B. Lorenzo Buckinchere
Mar 10, 2024
Today, March 10th, is the beginning of Daylight Savings time in 48, of the 50 states (the exceptions are Arizona and Hawaii). It is a practice that was started back in 1908 where people would set their clocks one hour ahead of standard time, so as to allow for increased productivity of the workforce. They sneakily skip the hour of 2:00 am, as you sleep on Saturday night, hoping you wouldn’t notice.
But what actually happens is that many people go out into the world feeling more sleep deprived than usual, being awake an hour earlier than they are used to. Many of them cause accidents, as they make the mistake of getting behind a steering wheel under those conditions.
Americans are generally sleep deprived on a grand scale, and do not need the event of daylight savings time as an excuse to skip out on a few extra hours of sleep. Nonetheless, I feel like now is as good a time as ever to present my findings on a hypothesis I have pertaining to the circadian rhythm, and how to reset it if it is broken.
Now as I am sure you must know, sleep is very important for human health and functionality. It resets your mind, body and soul for the day ahead. It also balances your blood sugar levels, boosts your immune system, and provides a general feel, and look of wellness. Have you ever heard someone say that they need their beauty sleep? Why, there is even a brand of mattress called either “Beauty Sleep,” or “Beauty Rest.”
Sleep is very important, but grossly undermined in an industrialized, capitalist economy such as the United States. Some people are used to running on four hours a night. And the way they figure it, sleep is a waste of time that they can more than make up for on the back end. That is a personal decision, but what they fail to realize is that if they continue to neglect their need for quality sleep in the present, it will affect their quality of life in their autumn years. If it is worth it to them, then who am I to be concerned?
However, with the advent of AI, and the internet, there may soon be a paradigm shift in the workforce. As AI becomes the employee, the employee becomes the employer, of his own operations that is. When that happens, more people will be working from home, and will be better capable of carrying out the details of my hypothesis than they would have otherwise been able. If you still have a 9 to 5 job as of now, this is especially for you.
Now for starters, there are 24 hours, not in a day, but rather, in a daily cycle. There are roughly 16 hours in a day during the summer solstice, 8 hours in a day during the winter solstice, and 12 hours in a day during the two equinoxes. But there are always 24 hours in a daily cycle. Within each daily cycle, there are 8 different times of day, spanning 3 hours each.
- Sunrise (6:00 am – 9:00 am)
- Late-rise (9:00 am – 11:59 am)
- Midday (12:00 pm)
- Afternoon (12:01 pm – 3:00 pm)
- Late Day (3:00 pm – 6:00 pm)
- Evening (6:00 pm – 9:00 pm)
- Night (9:00 pm – 11:59 pm)
- Midnight (12:00 am)
- Latenight (12:01 am – 3:00 am)
- Reset; otherwise called The Witching Hour (3:00 am – 5:59 am)
As you can see, only midday, and midnight are not a part of the 8, three hour times of day. They mark the two halves of a daily cycle, and last only one minute each. Winter evenings are fully dark outside. Summer evenings have roughly 80 minutes of sunset, about 20 minutes of dusk, then another 80 minutes of darkness. Hence why they call it evening.
A circadian rhythm is the time of day that you tend to sleep more than other times. Most people are natural night sleepers, but there are some day sleepers as well. Night sleepers feel the urge to wake up when the sun rises, and the urge to fall asleep when it gets cold and dark outside. The sun’s natural plasma aids in keeping people awake all day, and your smartphone screen is like an artificial source of plasma that causes insomnia. Which is why it is harmful for you to mindlessly scroll through social media while lying in bed at night.
That does not work for everybody, as day sleepers can effortlessly sleep during the daytime with the curtains wide open, while living the “vampire life” at night. I guess it is true what they say, “the diversity of human idiosyncrasies takes all forms.” But what actually causes a difference in circadian rhythms? I once heard a theory that the time of day that we were born may have had an effect on our body’s natural circadian rhythm. It is entirely up to you if you want to respect the universal reset time, or your own natural circadian rhythm. But whatever you choose, this article is for those who want to sleep at night.
Most sleep studies recommend that you sleep for roughly 8 hours a night. There are multiple sleep cycles, per night. Sleep cycles can last anywhere from 80, to 100 minutes, with a strong 90 minute probability on average. Going along with the 90 minute sleep cycle, 5 cycles are 7 and a half hours long, 6 cycles are 9 hours, and 8 cycles are 12 hours. Most people sleep between 5 and 6 cycles depending on how tired they are.
If you make a concerted effort to get into bed at 10:00 pm, 7 nights a week, you will eventually retrain your brain to fall asleep at 10:30 pm on a nightly basis. The only exceptions to that rule would be on party nights, or if you have to catch a night flight. If you fall asleep at 10:30 pm, you will awake sometime between 6:00 am, and 6:30 am. If moderately tired, you will awake anytime between 7:30 and 8:00 am.
If you are either sick, or exhausted, you will need 12 hours, and 8 full cycles of sleep on those nights. In that case, I recommend going to bed an hour earlier than usual. Sleep from 9:00 pm to 9:00 am, then take it easy the next day. Exhaustion should be an extremely rare occurrence, because stress will kill, and your job will hire your replacement much faster than your loved ones are able to identify your body in the morgue. Never allow yourself to reach the point of exhaustion. End the meeting or phone call, or politely excuse yourself. Your health comes first.
From midnight to 6:00 am is the universal reset period, and completing your first cycle before midnight will give you a good head start, and allow for more restful sleep. From 3:00 am to 6:00 am is the second, and certainly the deeper of the two reset times within a night. By the time it is 3:00 am, you should already be on your fourth cycle, in your deepest state of sleep. There is a reason why they call it, “The Witching Hour.” There is an old wives tale that nothing good happens past 3:00 am. At 3:00 am, you should be far away in dreamland, and numb to the worries of this world.
You should only strive to wake up during sunrise. Do not allow laterise to catch you still in bed, unless you are sick. Otherwise you are more likely to have a relapse. If you start your day at 7:30 am, you will find that you now have some extra hours for increased productivity. If your evening down time starts at 7:00 pm, then you have about 12 hours, or so, to be productive. Do you have any idea how many activities you can cram into your new day? Both personally, and professionally?
Try my hypothesis for no less than one year, in order to completely reset your circadian rhythm. After a whole year, the possibility of relapsing into your old ways will be drastically reduced. You may even find yourself thinking about throwing out your alarm clock.
Finally, my sleep hypothesis, coupled with the advent of AI, and the paradigm shift in the workforce will cause daylight savings time, along with your annoying alarm clock to become obsolete. It is only a matter of time.
I hope you have enjoyed the read. Please feel free to click on one of the affiliate links below, as doing so helps support this blog, and you will hear from me soon. One Love!
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