My mother says I was a night owl as a baby and toddler. That must have been hard on her, as I was one of six kids. I can't remember those years, but I do remember staying up late from age 12 through high school, in order to read---and to watch TV as a high schooler! I don't know if anyone in the house knew I was awake, but I really should not have done that. I was not getting enough sleep, as I still had to catch the school bus in the morning.

I still act like a night owl, but with a few days notice, I can gradually adjust my sleep schedule to accommodate an early appointment. So I do have some flexibility in my ability to make sleep changes. If I needed to become a permanent early bird, I could do it.

Sometimes I would miss school cos I wouldn't hear my alarm. I would stay up late too and it seemed no matter how low I kept the tv my mom would wake up and tell me to go to bed. Now she doesn't like waking up early either. lol

Takes all kinds to make the world go around ;)

Very early riser here. Whenever I am making my doctor's appointments I say, I'd like the first appointment of the day! And they say, but it's at ______, and I say, good. I'll take it.

If for example your typical day is 16 hours awake and 8 hours sleeping ( the split doesn't matter), getting up at 6am and going to bed at 10pm is the same as getting up at 9am and going to bed at 1am. Some people are most energetic right after sleep, when they awake, and for others, it's at the end of the day. The time on the clock doesn't affect this at all. If you want to reset and start your daily cycle earlier (when measured by what the clock says), set your alarm for earlier than normal, you'll find you get sleepy and will go to bed earlier after several days. This is the same thing that happens when people travel to different time zones.

I used to be a night owl, but the older I get, the harder it is for me to stay awake. I like to play some computer games, last thing at night....mahjong, solitaire.....those sort of games, but I find myself nodding off, sitting here. I like to listen to the radio at night....for one thing, it helps my tinnitus to have something to listen to besides the crickets in my head, but I can never stay awake. I hit the bed and I am asleep within five minutes. I don't get up extra early, but usually by 7. But I am a weirdo....if that counts for anything. ;)

My husband is a morning person who arises at 4 in the summer to be at the golf course at 5. In the winter his sleep schedule is different. Even at home when parents made me turn off the TV at 11 and go to my room to sleep, I read till one or two. After marriage, with no parental restrictions , I always watched the late night shows...Paar, Carson ,Letterman, now Colbert and then go on the computer, then read some chapters in my latest book. I never get any more than seven hours sleep or mostly less.

I have been a night owl, but not since becoming a mother. I don't think I will ever be the lie-down-and-I'm-out person I was.

Aren't all adolescents 'vampires' -- alive only after dark?

Dh & I like astrophotography.....done in the middle of the night. For THAT I still give up sleep. I worked a rotating shift, 7-7, rotating nights to days every 4 weeks. I slept about 5.5 hrs. I was always sleep deprived.

I used to be a morning person because I had to wake up early and I enjoyed going to bed by 9 and up by 6. However I'm not working now and I've slowly shifted to a night owl, staying up till past midnight and sleeping till 9. I didn't think it was possible and there was a painful period of adjustment where I stayed up til 1 or 2 but woke up at 6.

I wake up very easily and very quickly and usually can't fall back asleep, even if I'm still tired. It's a pain.

When I had kids, they wouldn't be put to bed till later in the evening so they wouldn't wake at the break of dawn. My night gene wasn't passed to them, however, however, since they both are early risers. I think you're born with the predilection.

That would be Vegas or any beach town, people are up all night!

Lifelong night owl here. I consider it an advantage. Most people want to work during the day and be home at night. Not me. I LOVE the night shift. More money,less busy,stupid phone not ringing off the hook and all the big bosses are at home,asleep,and I am but a forgotten worker bee. Also,I never have to check my schedule or arrange for time off to make any appointment. Why is it that businesses and docs offices and stuff are only open during the day,when most people are working? Seems rather inconvenient.

Beyond work,I enjoy the peace and serenity of the night. When im off,it's when I do my housework,make my cubes and spray to sell, get ahead on cooking,etc.

That being said, I do love late fall and winter days,when I'm off. Spring and summer, not so much. I garden at midnight because it's so obnoxiously hot during those days.

amylou, it's great that you know and have been able to arrange what works best for you and I'm sure your employer is happy that you're happy. The list of reasons why I think many more people prefer to work days is long and obvious, not the least of which is to be with one's family, friends and children who follow daytime "work" schedules. Good that it works for you, it wouldn't for a lot of people and it also precludes so many jobs that have daytime-only hours.

