night. Is there a name for that? What animal does that? A “cat-napper?” Let’s say I’m a cat-napper.
This all brings me to my NaBloPoMo check-in. On November 1st I shared my NaBloPoMo theme, “Every day Counts,” and listed ways I planned to fully appreciate every day. One of them was getting enough sleep. So, how is that going?
Frankly- not so great. I’m still staying up too late, and the latest I can possibly wake up on weekdays is 5:30 am. I’m probably averaging around six hours of sleep a night. BUT! I’ve had a mindset shift.
A couple months ago I heard some advice on a running podcast: Align what you say with what you do. If what you’re saying and what you’re doing aren’t in alignment, then change one or the other.
I’ve been talking about getting more sleep for a long time now. It was one of the components of my word for 2023- “Nourish”-as in, I’ll nourish my body with adequate sleep. Every time I do any kind of review to see how things are going, I say “I HAVE to start getting more sleep.” But I continue to not do it.
Now I’ve decided to just be honest with myself. November is a busy month. I have work, my daughter to take care of, workouts, reading, NaBloPoMo, and to cap it all off my son will be home next week. Sleep just isn’t a priority right now.
I know this isn’t ideal! It would be healthier to get more sleep, and I’ll address the issue again soon. For now I’ve revised my goals: I aim to get six hours of sleep a night. If I get less than that, I really don’t feel good. I take a nap most days- usually 30 minutes, but sometimes if I end up sleeping less than six hours, I’ll manage to squeeze in a 90 minute nap, a full sleep cycle.
This is working well enough for now, and at least my words and actions are finally in alignment.
Are you an early bird or a night owl? Is anyone else a “cat-napper” like me?
29 Responses
I am a night owl for sure. My favorite part about the awful year of distance learning was waking up at 8am, rolling out of bed and teaching my fist class at 8:30. Then every night I went to bed at midnight or 1am. Normally I need to get up at 6am and I hate it. I need seven hours of sleep but I really struggle to fall asleep without a sleep aid at 11pm. Forget about earlier. It’s better now, in normal time, but I really struggle during DST. My body just wants to sleep from midnight to 7am or 1am to 8am. That is my sweet spot. But I can never really have it.
Oh and I can never nap. Never. Just doesn’t happen.
Oof! That sounds hard- especially since you can’t nap!!! i know napping just doesn’t work for some people.
I think I’m somewhere in between early bird and night owl, but right now my schedule necessitates me being an early bird. I wake up around 5:15 am on weekdays but I have to set a couple alarms to make that happen, I don’t naturally wake up this early! On weekends I usually wake up after 7 or 7:30 which is more natural for me. And on weekdays I’m winding down by 8 pm so I can get at least 8 hours of sleep.
I prefer running before work so that’s why my schedule is like this but I wish I wouldn’t have to wake up so early to make it happen — it seems to take me awhile to get ready and out the door so I have to build in an hour of time of being awake before I want to leave!
It takes me about 45-50 minutes between waking up and getting out the door for a run. My husband can get up and out the door in like 10 minutes- I don’t know how he does it!
I’m impressed that you get 8 hours of sleep (or did you say “at least” 8 hours??? That’s advanced sleeping!)
I think I can adapt to my situation — like you, I was a night owl in college, but now that I’m a mom I’m more of a morning person. And I prefer being a morning person. But what I really am is a Needs Eight Hours person, and I am miserable if I have less than that (which is most nights). But I like your idea of aligning your goals with what you do. Very smart.
I guess I’m lucky that I can function pretty well on 6 hours a night- but I know I would feel better- and be healthier- if I got closer to 8.
I am an early bird, for sure. I am up at 4:30 every day, and I get an average of 7 1/2 hours of sleep a night. It works great for me. I never nap unless I’m really sick or something. I can see why you would need to! I hope you know I’m gently shaking my head, I know you are doing your best and I hope the naps help! It’s strange how averse I am to napping. I really only napped when I was pregnant and I had a one year old! It was survival mode back then. I remember resisting napping even as a small child. I was a DREAM, let’s send thoughts to my poor mother.
Well, some people really hate napping. My sister is one of them- if she takes a nap she wakes up feeling groggy and worse than when she laid down. And… I know. This situation isn’t permanent. I’m going to examine my sleep habits again soon.
Is there a term for people who are neither early birds nor night owls?
I can fake it as an early bird if I have a reason to. For example, I’ve had brief stretches in my life where I’ve had to get up before 5:30 to get workouts in or eek that time in college when I worked the 5AM to 1 PM shift at McDonald’s for a semester. But lately I find myself needing the extra sleep so I’m lazing in bed until 6 or 6:30 on weekdays. On the other end of the spectrum, I’m worthless after 10 at night. I’ve never been a napper, but if I stop working that might change.
There are things that I can do to improve my sleep quality, such as listening to sleep meditations on nights when I can’t fall asleep or if I wake up in the night and can’t get back to sleep. But sometimes my body just won’t fall asleep and it is what it is. I also don’t think that the sleep data on my Garmin is useful, because nothing is ever good enough for it. If I turn out the lights before 11, get up at 6, and generally feel good, I don’t need its snark of saying that my sleep score is fair.
So yes, doing what you can do and what feels right/works for you is the way to go with sleep!
In the next phase of my life, when I’m ready to really address this issue, I’m going to try using some sleep meditations. The main problem is that I don’t get in bed early enough, but a secondary problem is there are nights when I just can’t fall asleep. I might as well just stay up and read!
I’m neither. Sigh. But I would love to be someone who wakes up early. If I do, I need a nap and then that seems to screw up my bedtime sleep. I’m high maintenance.
