Taking Sides: Sleeping In vs. Going To Bed Early

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Oh, I love sleep. I love sleeping so much. The thing I hate most about a dayjob is that I never get as much sleep as I really want.

So which is better?

When I was younger, I used to like sleeping in better. Lying in bed until noon or later, what a treat! But that's not really possible when you have to be at work by 8.30, is it? Even at the weekends, it's hard because my body is just programmed to rise by 7.

But now, the greatest treat is going to bed early. Nice dinner, glass of wine, tucked up in beddy-bye, hugging a pillow, pipe and slippers, mmmmm, if this is middle age, I love it.

Which do you prefer?

― MIS Information (kate), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 07:04 (twenty years ago)

bed early for sure. i hate sleeping in. even on my holidays, if i stay in bed past 7:30am , i feel like i've wasted far too much time from my day. life is just too short for sleeping in. and i like bed early in wintery weather even more.

― gem (trisk), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 07:08 (twenty years ago)

― MIS Information (kate), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 07:10 (twenty years ago)

a sleeping cap! cool idea! i hate having my head covered by the doona but then my ears get cold in winter. it's a conundrum.

― gem (trisk), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 07:12 (twenty years ago)

Is it wrong to fantasise about sleep?

― MIS Information (kate), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 07:30 (twenty years ago)

But if I go early, I tend to wake up about 00:30 for some reason.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 07:36 (twenty years ago)

Well, it depends how early I suppose. I have learned that if I go to bed about 6 or 7pm, I will be up again at 3am. But about 9pm feels like such a luxury!

Plus no swearing or bums on the telly. ;-)

― MIS Information (kate), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 07:38 (twenty years ago)

Same here mark, I’ll try to get an early night & I either start to wake up or wake up just after midnight, then i find it impossible to get to sleep. grrrr

― not-goodwin (not-goodwin), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 07:43 (twenty years ago)

i love it when i go to bed early in winter so then wake up a bit earlier than the alarm and can just lie there for (what feels like) an extra 20 minutes or whatever. in summer i can't wait to get up and go down the beach, i wake up with the sun usually. but i love mornings more than any other time of the day.

― gem (trisk), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 07:46 (twenty years ago)

i go for going to bed late, waking up early, in a slowly degenerating cycle. Untill finally one day you pass out at 930pm, wake up at 11am and your boss is pleased it doesn't happen more often.

― lukey (Lukey G), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 07:48 (twenty years ago)

I'm not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination. Given the idea circumstances, I'd probably stay up until about 4am and get up about noon. Under normal circumstances, my most productive hours are between 6 and 10pm!

But seeing as how I *have* to be a morning person now... well, I actually really like the super-early morning, before anyone is out, and everything is really quiet. I like waking up before the alarm goes off so that I actually feel rested when I finally get up.

― MIS Information (kate), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 07:51 (twenty years ago)

Well, I mean about 10:30 or 11:00. I end up waking at 00:30 and, like, not tired! (so it seems, i crash about 10 mins later)

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 07:53 (twenty years ago)

i tend to do that going to bed late, getting up early thing during the semester, with my sleep ever-decreasing until exams when i have to develop a dexie habit to stay awake. then i make the most of hopping into bed at 9pm for the whole holidays. i love it! can't wait to get to be tonight.

this is a recent thing for me, when i was younger i never liked going to bed early (though i never liked sleeping in either). i'm pretty tired by 9 or 10pm now though. dunno how i ever survived working in hospitality all the way through my first degree... god knows how i was still counting tills and cleaning beer lines at 1am.

i LOVE mornings though. dawn at the beach... my favourite place/time, associated with pure bliss.

― gem (trisk), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 07:53 (twenty years ago)

ha, first thing that popped into my head when i woke up this morning was "that was a nice sleep. god, i love sleep. i want more sleep."

while i was getting ready for work i pondered on it and considered going to bed HELLA early this evening so i can get some more of that wonderful sleep.

it doesn't seem very appealling now though, i'm thinking i'd rather spend time doing stuff. ho hum.

― g-kit (g-kit), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 07:54 (twenty years ago)

i do that too g-kit! when i'm making the bed i'm thinking fondly about getting back into it as early as possible. then when night time comes around there are so many other things to do...

― gem (trisk), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 07:59 (twenty years ago)

i go to bed at 8pm, wake up at 4. Sleeping in to me is 6am.

― Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 08:53 (twenty years ago)

Are you a breakfast DJ?

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 08:58 (twenty years ago)

bed at 8, why?

― not-goodwin (not-goodwin), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 09:06 (twenty years ago)

because i work at 5am and i get up at 4.

― Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 09:38 (twenty years ago)

That’ll explain it.

I bet it’s a nightmare in winter getting up at that time.

― not-goodwin (not-goodwin), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 09:46 (twenty years ago)

sure is, but i choose to do it. I would rather get out at 1:30 and have the afternoon to myself. it was great last winter when the heat in my car died and i was getting in it at 4:30am in 0 degree weather.

― Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 09:50 (twenty years ago)

i'm a fan of going to bed early and sleeping late at the same time. i can go to bed around ten and sleep until eleven or noon the next day, no problem. my record is 18hrs, iirc.

― lauren (laurenp), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 09:53 (twenty years ago)

even terribly hungover i get up at 4:30, it sucks. My body is just programmed to do it.

― Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 09:54 (twenty years ago)

even terribly hungover i get up at 4:30

If you could see me, you’d see me applauding you.

― not-goodwin (not-goodwin), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 10:04 (twenty years ago)

i like getting up early when i don't HAVE to do it. when i wake up late i feel guilty for losing too many precious daylight hours.

going to bed early is nice but i don't have that luxury these days thanks to my loud roommates and thin walls. it doesn't quiet down here until at least midnight.

― president carter loves repetition (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 10:09 (twenty years ago)

I don't do either. I can't sleep very late as I have to be in the shop. Now I sleep until 9 which I think is very late. (That said, I'm usually awake by 8, but just watch telly until 9.) I can never go to sleep early. I sometimes - now that I'm pregnant - go to bed at about ten because I'm sick.

― nathalie's body's designed for two (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 10:13 (twenty years ago)

I enjoy sleeping in, to 11 or 12 (though not in summer). But I can only do that two days out of seven, so I'm trying to get to bed earlier (=before midnight) these days, and maybe even get up at 7, in by 9 instead of 8, 10. Bloody Caffeine Habit.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 10:27 (twenty years ago)

The most insanely early shift I ever worked was 7 to 3. It was horrendous to get up that early - but I was still young enough for it not to bother me if I'd stayed up all night. But then again, I would nap during breaks. And it was nice having the afternoon off.

― MIS Information (kate), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 10:58 (twenty years ago)

even terribly hungover i get up at 4:30, it sucks. My body is just programmed to do it.
-- Lupton Pitman (thebing...), July 13th, 2005 10:54 AM. (Chris V) (later)

i find that i wake up EARLIER when i'm hungover and dehydrated, i'll be awake and just feel tired.

why take sides, anyway?? The way to do it is obviously going to bed early AND sleeping in!!!!! classic

i wish i can do this.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:02 (twenty years ago)

The most insanely early shift I ever worked was 7 to 3.

i had that shift years ago, but it was only three days a week. last year i did a 7:45 to 3:45 gig. i'm not sure it was really worth getting up so early just to get out a mere hour and 15 minutes earlier than the rest of the world.

― president carter loves repetition (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:03 (twenty years ago)

my all-time favorite shift was 6pm to midnight, with a free cab ride home. i wish that assignment lasted longer.

― president carter loves repetition (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:04 (twenty years ago)

i work too hard. (once i did two jobs at once one 6am-1:30pm then 5pm-11:30pm fun!)

now i just have one job (although a couple of weeks back doing 14 hour days) and a freelance one at night that eats up my life.

― ken c (ken c), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:04 (twenty years ago)

After a year at that job, I switched to the 3 to 11 shift. That was better for my lifestyle at the time.

WRT hangovers, it is obviously urgent and key to wake up early, eat and drink something, then go back to bed again.

― MIS Information (kate), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:05 (twenty years ago)

basically i have no night life, except for the weekends. we are free to choose our own hours...so i could work any time i choose, but i like the afternoons. It gives me time alone to unwind and do any errands that need to be done. Plus it gives me at least 4 hours of free video game time before the wife gets home...which is key.

― Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:10 (twenty years ago)

I always get up at 7am then spend the entire day being a complete miserable cunt and just fixating on how I'm going back to bed as soon as I get out of work. Then when I get home I get a second wind and do loads of pointless shit that keeps me up too late to catch up on the sleep. Then when I finally get a day off I waste it by getting up at 4pm.