Elmer....agreed. I am very fortunate and grateful for the opportunity to work when I like. I am also grateful that most people prefer daytime hours,as I have had no competition at any employer for my preferred shift. I have no children and even though I work 12 hour nights it does not preclude me from enjoying daytime recreational activities when they arise,since I get off very early in the morning and can usually sneak a nap in.

I also enjoy an occasional day shift at work when it's necessary for me to fill in for a day person,since I enjoy most of the other people employed there who only work "normal" business hours. However, I do think it is biological whether you are a night owl or not. I am so drained after a day shift it's ridiculous. I never feel rested,no matter how much sleep I get if I have to work a week or so of days for some reason. But i have worked 30 plus nights straight of 12 hour night shifts with no noticeable fatigue.

I'm exhausted all of the time. My husband takes about 5.6 seconds to fall asleep. Envy and frustration from my side of the bed.

I've tried all of the remedies for insomnia. I never feel rested either. I do believe in "good" sleep but I've never been fortunate enough to experience it.

Pretty much zombified and it's no way to live.

I've always been a night owl but dealt well enough in my working years with having to be asleep before 1am. Still, I've had plenty of nights laying in bed saying I've got to be up in 5 hours... I've got to be up in 4 hours... I've got to be up in 3 hours. It's wonderful being able to go to bed at whatever time you feel sleepy.

I wish I could go to sleep earlier just because I'm tired. I have to been up at 6 am and can't get to sleep before between 1130 pm and 12:30 am. :( I don't use any caffeine and am not on any medications. Confessions of this night owl still at 60.

There are sleep labs/doctors that are in business to help, I don't know how successful they are.

After reading this thread I made a conscious effort to get eight hours sleep last night and I did. First in a long long time.

The Sleep specialty is one of the newest areas of training and practice for medical doctors. They can be HIGHLY effective. Almost all types of what they call "sleep disorders" can be dealt with and I assure you it's not a function of dispensing sleeping pills. In this day and age, there's no need for anyone to not have an adequate amount of restful sleep that allows them to feel good and alert during their waking hours.

I've been under the care of a sleep clinic at a medical school for nearly 20 years, though since the initial diagnosis and treatment plan, it has involved only seeing them once a year for a brief appointment. I don't take sleeping pills and never have. Before seeing them, I wasn't nearly in the state pennydesign describes but years of poor and restless sleep left me often tired during the typical day. It's not an exaggeration to say going to the sleep clinic and following their treatment plan has been a life changer for me. As it has for many people I know who have followed the same route. I fall asleep usually within 5 minutes of going to bed, rarely wake during the night, and wake up feeling great (and usually in the exact place and position I was in when I fell asleep). I am alert and never sleepy at all during the day. No naps, no drifting off in movies or on airplanes.

Sleep problems can be fixed, no matter how chronic or pervasive you think your problem is.

I read an op-ed piece years ago that about 25% of the population are night owls. I haven't fact checked that. BUT, THANK goodness we are! We're the ones staffing the hospitals, police stations, emergency dispatch, etc. every night. The theory proposed was that this genetic tendency came about in prehistoric times when SOMEONE had to tend the fires at night to keep they predators away. We are the most alert, awake creative, productive, etc. at night. LATE night!

The few times I have been tired and gone to bed before 1 or 2 am my body reacts as if it is a nap. I will only sleep for a couple hours and then be wide awake. If I go to bed a in the morning for a few more hours I can exist but it's not fun. The only way I can get back on track is just to pull an all nighter and wait at least until midnight the next day to go to bed. Then I will sleep for about 10 hours to make up for the lost sleep. If I go to bed between 2 and 3 am I do fine on 6 hours. However I am really not up to speed until late afternoon and evenings are my most productive times.

I really get tired of morning people saying "just go to bed early". It's like me saying lets go out for breakfast and talk the night away and you just sleep in.

I have been a night owl since I was a child. Used to read under the covers with a flashlight. I slept walked and napped for the first 16 years of raising the kids being forced to be a day person. I was really pushing for them to get their drivers license by 16.

Fortunately my best friend is like me. We never plan anything for early in the day.

watchme, other than the effect light has on the sleep/wake cycle and the hours of run in anyone's circadian rhythm, I don't believe there's any biological connection between the clock saying it's 10pm or the clock saying it's 1am over a stretch of time.

