As someone from an early age I’ve always been a night person, as a teenager like most I migrated my sleeping patten to later nights and sleeping in, but as I’ve got older and responsibilities etc changed, the demand for those hours of sleep and pattern etc decreased but my mind and body hasn’t. Years later with early starts for kids and work it’s always a challenge getting up in the morning and trying to sleep.
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As a Teenager
As teenagers we’ve probably all been there, late nights late mornings, and for some of us even going into a mid 20’s (30’s?) having that routine, for me even on a normal day I would stay up till 1 pm plying PC or watching TV, for many moons I would be listening to Radio or even watching Poker in the Background as it was quite fascinating and enjoyable to watch late in the night.
I would wake up about 8 or as last-minute, I could do before my work shifts start, and on days off I would stay asleep till about 11am, midday always sounded very late in the day so I would ensure I was up before then lol. But nighttime was always late, my body felt good about it, I actually felt worse changing my body to 6am starts and 10/11 pm sleep, even over a prolonged amount of time.
Kids early morning rises
With the kids arriving my sleep pattern really did change, like most parents sleep wasn’t great and for us, it was worse because we have 3 children over 9 years, with about 4-year gaps which meant that just as the child got to ta that age of understanding sleep and being settled the next one appeared, it felt like for 14 years we never got sleep lol.
Roo was an ok sleeper but being our first we were like most new parents and overly cautious and overkill on everything we did, Tigger was fine until 18 months, when a batch of Chickenpox set him back, which in our opinion put back so much of his development for years to come as it was a rough time for him, Piglet was also not a great sleeper, even now she fidgets and has disturbed sleep but not enough for our sleep to be effected.
Job Change
With a change in job adding now 6 am starts at work! let alone what time I would have to get up this was all too much for my body and mind, I’ve managed to engineer the job that I work in the evenings than early mornings, getting home at 10.30 pm and staying up for an hour or so is fine for me, my body needs that time just to settle when I get in.
However, being the main parent has meant that also need to get up in the morning, luckily our kids are now at that age for the most part I can get them to awake at 7, Roo leaves slightly earlier for high school so she gets up just before as she takes longer to get ready (teenager), ill be honest I’m on Autopilot, it takes me a while to get going, and is arguably one of the reasons over the years why I like Coffee so much lol.
I can get everything prepped for school but I’m on that Auto Pilot, then ill do stuff roundhouse, or plan to go to work etc, fight through the tiredness, and hit that point of being ok, but in the nighttime, I’m absolutely fine, even when I’m working or been up early, but back to being morning it’s tough.
I realise many people struggle with early mornings I gt that in someways working nighttime doesn’t help the issue, but that’s how my mind and body works, I’ve tried both ways and I can’t do mornings, I’m a night person, maybe when I’m even older or the kids have grown up I can settle or change more but nothing look slike changing soon.
