Does you function better during the day or at night?
By craftcatcher
@craftcatcher (3699)
United States
April 12, 2007 2:12pm CST
I am a total night person, my circadian rhythm is completely backwards. My brain, my body, everything works better at night. I do my best thinking, I am at my most creative and I get more work done between midnight and about 6:00 am. As soon as the sun comes up I start getting tired. I sleep the best between 9:00 am and 3:00 pm. If I try to sleep at night I wake up 3 or 4 times and I never feel quite rested.
I have tried to change this my entire life since most everyone else is up during the day. I had a day job for 6 years and got up every business day at 6:00 am and went to bed at 11:00 pm. Every day was a struggle to stay awake and get my work done.
When I started working a night shift I never had trouble staying awake, I always got my work done on time and I was much happier, more active, more creative and well rested.
I also have a real problem with sunlight which is probably where all this comes from. Sunlight gives me headaches and makes me perspire something awful! I am very uncomfortable in sunlight. At home if I'm awake during the day I keep the curtains and shades pulled at all times and I love rainy and cloudy days.
My friends jokingly call me a vampire and some think I'm just plain wierd. But that's the way I've always been so I don't try to fight it.
I was just wondering how common this is and do any other MyLoters have the same problem?
11 people like this
25 responses
@mrsjumppuppy03 (3301)
• United States
12 Apr 07
I'm wearing my garlic.
I am a daytime person. Come 10:30 - 11:00 I'm ready to lay my head down and visit with the old sandman. Now I perform better when I am under stress or time restraints, otherwise, I am laxs a daisical about things in general.
4 people like this
@craftcatcher (3699)
• United States
13 Apr 07
I must not be a vampire then, I love garlic!! I'm Italian first, vampire second... LOL
Well I guess you're totally normal then and I'm still the odd woman out.. oh well I always did like to keep 'em guessing :D
Thanks for your response!
2 people like this
@Calais (10893)
• Australia
2 Jun 07
I am a night person. I dont sleep much anyway. I only manage about 3 hours of broken sleep a night anyway. I might have a half hour nap during the day, but thats about it. I get all my housework done at night (besides vacuuming) while everyone is asleep. That way too I can just enjoy my days.
2 people like this
@craftcatcher (3699)
• United States
3 Jun 07
Have you tried Melatonin? You can buy it at vitamin and health food stores. If things get really bad I take it and it does help me to get a little more sleep if I need it.
@craftcatcher (3699)
• United States
3 Jun 07
I don't sleep well myself. I have weeks on end where I can only sleep a few hours at a time and then times when I sleep 12 hours a day. I have a nasty little disease called Fibromyalgia and my sleep problems started at the same time. I don't know if one was caused by the other but I'm sure they connect somehow.
@shelagh77 (3643)
•
27 May 07
I am a Night Owl too. I function about a million per cent better and have less accidents at night.
If you think about it, it is perfectly logical that some people perform better at night times. How else would the clan be protected from invaders, if everyone was sound asleep?
Fortunately, now that shops open for longer hours and a lot of transactions can be carried out via the internet it is not so vital to be a lark, and I can enjoy being an owl.
I agree that sunlight makes my eyes horribly painful too, maybe we are just programmed to be night watchwomen and take care of our families :-)
@shelagh77 (3643)
•
3 Jun 07
Well, I think of us more as Amazons standing guard over our slumbering loved ones :-)
1 person likes this
@craftcatcher (3699)
• United States
3 Jun 07
I'm glad I'm not the only one.. there are fellow vampires out there! LOL
Thanks :)
2 people like this
@craftcatcher (3699)
• United States
4 Jun 07
That's probably the first and last time I (standing 5'2" on a good day) will ever be called an Amazon... but I like it!! YA!!
1 person likes this
@peaceful (3294)
• United States
25 May 07
I function much better at night that I do during the day, but it's been so noisy around here that it's impossible to rest... construction, booming car radios, screaming school kids...
I'm moving, hopefully out of Pa. to Illinois, somewhere quiet in Chicago-Land, I'll check out your band, hopefully at a night gig, when I do! LOL!
2 people like this
@craftcatcher (3699)
• United States
26 May 07
That would be cool! It would be great to see you at a gig!
1 person likes this
@gberlin (3836)
•
18 Apr 07
My wife and daughter are both night owls. I am a morning person. My wife's job keeps her up until midnight or 12:30 am. She doesn't usually get up until 8 or 8:30 am. I am up at 6 am and go to bed at 11 pm.
@maildumpster (3815)
• United States
9 May 07
Yeah I tend to get my second wind so to speak come evening. I am wiped all day long and then I can stay up after everyone goes to sleep. To bad that doesn't work to well with a toddler who doesn't sleep through the night.
Wierd? I am convinced when they autopsy me they are going to find something backwards in there!
