Owen Bawn
Garden party cupcake scented
Now this is an old man topic if ever there was one... For all of my adult life, I've been one to go to bed early- 8.30 or 9- and then get up at 3.00 or 3.30. I started doing this when I was in college and working full time- I'd take 8,9, and 10 o'clock classes, then work from 11.30-7.30, then go to bed exhausted. I'd get up at 3 or 4 and do my studying. There was no internet in those days so it was stupid to be up at 4 if you weren't doing something productive or sensible. This schedule worked for me for decades.
But it has changed some since the lockdown. I still go to sleep by 10, but I now wake up at 1.30 or 2 and I'll stay awake for a couple hours reading, meditating, etc. Then at about 4 I'll go back to sleep for 2-3 more hours, getting up at 6.30 or 7.00. This is actually the way many monasteries operated. The 'Great Silence' began at about 8, the monks were awakened for Mattins (a long prayer service) at 12.30, and then they were free to read or go back to sleep from about 3.30- 6.00. Most medieval people kept a similar schedule (without the prayer vigil), going to bed not long after dark, then getting up for a couple hours in the middle of the night, and returning to sleep for a couple hours before sunrise.
How about you? Do you have a regular pattern of sleep? Has it changed over time?
But it has changed some since the lockdown. I still go to sleep by 10, but I now wake up at 1.30 or 2 and I'll stay awake for a couple hours reading, meditating, etc. Then at about 4 I'll go back to sleep for 2-3 more hours, getting up at 6.30 or 7.00. This is actually the way many monasteries operated. The 'Great Silence' began at about 8, the monks were awakened for Mattins (a long prayer service) at 12.30, and then they were free to read or go back to sleep from about 3.30- 6.00. Most medieval people kept a similar schedule (without the prayer vigil), going to bed not long after dark, then getting up for a couple hours in the middle of the night, and returning to sleep for a couple hours before sunrise.
How about you? Do you have a regular pattern of sleep? Has it changed over time?