Using magnetic resonance imaging-guided brain stimulation, scientists tested muscle torque and the excitability of pathways through the spinal cord and brain. They found that morning people's brains were most excitable at 9 a.m. This slowly decreased through the day. It was the polar opposite for evening people, whose brains were most excitable at 9 p.m.
This kind of goes under the "Duh!" category, as I know my brain is more active at night. I was starting to assume that it was due to conditioning myself to stay up late, and now it looks like I might have been born that way.
More interesting stuff--morning people's physical strength is the same all day, night owl's strength increases throughout the day.
I've been trying to get on a regular sleep schedule, but I A) hate sleep too much when I'm awake, and B) love sleep too much when I'm trying to wake up. I resented the hell out of going to bed at a reasonable time as a kid, not out of rebellion, but because there was still so much I wanted to do. The only times I've gotten used to a reasonable sleep schedule was when I had a steady job, and I always messed that up on the weekends anyways. I started to get straight last week, but blew it by staying up till 3 am that weekend, handing out with friends.
Since I work from home, and can work any hours I want, I end up with odd hours. I can stay up 24-36 hours straight with no effort, more if I'm doing mentally exciting work.
Now I have to stop and ask myself--do I want to get on a normal schedule, which would result in trying to calm down and get ready for bed when my brain is readying for it's peak performance? Or is it relative to the time I wake up, and no matter when I get up I'll be most ready to work when the world says I'm ready for bed?
This is really frustrating. I honestly don't know what I goals I should be setting for myself regarding sleep patterns.
Damn.
David
No comments:
Post a Comment