That’s interesting you would describe yourself as “neither!” People usually have a pretty strong opinion about the early bird/night owl designation.
I am a Sun Person. I am fine with life as long as the sun is out, but as soon as it is dark, I am DONE. It is time to sleep when it is dark and since it’s dark at four in the afternoon right now, you can imagine how pleasant I am. Last night I had a Zoom meeting right after work (it was dark), then I had to make and eat dinner (it was dark), then we had to go to the grocery store (it was dark), then I had to walk the dog (it was dark), and then I had to take a shower and get ready for bed (it was dark). But the time we were halfway through the groceries, I was useless. Utterly useless. I just need sunlight on my skin!!
On the bright side (see what I did there?), I almost always get enough sleep because I HIT THE WALL and just have to collapse. I honestly don’t understand how night owls manage to keep themselves away or morning people just naturally wake up on their own before the sun has risen. The sun tells us when to get up and when to go to bed. LOL.
Well… your dark evening does sound kind of unpleasant! This reminds me of a study I read about years ago, where the people went to bed as soon as it was dark and got up when the sun came up. I don’t remember what the outcome was (or if there was a clear outcome) but I remember the people describing all those hours in bed as being kind of peaceful and dreamy.
I am not a napper. In fact, I’ve never taken one.
I am mostly an early bird but I doubt I get enough sleep. I can’t sleep past 5:30 and I doubt I ever fall asleep before 10 or 11.
You’ve NEVER taken a nap? Wow. I mean I know some people don’t like them, but never… it blows my mind. If you’re not tired during the day then maybe you’re getting the amount of sleep your body needs.
I get tired but if I nap, I won’t sleep well at night.
I wish I could nap; I end up grumpy or with a headache or worse than I started one, sigh. I used to be a complete night owl; late night tv and reading were my favorite things. Then, once I had my Lil Momma who didn’t sleep much, I became an early bird because she was – the girl didn’t sleep past 6 until 4th grade, oof, and only has been sleeping until 7 in recent months. Now, I think my body is so conditioned to waking up early that I am an early bird by habit; my body and brain start shutting down around 9pm and my brain wakes up in the 5 or 6 am hours…
Hmm, so it sounds like you completely transformed into an early bird! i’m surprised at how many people are saying they hate naps.
I have exactly the same ‘problem’ as you and for now handle it very similarly. I do what I can as best I can that includes balancing sleep and everything else I need to cram in a day. To be revisited when I get to mid December and we leave on our trip to see family. I also nap if I can and I am definitely a night owl.
Yes, it sounds like we’re very similar!
I’m an early bird by necessity and I definitely don’t get enough sleep. Like you, I keep saying I need to get more sleep but it just hasn’t taken hold. I’ve come to accept that I’m in a busy season and hopefully I’ll balance things out later….we’ll see how that goes!
Yes, it sounds like we’re on the same page, Michelle! We’ll have to check in with each other later and see if we’re managing to get more sleep when things aren’t so busy.
I have to say I am 100% your long lost twin on the sleeping. I loved staying up late and sleeping in . . . until kids. I didn’t workout early in the morning before kids either. Now I like getting up early and getting my workout done. I REALLY value sleep though and my sleep can be really unpredictable because of this never-ending battle with SIBO, so I’ve been doing much better about going to bed early – which for me is around 10, sometimes even a little earlier. When I have college kids home though, I’ll be slipping back into staying up late. I also LOVE a good nap.
I am definitely a more of an early bird, but I do like staying up sometimes (but really only if I know that I don’t have to set an alarm the next morning). I think I average about 7 hours of sleep, but do better with 8 or more. It’s a struggle because sometimes I just run out of time at night and don’t get to do the things I’d like to do…. I do hope you find a better balance soon but I can understand that life is busy right now and you’re trying to get by on the minimum of sleep you can get away with.
Well compared to my husband who is the latest night owl I am more the morning person. But I dont really like getting up too early so everything before 6.30 is a no go even if I am awake. I’ll stay in bed and read.
Did you read the book “why we sleep” by Matthew walker? It is. really really interesting. One thing he. talks about is that during teenage years the sleep cycle shifts and teenagers need to get up later because the development takes place in those cycles. So the whole. system of schools. starting early is actually counter productive. I found that fascinating. Among a ton of other things.
I am SO LIKE YOU in that I actually like both late nights and early mornings. However, I rarely nap…. so…. that makes my preference not really sustainable. I like different things about the different times! I don’t enjoy being “out” late, particularly, at all, but I do like just lounging in bed or on the couch, watching a movie or a show, just enjoying the quiet house, etc. If I had to choose though, probably mornings win for me. I hear you too on needing to just sort of accept that you aren’t prioritizing something right now. I do that same thing, where I SAY I really want to do something…but yet… I don’t…..so, it’s probably best to just be honest with ourselves and/or cut ourselves some slack in certain seasons!
I am definitely not a morning person. My body takes time to wake up., but I am also not a typical night owl either. I go to bed most nights between 10-10:30. Can I say I’m a midday person? But if I had to pick I’d prefer to stay up late than go to bed early. My husband is a morning person so we have a bit of a mismatch there. I think I’m just a person that needs a lot of time in bed – at least eight hours.
Ugh, yes, I am neither a night owl or an early bird. I’m more of an afternoon… peacock? I NEED TO KNOW WHAT KIND OF BIRD I AM. I don’t like early mornings and while I will stay up late, I’m not someone that can hang long into the night with other people. And I just LIVE for my naps and can’t imagine not having them in my life. My ideal schedule is to wake up early, get some things done, and then take a nap around 9:30-10:00 – those mid-morning naps are THE BEST.