My hangovers are quite useful I find, I'm far chirpier at work when I'm wired out of my skull.

― Michael Philip Philip Philip Avoidant (Ferg), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:15 (twenty years ago)

The older I get, the less able I am to sleep in. Anything after 8:00 seems very late to me, so I'll pick "going to bed early."

It's all moot for me for the next few weeks, as I'm working on my biggest project of the year (a 152-160 page magazine to be built from the ground up), plus a smaller project (32-page livestock breeders' directory) plus an apazine deadline. So my workday, starting today, is roughly 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. at least until the first of August. This morning I woke up from a dream at 4:30 and started thinking about the stack of work on the desk, and went ahead and got up to get started. If I can get a grip on my ILX addiction, I'll be posting a lot less.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:18 (twenty years ago)

i work too hard. (once i did two jobs at once one 6am-1:30pm then 5pm-11:30pm fun!)

Didn't you go mental? I mean, I'd probably wouldn't know where I was.

― nathalie's body's designed for two (stevie nixed), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:18 (twenty years ago)

i miss the job i had where the entire (very small) office was made up of twenty- and thirty-something sex and the city-type girls and as a result our mini-fridge was always well stocked with all the diet coke we could drink.

― president carter loves repetition (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:19 (twenty years ago)

Ken OTM re hangovers, but I always find that I wake up *knowing* that the second I move a single muscle (this includes blinking) I will feel dreadful. So I lay there, still, trying to hold off the inevitable.

This, however, doesn't happen when I drink G&T. I can drink ludicrous amounts of gin with no ill effects, as evidenced by last Saturday.

Chris = 1 rum and he's down, though. Haha.

i miss the job i had where the entire (very small) office was made up of twenty- and thirty-something sex and the city-type girls and as a result our mini-fridge was always well stocked with all the diet coke we could drink.

was there also a topless man washing the windows?

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:20 (twenty years ago)

Explain this bit of bullshit to me: I can't drag my carcass out of bed at 6:00am like I need to every weekday morning. I even have trouble getting up at 6:45. On Saturday, I'm wide awake at 6:00 and can't sleep in.

― geyser muffler and a quarter (Dave225), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:22 (twenty years ago)

was there also a topless man washing the windows?

we were pretty high up. i don't think i ever saw anyone out there washing the windows.

― president carter loves repetition (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:24 (twenty years ago)

i went to sleep early last night so that i could drive my girlfriend to the airport at 5 this morning. when i got back home i couldnt sleep anymore, so i loafed around in bed and managed to write a fun little song before i had to get ready for work.

going to bed early wins!

― AaronK (AaronK), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:45 (twenty years ago)

If I'm not doing anything at the weekend I tend to have a nap in the afternoon, just because going asleep is so nice. Then I get to do it again later on. Week mornings I want to sleep in, but can't, then soon as it's weekend I wake early and can't get back to sleep. I find that my enjoyment of sleep is enhanced by my massive primark pyjamas.

― Raston Warrior Robot (alix), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:49 (twenty years ago)

is it true that too much sleep is bad for you?

― g-kit (g-kit), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:51 (twenty years ago)

oh and i am captain nap on the weekends. typically around 1pm.

― Lupton Pitman (Chris V), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:52 (twenty years ago)

Too much sleep isn't bad for you in and of itself. However, sleeping too much is often a symptom of depression. Which is, without a doubt, bad for you.

― MIS Information (kate), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:52 (twenty years ago)

exactly what lauren said.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:54 (twenty years ago)

i don't think i've ever slept longer than 12 hours straight.
i like those moments when wake up after falling asleep during the day, best described by George Carlin: "you know when you fall asleep during the day, and you wake up, and it's dark... and you don't know what god damn day it is?"
i LOVE those moments, it's like you've fallen right out of the world as you know it while sleeping.

― g-kit (g-kit), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:55 (twenty years ago)

I had those moments when I was in hospital after the accident - I literally couldn't tell whether it was day or night, even with windows which indisputably showed there to be daylight; my mind wouldn't accept it.

The last big lie-in I had was last weekend, after HORRIBLE DOG and Live-8; went to bed about 12:30, slept straight through and when I woke up, it was 11:35! Could do with a few more of those!

