Sleeping at 4 am and waking up at 12 pm DOES NOT equal 8 hours of sleep
You think sleeping 8 hours at any time is enough?
Your body has an internal clock that expects sleep around 11pm-7am (for most people). Sleep outside that window and you create circadian misalignment your hormones, core temperature, and cellular repair all run on a schedule you just ignored.
The hours count. The timing counts more.
Here's what consistently sleeping on a delayed schedule actually does to you:
- Raises your risk of heart disease and high blood pressure.
- Reduces insulin sensitivity, sometimes to prediabetic levels.
- Disrupts over 97% of your normally rhythmic genes.
- Increases depression and anxiety risk independent of sleep duration.
You can sleep 8 hours and still do damage. The clock doesn't care about your hours. It cares about when.
How to fix it:
- Morning sunlight within 1-2 hours of waking. 30+ minutes. This is the most powerful tool you have.
- Dim your lights 2-3 hours before your target bedtime - not your current one.
- Pick a wake time and protect it. Weekends included.
- Your circadian rhythm is trainable. But you have to stop treating sleep timing like it doesn't matter.
Questions:
- What time do you usually fall asleep and wake up?
- Do you wake up energized, groggy, or somewhere in between?
- Have you noticed a difference when you sleep earlier vs later?
- If you could fix one part of your sleep routine tonight, what would it be?
Feel free to answer any or all questions.
@trueconfidant123
Always a sore point for me, I work night shifts so often don't sleep until 6 am, due to ADHD I get 2.5 - 4 hrs before my mind is wide awake no matter how physically tired I feel so try to sleep again a little later.
Always been the same, before night shifts it wasn't unusual not to sleep overnight for 2-3 days in a row and have to rely on naps 😕😕. I've been on numerous sleep studies over the years to no avail, it is what it is 😁😁
"before my mind is wide awake no matter how physically tired i feel". I kinda know how that feel, but i hope slower, calmer and more easier days will come for you snd you can get more rest.
@limegreenNectarine6237
Lol I was diagnosed as hyperactive as a 2 year old baby and ADHD not suspected until I was 57, 2 years ago, cycling, running and walking have acted like a psychological sedative all my life. On the odd occasion I do sleep through the night I often sleep walk 🤪🤪🤪
@RunningMachine
That sounds really rough honestly. Night shifts alone are hard, and on top of that your sleep just doesn’t cooperate. Makes sense you’ve had to figure your own way around it.
You’re still showing up and managing it all, which isn’t easy. Kudos!
@trueconfidant123
Thanks, it is far from ideal but I cope.
@RunningMachine and I'm proud of you for that! 👏🏻
@trueconfidant123
💛
@Amanda84 🩷
@trueconfidant123
Thank you so much for sharing ❤️
@fossilfellow
You're most welcome ❤️
I've been sleeping around 2am nowadays, and wake up around 5am for gym then again sleep in the afternoon for 3-4 hours, and feel drained.. I'll try to sleep 2 hours early than my usual sleep time starting today.. and avoid oversleeping in the afternoon.
@fossilfellow
I get that. The split sleep is rough and no wonder you feel drained. Shifting bedtime earlier and skipping the long afternoon nap sounds like a fabulous step. It won’t feel great at first, but you’ll get accustomed to this new schedule very soon hopefully.
@trueconfidant Thank you! 💝
@fossilfellow
I don’t know that there is definitively one answer that fits everyone in every situation no matter what the topic, so my feedback to this applies to myself personally, but for over 30 years, I have known that my body does its best sleeping from 6 AM to noon. It always has. Even without any outside influences whatsoever, no schedules of any kind required, no responsibilities, no medication influences, I have always slept best, and with least amount of assistance during those hours. My peak brain function is most active , alert , and engaged from 7 PM to about three in the morning. I can focus best, get more done and feel less overwhelmed doing it during the night time hours. In order to sleep during the night, no matter how many hours, I have always needed some sort of prescriptive assistance because I am fighting when my brain wants to function the most. It has been this way since before I was an adult. Sleeping at night, with a deadline in the morning, even with more hours than I expect to sleep available, there has been a grave amount of anxiety. If I need to be up at six, I could go to bed as early as seven at night, and still be very tense about whether or not I will sleep, and will sleep enough, and will it be quality regenerative sleep by six in the morning, even with all those hours available to sleep. But when I go to sleep, just as John is breaking, for some reason, I sleep harder, and with more confidence that I will wake up having slept soundly and deeply. I can’t explain any better than that as to why or how. Sadly, I have an occupation that requires me to function during the daytime. 🤷🏻♂️
I sleep between 12am and 8am. That's great to know.