If you fly from here to the East Coast (3 hours time difference), I'm going to presume you won't indefinitely be staying up until 4 or 5am (the equivalent of 1 or 2am where you live). Similarly, if you went to Hawaii (3 hours difference during the summer), you would not forever be going to bed at 10 or 11pm. Why, because you would adjust your schedule to correspond to the awake and sleep hours ON THE CLOCK you prefer. In the same way, if you prefer to go to bed at 1-2am, great, but it's not like it's anything other than a personal choice that's easily changed.

I have often wished for a 24 hour park- playzone when the little one wouldn't sleep. Wishing we had a barn those days. Yeah, I dream of a completely safe 24 hour world. I had a friend once who was a graveyard shift emergency plumber. He loved those hours because the density of people was few and no traffic in the LA area.

Elmer, can you share what type of treatment they did that worked so well for you, if it's not too personal? I'm curious since you said no medications were involved.

Another night owl here. I'm exactly like watchme - if I go to bed too early, my body thinks it's a nap and I'll sleep for about 3 or 4 hours. Then I truly CAN'T go back to sleep for hours. If I have to be up early (which I do these days even tho retired, to get my grandson off to school several days a week), I just try to go to bed by 11 or 11:30 and read until midnight so I can get up at 6:15 or 6:30.

I had a really difficult time my whole career getting to work by 9 and for me the best thing about retirement is no alarm clock several days a week. But if left to my own devises, with no time to have to rise in the a.m., I will gradually default to going to bed about 2 or 3. I seem to get a second wind around 9 or 10 and will dive into cleaning the house or doing laundry or emptying a closet and reorganize it.

I also cannot catnap. If I feel like I have to have a nap (happens once every 5 years or so) if I can't sleep for 3 or 4 hours, I'm a mess when I awaken.

I can't nap either, even though I have tried (not so sure that sleep is cumulative).

I do know that my "heaviest" sleep happens after 5 AM...

I have tried to adjust my own rhythm, but even when my oldest was a baby and her normal wake time was five (so I was getting up then) I still had restless sleeping during the "normal" night time.

Also, I don't know too much about dreaming, but nightmares are a given if/when I do sleep.

I do know about lights on smoke alarms and tv standby lights and tried taping them to eliminate that. Also tried not using my laptop as the light from the screen is supposed to disrupt sleep patterns. I painted my bedroom to be darker at one point. Exercise, check. Physical labor, check. Lavender, check. Subliminal sleep CD's, check. Relaxation techniques, check. More comfortable bed, check. Also tried sleeping alone.

Not only does lack of good sleep affect thinking (as exhibited by this post!) but it's rather dangerous to drive when too tired. It really has become a problem, but one I have stopped fighting so hard as that can make a person tired AND frustrated.

A sleep center was also recommended for me, but I'm doubtful that it would be effective since I've researched this issue until I'm tired of it (pun intended)..

If you have read this, then you're probably awake and suffer also. And I'm sorry for that.

pennydesign, I'm posting 41 minutes after you. Where are you that
wakefulness at this hour probably signals sleeplessness? I'm in central
time zone USA, 9:50 pm.

It sucks having insomnia but it also sucks being on the other side of that. I have problems with sleeping too much. I have been known to sleep 12+ hours. People say I don't know how you sleep that much or I wish I could sleep that much. No you don't because you know how you feel after that much sleep?....tired. :/ A couple of months ago my cousin had a birthday party planned one weekend. I woke up to texts on my phone. I looked it was 6pm and the party was at 7. I slept till 6 o'clock in the evening! I've done it before and will probably do it again. My sleep is all over the place. Like I said yes I could go to be early but I will still sleep late.

To those of you with insomnia if I could I'd donate some of my sleep juice to you. Haha

If it's the evening and I tell my husband I'm going to take a nap he tells me, "ok see you tomorrow." :/ he's right lol

chi - please message me from my Houzz homepage, so that I can respond to you, and I'll be happy to give you more details.

"I'm doubtful that it would be effective since I've researched this issue "

Really? Such a comment would be credible only if you stayed last night at a Holiday Inn Express. Otherwise, it's unlikely you know anything remotely close to what a trained physician knows and could bring to bear to help you. It's a false rationalization you're using to fool yourself with. Give it a try, you've got nothing to lose.

Funny, Elmer, but since I have been here that's exactly the commercial that comes to my mind when I read your comments, too....

I guess we think alike in some ways.

I know my mind wanders when I'm reading a dark book, or up late reading sites online. I have to have a cold bedroom(I leave a window open all year except in summer when I have AC). It has to be dark with blinds on all five windows, lavender sprayed on the sheets which are line dried, and not one but two sound machines sending out white noise.