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 11:58 (twenty years ago)

i hate laying in bed after waking up if i know i won't be able to get back to sleep. so infuriating. if i feel i won't nod off easily, i get up right away. i find laying in bed when not asleep frustrating rather than relaxing, either because i can't sleep or because i should be doing something instead.
on the other hand, waking up in the morning, then nodding off again after 10-15 minutes can lead to some fucked up dreamage.

― g-kit (g-kit), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 12:07 (twenty years ago)

I find that the quality of sleep is far more important to me than the amount--I can't remember the last time I woke up feeling genuinely refreshed.

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 12:36 (twenty years ago)

which is more refreshing/restful, the deep sleep or the rem stuff?

― g-kit (g-kit), Wednesday, 13 July 2005 12:45 (twenty years ago)

on the other hand, waking up in the morning, then nodding off again after 10-15 minutes can lead to some fucked up dreamage.

This is true, and why is it that once you enter that phase you sleep way more than necessary, missing appointments/class/work, etc..Or is this just me?

― Richard K (Richard K), Thursday, 14 July 2005 01:59 (twenty years ago)

which is more refreshing/restful, the deep sleep or the rem stuff?

The deep sleep, which happens very soon after you fall asleep. It doesn't last very long, and the rest of the sleeping period (The other 3 stages of sleep) doesn't do much for your body. That's why it is possible to do that 20min sleep every three hours thing.

― Sasha (sgh), Thursday, 14 July 2005 02:09 (twenty years ago)

i do neither of these things now. I don't know why. I stay up until terrible hours and get out of bed as soon as possible. I'm highly strung (or should be)

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 14 July 2005 02:40 (twenty years ago)

Now that I'm older, going to bed early is much preferable to sleeping in.

― Orbit (Orbit), Thursday, 14 July 2005 02:41 (twenty years ago)

i like getting up early when i don't HAVE to do it.

totally. i am notorious for sleeping in, but i wish was a morning person. waking up early after a good rest leads to more good days than sleeping in. though i suppose the trade off is less of a chance for good nights. and *that* is why it's good to start drinking at noon.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 14 July 2005 03:06 (twenty years ago)

My sleep cycle is still all messed up. Hello, insomnia, worst thing ever. Went to bed early but lay awake for ages.

(Possibly wound up by the denouncement of the drama I'd been watching - why do they show such violent and upsetting things right before people go to bed? Right, the watershed, I know. But still.)

― MIS Information (kate), Thursday, 14 July 2005 07:12 (twenty years ago)

So, guess what? Early night. 11:30. Wake up at 02:00 and don't get back to sleep until 04:30...

Today's posts will be madly creative.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 14 July 2005 07:46 (twenty years ago)

How much sleep do you need to function normally? I can just about function on seven hours, but any less, and my mind loses structural integrity.

― MIS Information (kate), Thursday, 14 July 2005 07:49 (twenty years ago)

what with the heat and that other thing i got to sleep at about 1 this morning (fourth day running) and woke at 5:30... not good.

― koogs (koogs), Thursday, 14 July 2005 08:12 (twenty years ago)

That's not too bad.

My mind is singing "I want to be alone" by 2thirdzz for some reason...

"The clothes you wear, I wouldn't sneeze on!"

Umm, good.

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 14 July 2005 08:17 (twenty years ago)

Actually, now head is on a better song...

"No matter if fools say we can't win, I know I'll fall in love again..."

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 14 July 2005 08:34 (twenty years ago)

How much sleep do you need to function normally? I can just about function on seven hours, but any less, and my mind loses structural integrity.

< 6 hours: normal functioning
6-8 hours: intense tiredness
8-10 hours: normal functioning
> 10 hours: headache and sickness

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Thursday, 14 July 2005 08:44 (twenty years ago)

Under 8 hours and I'm miserable, as I am right now:
Optimal amount of sleep?

― Baaderonixx le Belge (Fabfunk), Thursday, 14 July 2005 08:51 (twenty years ago)

i have to get out of this habit of staying up all night.

― the urban heat island effect (Jody Beth Rosen), Thursday, 14 July 2005 08:51 (twenty years ago)

The worst for me is the absolute tiredness at 8-9pm, but an inability just to go to bed and sleep. I can't sleep before 1am, and then I get up tired again at 8.30am (refer to chart above).

