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Finding the Right Sleep Schedule

 It's the first couple of hours of a new day and I am in the midst of a split-sleep night [4 hours of rest followed by 1-2 hours of awake time before another 3-4 hours of sleep]. This is a beautiful time when the world is quiet outside and I can use this time of solitude to write, eat, ponder, create something, or just BE with myself. 

I've always loved the midnight to 2am pocket of time and before learning about split sleep [aka biphasic sleep or segmented sleep: see article on it at Humans Used to Sleep in Two Shifts, And Maybe We Should Do It Again (sciencealert.com)] I would consistently be a Night Owl, but would inadvertently still wake up anyway by 7am or so and thus be facing a lack of sleep. Not long after I completed this painting [in 2019], I tried switching to an Early Bird schedule by starting my day at about 4am [inspired by a grandfather of mine who did this] but I was not able to stick with it. So last night [technically about 6 hours ago] I decided to go to bed when I felt tired - a little after 8pm. I then woke around 12:30am, which allowed me to check email and some things [plus have a light meal] before getting to work on this post. It feels good, so we'll see how this works out for me.

As for this little painting, it was inspired by a little bird sketch which I learned to make as a child. When I came across the saying, it looked like a good companion to the drawing. 
The painting itself is acrylic paint on a 16 x 20 inch canvas.

Life is about self discovering, self understanding, self acceptance, and self care.

Now go have some fun today!

Rachel

UPDATE:
I have been learning some new things:
1) Do not have caffeine during the middle 'awake' time. As for food, a liquid meal is sufficient.
2) I still sleep better with music playing (I suspect it is my HSP just mind being how it is).
Overall, I am happy with how this is working out; I get to enjoy a couple of hours when the world is quiet outside while also being able to integrate my life and schedule to fit in with societal scheduling. Win - win.
3) After another week of sleeping like this, I no longer need to have music playing. My mind is calming down. If an idea comes to mind, I get up and write it down then go back to sleep [instead of ruminating on it]. This is good! 
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Comments

  1. VanessaSeptember 5, 2021 at 2:27 PM

    This describes me too, I need to learn more about biphasic sleep.

    ReplyDelete

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