Society demands a sleep schedule, yet the very idea of sleeping on a schedule is newly invented for industrial society.
Having done several years of experimenting on myself, I've come to the conclusion that our sleep needs vary greatly from day to day, circumstance to circumstance, and to sleep the same schedule every day is forcing one's body into a square bowl.
For example, if I am coming down with flu or cold, I may want to sleep as much as 24 hours in a day, maybe 16 if I feel a need to get things done. This allows my body to spend all its energy on mobilizing the immune system, and allows me for a quicker recovery.
If the weather is rainy or gray, I may want to sleep more.
If I'm doing something exciting, like attending a festival or conference, coding, or traveling, I may not want to sleep at all, or get by on a few several-hour naps.
Having adopted a flexible sleeping unschedule, I feel much better than I used to on the office cycle.
>Society demands a sleep schedule, yet the very idea of sleeping on a schedule is newly invented for industrial society.
Umm--- pre-industrial society everything stopped when it went dark. Humans have very poor night vision, we can't function in the dark and so basically everyone went to sleep when the sun went down.
That's not true, people used to wake up for several hours a night. There were also those up through the night tending fire and looking for predators. And darkness does not rule out sleeping during the day.
Having done several years of experimenting on myself, I've come to the conclusion that our sleep needs vary greatly from day to day, circumstance to circumstance, and to sleep the same schedule every day is forcing one's body into a square bowl.
For example, if I am coming down with flu or cold, I may want to sleep as much as 24 hours in a day, maybe 16 if I feel a need to get things done. This allows my body to spend all its energy on mobilizing the immune system, and allows me for a quicker recovery.
If the weather is rainy or gray, I may want to sleep more.
If I'm doing something exciting, like attending a festival or conference, coding, or traveling, I may not want to sleep at all, or get by on a few several-hour naps.
Having adopted a flexible sleeping unschedule, I feel much better than I used to on the office cycle.