This late evening tiredness is horrible because in social situations (e.g. the pub last night), all I could do was yawn.

― tissp! (the impossible shortest specia), Thursday, 14 July 2005 08:56 (twenty years ago)

i haven't had a full 8 hours of sleep for about a month now

― ken c (ken c), Thursday, 14 July 2005 09:06 (twenty years ago)

I've had to get up at 3:30 for work all this week; today I did that thing where you hit the snooze and then go back to sleep but dream that you got up and got ready. :((((

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 14 July 2005 11:16 (twenty years ago)

i haven't had a proper 8 hour kip for ages either. but this morning i woke up and it was 7:30, but i felt well-rested, so i assumed i'd misread the clock, and it was in fact 8:30, so i jumped out of bed (ok ok, i jumped off the sofa - my bedroom is in the roof so it gets too hot to sleep up there) all like "omgwtf late for work".
i had to check and recheck the clock about 3 times before i believed that i hadn't overslept. which was nice.

― g-kit (g-kit), Thursday, 14 July 2005 11:27 (twenty years ago)

Yesterday I got up after 4 hrs. of sleep and I was a mess; I just got up after 8 1/2 hours of sleep, so maybe the productivity will go up a bit. (I have to figure out how to quit fondling ILX though.)

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 14 July 2005 12:11 (twenty years ago)

last night i went to bed at 10:30, this morning i got up at 5:30, went on a walk, then came home and now im ready for work - at 7:21 AM -- AND I FEEL GRATE

― Homosexual II (Homosexual II), Thursday, 14 July 2005 12:25 (twenty years ago)

Starting Monday, my plan is to wake up one hour earlier to have the time to buy a paper, sit down in a café and have an expresso before going to work. I see people do this every morning and it seems the best thing in the world

― Baaderonixx chez les Belges (Fabfunk), Thursday, 14 July 2005 13:01 (twenty years ago)

Ive worked a 3-11pm shift the last 3 weeks and this last week Ive also been on call so have had to stay up til 3 or 4am on top of that. Next week I have to go back to an 8am start, and then swap between an 8am start and a 3pm start every week for like, god knows how long.

Being on call is killin' me, and the thought of going back to days now that im used to nights is uughh. I dont cope with messed up hours :/

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 14 July 2005 13:18 (twenty years ago)

4:30 sunday morning = 90210 Senior Prom episode with Cathy Dennis and Tory Spelling's head down the toilet. followed by the second half of a documentary about airships. almost kinda worth it.

last night was the first proper night's sleep i've had in a week.

― koogs (koogs), Monday, 18 July 2005 07:49 (twenty years ago)

three years pass...

lately I've started going to bed at about 20.00 on midweek nights, and then watching a movie or two or just chatting to friends on my laptop. this feels like a sort of malaise/anti-social trend since I tend to do it almost the instant my flatmates come in. it's fun though, I hadn't been in bed at 20.00 for a few years until I began this habit. being unemployed is prob part of it. that and the fact I bought two more pillows a few weeks ago.

only drawback is it makes me feel a bit like somebody's grandma.

any ilxors beating the winter this way?

― Local Garda, Tuesday, 10 February 2009 20:13 (sixteen years ago)

why isn't "sleeping in" called "sleeping late"? I mean, by everybody?

I've been falling asleep before 11 on weekends, regularly.

― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, 10 February 2009 20:14 (sixteen years ago)

Yes! It's nicer in wintery weather, with the curtains drawn and the wind going wooo-woooo-woooo round the chimney-pots but you're tucked up under an eiderdown. I even have a sleeping cap for really cold nights.
― MIS Information (kate), Wednesday, July 13, 2005 2:10 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

waht

― i wish life was like freaky-deaky bjork video (rent), Tuesday, 10 February 2009 20:31 (sixteen years ago)

i also tend to go to bed early. read a book or watch gossip girl...and fall asleep.

― Nathalie (stevienixed), Tuesday, 10 February 2009 20:32 (sixteen years ago)

i also fear i will never have proper sleep since having two kids...

― Nathalie (stevienixed), Tuesday, 10 February 2009 20:33 (sixteen years ago)

When they're teens and sleeping 18 hrs/day themselves, you'll be able to catch up.

― WmC, Tuesday, 10 February 2009 20:38 (sixteen years ago)

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