@greedyChestnut25
Lines up pretty well with your body clock!
@trueconfidant123
Wow, what a comprehensive post.
Thank you for sharing
I am consistent as I can be with my sleep but at times my hectic schedule doesn't allow for it.
But looking at these health risks gives me food for thought 🧡
@Amanda84
You're welcome!
Totally get it. Managing your sleep cycle can be hard especially with a hectic schedule. You’re doing your best, and even small tweaks can make a difference.
@trueconfidant123 Im a bit confused as to why the way we label time would matter. People can be spread out fairly east-west and be in the same timezone, plus tomezones shift.
There's also a huge change in daylight hours where I am from summer to winter.
Relevant considering it was just recently announced we are staying on daylight time year round.
In December, sunrise won't occur until close to 10 am, so how does rising at 7am and getting sunlight within 1-2 hours work? Wouldn't it be healthier to shift the sleep schedule an hour or 2 later?
@AffyAvo
When sunrise shifts that late, the clock and daylight stop matching neatly. That’s exactly where things get tricky.
In those cases, people often end up sleeping a bit later naturally, but the bigger factor is still consistency rather than the exact hour.
@AffyAvo
Fair point. It’s not the clock label itself, it’s what it reflects. Sleeping late usually means missing morning light and getting more light at night, which shifts your rhythm.
Timezones and seasons do change things. The idea is just to stay roughly aligned with your local day–night cycle, not a fixed “11pm” for everyone.
@trueconfidant123 today I learnt I'm dying as I always go to bed between 2-4 in the morning 😭
@sadcat13
Awww if you aren't fighting to stay up and that's just naturally when your body wants to go to bed, that's okay! Just as long as you're getting enough sleep ;) 4 hours? Not enough
@TovaCares76 i get anywhere between 5,5-12 hours depending on the next days plan lol
@sadcat13
Lol. That range is kinda chaotic though. Your body never really knows what it’s getting, so it’s always playing catch up. Here's manifesting you a new and improved sleep cycle!
@TovaCares76
@sadcat13
I wouldn't say we are dying (we because we are in the same boat). It's just not a healthy practice going to bed in the morning. I'm trying to change that and so should you!
I've had a major sleep disorder for 30 years. I went through several studies, including one through UCLA, just studying my erratic circadian rhythm and why it was the way it was. I was part of a group of people that were diagnosed with a new condition called delayed onset circadian rhythm disorder. I essentially caused my own circadian rhythm to shift drastically by forcing my body to try to sleep when it didn't want to sleep. Over many years, I fought it because society wanted me to. I took pils to sleep, and pills to wake up. I was told "don't exercise at night, don't eat at night, don't do this or that at night, do this in the morning, don't do this in the morning" years and years of it. Until I had a doctor tell me I didn't have this delayed onset stuff. I had narcolepsy. The itches I get to nap during the day are my body saying "no not enough rest going to sleep now". The reason I fall asleep isn't because I'm not sleeping at the wrong time of night. It's because I have a sleep problem. Society runs sun up to sun down. It has since farmers started planting plants. But not all PEOPLE run that way. Our body clocks do not run with the sun. They run with our bodies. My newest sleep doctor said, "What is your most ideal time to sleep? What feels the best to you?" so we experimented and I sleep the best 2-3am to 9-10am. I do have to nap once or twice in there because well, narcolepsy, but sleeping like this and taking a nap greatly decreases my sleep attacks during the day. But that is the best time for MY body to sleep. Your body recovers and regenerates while you sleep. It doesn't know time. It just knows it's sleeping. :)
Thank you@TovaCares76 for sharing ,💐it's indeed very helpful.💛💙
How did you know this is how I look like when I go to sleep?! except I don’t snore 😄😄
@LadyInSilence
Haha, I caught you. I had a very specific vision apparently.
