Circadian rhythms control wakefulness and sleepiness. This principle suggests that our urge to sleep depends largely on the time of the day rather than how recently we have slept. I guess that during summer I did not feel the urge to wake up in the morning because my room is actually pretty dark. During the night it is so dark it is scary at times, and during the day if the curtains are not open then no light goes into my room. Now that I am back in school and working also, I follow a better sleep pattern. At times, when homework has to be done I will be until 2 or 3am revising and editing and then the next morning I will be up by 8am which is when my classes start. It is hard to wake up, but I always think ‘as soon as I am back I will take a nap,’ that almost never happens because I will lose my sleep but as soon as the sun goes down and it gets dark outside, I get sleepy, forcing me to go to bed by 9pm or so. I wonder if I’ll ever get used to waking up early, since soon I will graduate and hopefully work a full time job from 8am-5pm.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Wakefulness and Sleepiness
I remember during summer I decided not to attend school so I
could get a job and start working. I applied to several different places and unfortunately
I did not get a job in all summer! Can you imagine being at home for three
months with no homework to do, no school to attend, and no job? For three
months I was stuck at home with nothing much to do, the most I would do was
take care of my niece who is 3 years old. She would be the one to keep me
active during the day, because she needed attention and someone to play with
her. Aside from playing with her and nothing else really, I would go to sleep really late and wake up really late as well. The usual day was for me to sleep at around 2am
and wake up at 12 noon. That is about 10 hours of sleep! And that is not
counting other days I would oversleep. Point is I’ve always known that I am not
a “morning person”. Ever since I was little, I can remember the constant
struggle between me and my mom because I wouldn’t want to wake up in the
morning. My mom always told me that I would get used to this waking and sleeping
pattern since I would be doing it for the next 10 years or so (elementary,
middle and maybe high school). Surprisingly, I never got used to it. Every
single morning it was harder and harder for me to wake up, not only for school
but for special activities for instance a family trip to San Antonio. Still, it
was hard for me to wake up. Then I came up with the conclusion that I was an “evening
person” or “owl”. The thing is that it is hard for me to wake up but once I am
actually awake I am pretty active and I do not have a hard time staying awake, unless I am really tired. The difference
between morning and evening people are related to our circadian rhythms.
Circadian rhythms control wakefulness and sleepiness. This principle suggests that our urge to sleep depends largely on the time of the day rather than how recently we have slept. I guess that during summer I did not feel the urge to wake up in the morning because my room is actually pretty dark. During the night it is so dark it is scary at times, and during the day if the curtains are not open then no light goes into my room. Now that I am back in school and working also, I follow a better sleep pattern. At times, when homework has to be done I will be until 2 or 3am revising and editing and then the next morning I will be up by 8am which is when my classes start. It is hard to wake up, but I always think ‘as soon as I am back I will take a nap,’ that almost never happens because I will lose my sleep but as soon as the sun goes down and it gets dark outside, I get sleepy, forcing me to go to bed by 9pm or so. I wonder if I’ll ever get used to waking up early, since soon I will graduate and hopefully work a full time job from 8am-5pm.
In this video Dr. Winkelman explains how our circadian rhythms
influence our sleep. This video is very informative and also gives some
examples of sleep patterns.
Circadian rhythms control wakefulness and sleepiness. This principle suggests that our urge to sleep depends largely on the time of the day rather than how recently we have slept. I guess that during summer I did not feel the urge to wake up in the morning because my room is actually pretty dark. During the night it is so dark it is scary at times, and during the day if the curtains are not open then no light goes into my room. Now that I am back in school and working also, I follow a better sleep pattern. At times, when homework has to be done I will be until 2 or 3am revising and editing and then the next morning I will be up by 8am which is when my classes start. It is hard to wake up, but I always think ‘as soon as I am back I will take a nap,’ that almost never happens because I will lose my sleep but as soon as the sun goes down and it gets dark outside, I get sleepy, forcing me to go to bed by 9pm or so. I wonder if I’ll ever get used to waking up early, since soon I will graduate and hopefully work a full time job from 8am-5pm.
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I am exactly the same way. It is sooooo hard for me to wake up early. I am DEFINITELY not a morning person and anyone who knows me will also agree. I think the earliest i have ever scheduled a class has been 9:10 and thats because the class is only offered at that time. If not i would have most likely chosen a later time. My summer is usually the same. It depends on what im doing ofcourse because every summer has varied. But what i usually do is sleep late and wake up late. And once i start taking classes again its kinda hard to change that sleeping habit. I know one day i will have to learn but for right now i know i wont. I've been telling myself since freshman year that i wont be late to my first class and i havent kept my own promise (im a senior now). For those days that i do wake up really early i do tend to take a nap afterwards. Like how Dr. winkleman was mentioning, sometimes my naps are light and i wake up multiple times and then there are times where i just knock out and noise wont even disturb. I think alot of it has to do with the amount of time i spent REM sleep previous day. I tend to always regret taking a nap though because then it messes up my circadian rhymthm and the next day during the day im tired because i didnt sleep well during the night since i wasnt too sleepy. It just a mess :/ good post!
ReplyDeleteok. if i were to be like you my mom would definitely think something is wrong with me! I remember having the same situation as you when was younger, I would always get up super late and my dad would always tell my move to get me moving!! I love waking up early and just enjoying the WHOLE day but by body sometimes had other plans -.- Even when i HAVE to wake up early i usually just get home and knock out, which i also dread because i know if i do ill have trouble going to bed at night which has been my problem all semester and i am really trying to get "on the ball", waking up late in my house house in a big no no, it considered being lazy. But i dont mind my parents pushing me, I really do need to become responsible and get used to being awake from 7 am- 7pm due to the fact that my career requires it. Great blog!!!
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