I was never a morning person. I was a proud owl and an insomniac. Around July 2021 and August 2021 I tried doing a couple of night outs on Fridays trying to explore my favorite topics. The next days were worse. I coudn't do much, was feeling sleepy all the day. That is when I realised that I was Aging and I can no more fight nature.
My summary of this is Don't fight your nature when you are young, Don't fight nature as you get old. Since you know that you cannot be young forever you need to make sure that the two circles of your nature and nature start intercepting more. I think this is the only sustainable way of living. One conversation with a life coach changed my perspective about waking up early. Since August 24th I have been waking up between 4:30 am and 6:00 am consistently.
What has worked for me
I used to hate waking up early. The only thing I hated more was waking up to an alarm. That is such an unnatural way of waking up. For somebody who used to wake up around 9:00 am anything earlier than that was a bonus. So I gave myself a window between 4:00 am to 6:00am for waking up. The only rule I follow is if I wake up between 4 and 6, I need to get out of bed and go straight to the bathroom to freshen up. That is all. Remaining everything follows.
Making this more sustainable
Last week we created a whatsapp group for people in tech who are trying to wake up early. If you want to join DM me on https://twitter.com/gokulnk and I will share the whatsapp group link.
Being able to sleep when my body gets tired is one of the most important thing in this. Sometimes this is not possible. So I am trying to make sure that this is possible. Two major blockers now are
- Something at office, the frequency of which is coming down.
- Abhirath not sleeping.
Understanding the science
Naina from Grofers mentioned that Cortisol is something that matters. So I need to readup on this. #todo
Cortisols
Think of cortisol as nature’s built-in alarm system.
"For instance, when your body is on high alert, cortisol can alter or shut down functions that get in the way." - #todo see how we can use this in System Design
More in Cortisol
Circadian Rhythm
"A circadian rhythm (/sərˈkeɪdiən/), or circadian cycle, is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep–wake cycle and repeats roughly every 24 hours.[1] It can refer to any process that originates within an organism (is endogenous) and responds to the environment (entrained by the environment)."
"The term circadian comes from the Latin circa, meaning "around" (or "approximately"), and diēm, meaning "day". Processes with 24-hour cycles are more generally called diurnal rhythms; diurnal rhythms should not be called circadian rhythms unless they can be confirmed as endogenous, and not environmental"
#todo How can I use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm#/media/File:Biological_clock_human.svg to my advantage. Atleast I finally know why we don't shit in bed.
More in Circadian Rhythm
Entrainment
In the study of chronobiology, entrainment occurs when rhythmic physiological or behavioral events match their period to that of an environmental oscillation.
Entrainment helps organisms maintain an adaptive phase relationship with the environment as well as prevent drifting of a free running rhythm. This stable phase relationship achieved is thought to be the main function of entrainment.
Read about phasic and continuous entrainment
Phasic
Check at periodic events, find the error or difference between the environmental cycle and the organism's circadian rhythm. and reset the clock accordingly.
The phasic mode is when there is limited interaction with the environment to "reset" the clock every day by the amount equal to the "error", which is the difference between the environmental cycle and the organism's circadian rhythm.
Continuous
Continuous process and needs continuous inputs too. An example being continuous light helping in correcting the circadian rhythm.
Of the several possible cues, called zeitgebers (German for 'time-givers', 'synchronizers', 'external timekeepers'), which can contribute to entrainment, light has the largest impact.
Why we sleep
Sancheeta from Grofers suggested that I read Why we sleep book. So I purchased it on the same day but I am yet to read it.
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