2 people like this
@craftcatcher (3699)
• United States
3 Jun 07
Yep, I'm sure my brain was wired backwards or something goofy. LOL
thanks :D
1 person likes this
@pendragon (3349)
• United States
3 Jun 07
I seem to be totally allergic to the sun most days.I feel more alive and especially more creative at night, being an artist/writer I guess that makes me a nighttime fan,lol.
1 person likes this
@craftcatcher (3699)
• United States
4 Jun 07
I wonder if it has something to do with being creative? I too am an artist and a musician. My creativity positively blossoms during the night.
Thanks :D
@freak369 (5113)
• United States
9 Jun 07
I function a lot better at night than I do during the day. There are less people milling around and if I want to go grocery shopping, there is rarely a line. I will go and do things during the day but I find that I get a lot more stressed when I have to deal with huge groups of people that have absolutely no clue what they are doing.
1 person likes this
@shambuca (2524)
• United States
4 Jun 07
NIGHT PERSON-- VAMPIRE-- BAT-- THATS ME. I love being up late at night - it's so much fun-- I can't decribe it it's like there is an electricity in the air for me. I do have a day job and am always tired- but its just easier to live with my husband working the same hours, so I suffer.
1 person likes this
@sarahruthbeth22 (43143)
• United States
4 Jun 07
You are not weird. I am a night person too. I work in the afternoon best though. But that keeps the night for watching a good movie.My mom said it was hard to get me to go to sleep at night when I was a baby. When I was in school and a good movie was to come on, I would take a little nap and get up , see the movie, and then I would go back to sleep, and then get up to go to school.That would happen every once in a while all through high school too. But now that I am not in school and I don't have to get up until 9am on work days,I can and do stay up late.It is a great time to do things where you need quiet.I love seeing films I haven't seen before at night.Plus I don't need as much sleep as most people.And I have to wear sunglasses if the sun is out or I will get a bad headache.Even on a cloudy day, a little sunlight will bother me.I love rainy days too.You are not alone.
1 person likes this
@craftcatcher (3699)
• United States
4 Jun 07
With all the responses I got from other Vampires and night owls I don't feel so weird anymore.
Thanks :D
1 person likes this
@Tetchie (2932)
• Australia
3 Jun 07
This is interesting craftcatcher. People are so diverse and what suits one doesn't always suit another, you are testament to that. I am wondering if you know what time you were born (I have an astrology interest) as sometimes that can determine what you innately align to. I'm just curious.
1 person likes this
@craftcatcher (3699)
• United States
3 Jun 07
Hi Tetchie, I was born at 9:46 am. I'd like to hear what you come up with!
Thanks
@craftcatcher (3699)
• United States
3 Jun 07
You could be right, I was a forceps baby and mom said I had huge welts all over my face and head. I was born being brutalized by giant spoons! I probably did want to go back in! LOL
@SKLC_PT (1234)
•
14 Apr 07
It depends but I think mornings are 89% not good for me, afternoons and night time I usually function better. It also depends on what time I went to bed, sometimes my sleep it switched and I'm way awake and functional in the morning, so it all depends.
@craftcatcher (3699)
• United States
3 Jun 07
Yep, the sun hurts my eyes too and I'm just uncomfortable all around in bright sunshine.
Thanks
@bestaaron (16)
• China
27 May 07
No problem,only if live regular life,It's OK,this is the most important thing.
2 people like this
@brendalee (6082)
• United States
3 Jun 07
I am definately a night owl. I too prefer to go to bed around 9 am. I enjoy the night time and I seem to be able to concentrate more. Its also quieter. My boyfriend isn't really happy with it because he usually sleeps alone. My friends think I am weird too but at least this way if they wake up in the night and can't sleep, they have someone they can call.lol.
1 person likes this
@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
3 Jun 07
I'm really a night person, my best work..creatively or no, and ideas arrive at night. Two-five in the morning. My brain just seems to get rather dull compared to the sharpness I get from it at night :/
1 person likes this
@howard96h (11640)
• New York, New York
4 Jun 07
Hi craftcatcher, I too am a night person. I hate getting up early and I have always prefered to work night shifts. I function better at night and this is the time when I am fully awake and alert. Whenever I have an early morning appointment I am not in the best of moods, I wish everthing revolved around nights, like doctor appointments, meetings etc. I was born at 1:07 AM so I often wonder if that has anything to do with my love of the darkness. Hmmmmmmmm?
1 person likes this
@arkaf61 (10881)
• Canada
3 Jun 07
LOL I am pretty much like you although I have no problem with sunlight.
There is no point in trying to change it because as soon as there is an opportunity everything reverts back to being more alert during the night, having more energy during the night, and doing my best work during the night.
Trying to go to bed early doesn't work either because the next day I will still be more awake at night time and more tired from waking up earlier :)
