Warning For The Night Owls

The body is an orchestra of organs, each providing an essential function. In this metaphor, the circadian rhythm is the conductor. The conductor makes every neurotransmitter, every hormone, and every chemical in the body cycle with the daily rhythm.

This makes us our sleep habits unique and tailored.

Being a morning (or evening) person is inborn, genetic, and very hard to change.

Whenever we undergo a change in our daily schedule, our sleep tends to suffer a bit.

Simple facts such as not waking up and going to bed at the usual hour, not getting enough natural light or making less to no exercise can lead to sleep disorders.

Especially during times of staying only in the house, one needs to make sure that the regular schedule is not too much disturbed, as this can lead, among other issues, to sleep disorders.

A good way to get your normal sleep is by maintaining a regular wake-up and bedtime, even through unusual periods of time. Furthermore, ensuring that your room gets enough natural light, or even better, that you get it, will definitely help. Among other helpful tips there are the fact of giving up on coffee or making as many indoor physical exercises as possible.

• Aaron Levie, the CEO of enterprise cloud company Box
• Reddit co-founder and husband of Serena Williams, Alexis Ohanian - gets up around 10 am
• Pharrell Williams  doesn't use an alarm to wake himself up; he relies on his body's natural sleep habits
• Mark Zuckerberg gets up around 8 am

When trying to change your sleep habits, don't give up too soon. Keep it up for a week. The days will get easier, and you'll learn to love sleep again.

To get to bed earlier, slow down in the evenings. Read a book rather than engaging with your smartphone or laptop. Listening to music is good too.

Schedule something fun or desirable to look forward to in the morning before work. 

It could include coffee, the news, gym or uninterrupted smartphone access.

Take steps to make it easier to sleep well.

• Avoid caffeine, alcohol, or other drugs for several hours before bed
• Set a regular bedtime
• Drink some warm milk or herbal tea, or have a light snack
• Try a screen-free activity like meditation or reading
• Eliminate as much noise from your bedroom as possible
• Keep your bedroom dark
• Don’t linger too long in bed. It’s better to do your lounging on the couch and head for bed only when it’s time to sleep.

A night of sleep is made of five cycles, making us go through various sleep stages. This can be light sleep, deep sleep and REM stage of sleep when we dream and have eye movement.

During sleep, our body produces Melatonin and Growth Hormones, which are required by your bodies for regulating our internal clock and to restore our muscles, bone and metabolism.

1. We all don’t need a standard eight hours of sleep, as it varies according to our age, genetics and level of activity.
2. Insomnia is actually of various types, from Onset (unable to fall asleep) to Maintenance(struggling to stay asleep) and other types like chronic and acute insomnia.
3. We all do not have to wake up at 5 a.m., and the wake up time depends on our chronotype.
4. Sleeping pills, like the types of insomnia, are different too. Benadryl helps you fall asleep, while melatonin pills regulate our internal clock.

Most people keep planning, visualizing and imagining their future life as if they are watching some other person live it. That person is you. If you intentionally live each day, perfecting and maximising your vision of the future, instead of killing time or just living a bread and butter, day-to-day existence, you steer your life towards the direction you want.

We need to act like the person we wish to become, as we are what we do all day.

• Nutrition: We are what we eat, and having a good nutritious diet, full of green vegetables, nuts and seeds goes a long way. Avoid processed foods at any cost.
• Oxygen: or fresh air is a primary need of the brain. Any daily exercise routine is best for brain health.
• Information: The brain needs information to process, preferably high quality and diverse. Active learning, along with continuous mental challenges that get the cylinders firing is the way to nourish the brain and form connections. True learning reframes our entire mental model and helps the brain evolve.
• Love: What keeps us happy and healthy is good, loving relationships, and the care and touch of loved ones.

Our bodies take a few days to fully adjust, depending on not only how many time zones have been crossed, but also the direction of travel.

Usually, it would take five or six days to adjust to a six-hour shift in time zone. When you travel east, your body has a shorter time to synchronize with the regular 24-hour sun cycle. When you travel west, your body has extra time to adjust.

Generally, the best way to fool your biological clock is to shift your internal rhythms before the flight.

• Restrict light exposure to specific times.
• Restrict rest and meals.
• Adjust activities such as walking and running to specific times.
• Use melatonin - the hormone that makes us sleepy - in small amounts. However, certain people should avoid melatonin.

“A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have.” 

Momentum is created or destroyed every day with the first few decisions you make.

If you learn to master your day, you’ll learn how to master your weeks, months, years, and life.

The first purpose of sleep is restoration.

Every day, your brain accumulates metabolic waste as it goes about its normal neural activities. Sleeping restores the brains healthy condition by removing these waste products. Accumulation of these waste products has been linked to many brain-related disorders.

The second purpose of sleep is memory consolidation.

Sleep is crucial for memory consolidation, which is responsible for your long term memories. Insufficient or fragmented sleep can hamper your ability to remember facts and feelings/emotions.