Matthias, I'm central, too but not there right now.

It would be wonderful if night owls, who rise later in the morning...realized how much early birds had already gotten done.

Who's to say night owls don't get just as much done but at a different time? It's not like we're being lazy and just sleeping the day away. We are just on a different clock. And even when I do sleep the day away I get stuff done when I wake up.

When you wake up you'll know it wasn't a cleaning fairy that cleaned your house last night it was a night owl. lol

pennyd, I was out of town for 5 days last week and at my destination I stayed at.......a Holiday Inn Express. It's true.

It's kind of funny this post has gone in this direction because my DD just posted this on FB a few days ago: "why is it that I am considered lazy because I stay up late & sleep in? I get the same amount of waking/sleeping hours as anyone else, just at a different time".

lisaw2015 (ME) - yes I feel the same way. When I worked the evening shift I'd get out at midnight and stay up from 4-7am and then wake up around 1-2pm. So I got about the same amount and sometimes more or less sleep than most. But because of the hours people thought I slept all day.

I was speaking from personal experience there ^^^^ not implying that night owls are lazy in any way. I am the only early bird in my family...therefore I am the weirdo. :-)

Exactly...we night owls get maybe even get less sleep than others. I get seven never more and what difference is at what time of the day I get to sleep?

Many "night owls" are such because they suffer from insomnia. It's not by choice but rather a difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep. Insomnia is a treatable condition.

I think the attitude people have about late sleepers is that it's a nonconformity, whether or not intentional. Most people choose or need to get up at an early hour to get to work or to get started on whatever they spend the day doing. Sleeping past what for others is a normal starting time can be seen as an expression of flaunting or demonstrating that person's non-need to do so.

It would be wonderful if early risers...realized how much night owls were getting done after they went to bed so early!

I get a lot done in the early AM when I get up.

read an op-ed piece years ago that about 25% of the population are night owls. I haven't fact checked that. BUT, THANK goodness we are! We're the ones staffing the hospitals, police stations, emergency dispatch, etc. every night.

I am VERY grateful to y'all that are night owls. I did ONE hospital 11-7 shift in all my decades of being a registered nurse and that was one night shift too many.

SO: "You didn't work last night. Why did you stay up? Can't you sleep? What are you DOING all night???"

(Gets ups from the table where he has just finished the breakfast I cooked,which was next to about 70 packs of wax cubes that I made,packaged and labeled,walks across the gleaming wood floors,through our closet,which us full of freshly washed and folded or hung up clothes,to grab a freshly washed towel,steps into a spotless bathtub to start his day. ) I think he really does believe in the cleaning fairy. ;)

It's okay though. I don't hear him.

After I cleaned the kitchen and started the dishwasher,I'm asleep.

I do not suffer from insomnia. Being a night owl is not a disease. Its not even it's a choice. It's a preference. The choice lies in whether or not you live the way that makes you feel better. I'm more productive and happier doing certain things at night. I get 7 or 8 hours of solid sleep whether I'm working nights like usual or days when necessary. The difference is I'm more energetic and happy when I'm up all night,as opposed to day.

It's very quiet when you're not working (outside the house) at night. Too much introspection, too much thinking, few distractions. Others in my house are sleeping.

The term "dark night of the soul" always comes to me in the middle of the night...The origins are rooted in spirituality but it's appropriate for those of us who are very reluctant night owls.

Oh well. See y'all tonight :) :(

penny, I LOVE being awake while others are asleep. I feel like I have the world to myself! I live alone now, but my husband was an early riser, so I had to be more quiet on my late nights while he slept. Even now, I know all the neighbors are asleep (or at least I can't see or hear them) there is little to no traffic hum from far away, no lawn mowers, leaf blowers, etc. I love the silence, but I am an introspective "thinker" so the more time that's conducive to that the better for me.

Trust me I do not have insomnia. I could fall asleep anytime and once I'm asleep I stay asleep. I guess it's by choice but not really. I work a morning schedule and I still can't "get my clock turned around". I've always been this way. I'm sure my mom set me to "normal" people hours when I was a baby. She worked very early in the morning and went to bed at a normal time. But slowly over the years my bedtime would get later and I would wake up later. I like mornings but waking up early is torture. If I ever wake up early by accident haha it's beautiful outside. Going to work isn't the same cos I'm stuck inside so I don't really get to enjoy the morning. But like others have said it's peaceful at night.

To me staying up all night is a lot easier then waking up early.