Troglodytes are us.

[kickaha]

ginkgo went and got new drapes for the bedroom yesterday - very thick, very solid drapes.

The bedroom is now *pitch black* at night. We both fell asleep much more quickly, and slept much more soundly. At least, I did. Since she gets up easier in the morning, she whips the drapes back and the blinds up first thing, and that helps kick start my circadian cycle. (Kick start. Cycle. Heh.)

I think this is going to help my sleep schedule a lot. I'm *very* sensitive to light levels, it seems. Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm a serious night owl. I work/play all night, sleep all day. This has caused me issues over the years, not the least of which is a complete lack of feeling rested. I can count the good nights of sleep in the past decade on my fingers, I bet.

Except when I'm camping, and then I'm completely diurnal. Sun goes down, I'm asleep. Sun comes up, I'm up. Heck, when I'm camping, I'll often get up at first light, and watch the sun rise. (This totally freaked out ginkgo the first time she witnessed this, since I woke *her* up to watch the sun rise over Badlands.) I sleep light when I camp, and frequently wake up to small noises, but I feel great the next morning.

Add in artificial light, a TV, a laptop, etc, and I'm up all night because darnit, there's still light. So, at my request, we've started lowering the lights at night. No more overheads past 9 or 10, just small lamps. That alone has helped a lot in getting me to bed by 12. I think the drapes are going to help a lot more.

Comments

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

I found out while on paternity leave (eight weeks, thanks to never using any vacation time up until then--not having a life occasionally has its advantages) that my cycle is 25 hours. I'd stay up an hour later every night, get up an hour later, and I got some of the best rest of my life. Maybe the only really good rest of my life.

Of course, I also ended up spending an awful lot of my active time during the times that the boy and M. were sleeping, and a corresponding amount of time sleeping while they were awake, which in other parlance is "the time when they needed me to be around and helpful". So that didn't last more than a couple of weeks.

On the other hand, I got a _lot_ of minis painted during the wee hours while the house was quiet and there was even less on TV than usual.

And now I have my Trazodone, which doesn't get me good rest, but does get me more and better rest than I'd get without it.

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Yup, I'm the same way. Given my own lack of external input, I go about a 25hr cycle. Apparently this is very normal. We're very tied to light as a way of resetting the clock every day.

Unfortunately, I'm tied to an external schedule now, so I have to try and mesh at least a little bit. :}

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

Damn the business world and their slavish adherence to an arbitrary schedule. "Ooh, the sun's coming up. We'd better get out of bed!"

Hello! Electric lights, people! Duh!