# What is your natural sleep pattern? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 16, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375 "2012-06-16T23:11:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Alex](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atomic_alex/32/175_2.png) [@Atomic\_Alex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Alex)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/1 "2012-06-16T23:11:52Z")
If left to your own devices without such annoying necessities such as work and socialising with others what natural sleep pattern do you fall into? I’ve found that if I have a period of time off it feels most comfortable for me to go to bed at two or three am and get up at ten or eleven am, seven hours sleep is about the minimum I can operate on but any longer than eight hours is just more tiring. If only I could find a job that suited that sort of sleep cycle… 😃 I did used to know a woman who said she would sleep for 48 hours at a time then stay awake for 48 hours :eek: It sounds unlikely but she always was a strange one. ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/2 "2012-06-16T23:53:33Z")
I think my ideal would be to sleep for maybe 6 hrs at night and then take a mid-day nap. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/3 "2012-06-17T00:10:52Z")
Midnight to ten a.m. I need a lot of sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/4 "2012-06-17T01:14:03Z")
Typically about 2am-noon, but if I had no time cues, I think I’d shift to a roughly 26 hour cycle pretty quickly. I generally like to stay awake as long as I can and sleep as long as I can. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/5 "2012-06-17T01:56:47Z")
I figured out, long ago, that I have a longer cycle than we’re “supposed” to have. Caffeine may or may not have anything to do with it, but I will be awake, and active, for at least 20 hours before I start to feel tired, naturally. Naturally, this doesn’t play well with having a regular job, so…yay for Tylenol PM! ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/6 "2012-06-17T02:37:49Z")
I, too, will tend to stay awake for 20 hours or more when I don’t need to keep to a specific schedule. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/7 "2012-06-17T03:21:36Z")
You are going to get a biased sample on this board. It tends to attract people with personalities that prefer to be night owls much more than the normal population. I am one too. I have done the free from responsibility, sleep and wake whenever you want experiment a few times in my adult life and it always works out the same way. I go to bed at about 3am and wake up at 11 am or noon every day within a few days. I can’t do that when working full time but I am lucky that I have a job that I only have to be on site for by 10 am and can leave at 6 or 7 pm which is perfect for me as long as I force myself to bed at midnight or 1 am. I have had jobs where I had to be there at 8 am or even earlier and I WILL degrade over time. There is no amount of willpower that can force me into another sleep schedule without long-term consequences. I have a special prejudice against early birds or at least their general condescension. I don’t sleep any more than most of them and I wonder where are they when I need help working on something difficult at 1 am? ---
**Author:** ![RetroVertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@RetroVertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RetroVertigo)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/8 "2012-06-17T03:25:14Z")
With no responsibility to worry about, I’ll usually end up switching to sleeping from 2-3am to 9-10am. This really comes from working so long in the restaurant/bar industry while putting myself through school. My wife left to her own would end up sleeping from 4am to sometime the next afternoon, and sometimes evening. Sleep is her hobby. Luckily for me a toddler has broken her of this habit. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/9 "2012-06-17T03:58:21Z")
I have had [segmented sleep](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segmented_sleep) all my life. I can not remember ever sleeping all night unless given a sedative. Currently thanks to some meds I take, I go to bed around 930, wake up around 11 or 1130, putz around reading or on the computer until around 1 am, then sleep until about 3, then wake up and putz around reading until mrAru and I have breakfast and I take my meds at 5 am, then back to sleep at about 6, sleep until 9 or so, awake until after I take my meds at 1 pm, sleep until about 3 pm, then awake until 930, lather rinse repeat. Makes road trips and such interesting. I tend to pull into rest areas and sleep in the car when my nap attacks hit. Back before I had to take meds that knock me out, I would go to bed about 11, wake up at about 1, putz around for a couple hours and crash again around 3, wake up at 5 to do breakfast with mrAru, back to bed about 6 and sleep til 8 or 9. I got in the habit of waking up for breakfast with whomever I was living with back when I lived with a physically abusive man - he wanted me to make his breakfast and make sure his suit was ready/brushed and his shirt was freshly ironed. Since it was no bother to wake up and do breakfast with mrAru, I keep in the habit of doing so - it is sociable to have breakfast with him. ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/10 "2012-06-17T04:02:28Z")
Midnight to 7 am is the pattern I would fall into I think. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/11 "2012-06-17T04:30:06Z")
I prefer if I get 9 hrs of sleep a night. I usually am in bed between 10 pm and 11 pm. I am generally awake around 7am, but if I get to sleep late I can easily sleep until 9am. I think falling asleep around 11pm and waking up at 8am would be my ideal. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/12 "2012-06-17T06:12:57Z")
I’ve done it. 2 to 7 is my natural. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/13 "2012-06-17T06:23:54Z")
5 am to 1 pm. Only works if the room isn’t too bright or warm, though, which is a tall order any time of year but the dead of winter. My current work schedule allows me to sleep from 2 am to 10 am, which is as close as I’m likely to get. I did just get an air conditioner, though, which will help mucho. Just need some blackout curtains now! ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/14 "2012-06-17T06:42:20Z")
2AM to 11AM, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/15 "2012-06-17T06:44:30Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > I’ve found that if I have a period of time off it feels most comfortable for me to go to bed at two or three am and get up at ten or eleven am, seven hours sleep is about the minimum I can operate on but any longer than eight hours is just more tiring. > > If only I could find a job that suited that sort of sleep cycle… 😃 Well, you could, but those jobs typically don’t pay very well. My last out-of-home job hours were 5 p.m. to 3:30 a.m., which worked pretty well for me. Left to my own devices, and I usually am, I go to sleep about 10 a.m. and get up about 5 to 6 p.m. Because the rest of you bastards refuse to do business between those hours I occasionally get thrown off my schedule and have to sleep when it’s dark, but I’ll always revert back to my basic nocturnal nature. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/16 "2012-06-17T07:01:19Z")
Left to my own devices I sleep from 3 or 4 a.m. to 11 a.m. > [@Taomist](#): > > I figured out, long ago, that I have a longer cycle than we’re “supposed” to have. Caffeine may or may not have anything to do with it, but I will be awake, and active, for at least 20 hours before I start to feel tired, naturally. Naturally, this doesn’t play well with having a regular job, so…yay for Tylenol PM! > [@Max\_the\_Immortal](#): > > I, too, will tend to stay awake for 20 hours or more when I don’t need to keep to a specific schedule. Then you’d probably both agree with my [tweet here](https://twitter.com/theevilwriter/status/207673422518566912) ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/17 "2012-06-17T07:16:22Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I have a special prejudice against early birds or at least their general condescension. I don’t sleep any more than most of them and I wonder where are they when I need help working on something difficult at 1 am? **Amen.** Who cares if I slept till 2pm? I was up doing things till 5 in the morning! My sleep schedule would cycle around, rather than settle into a normal pattern. I tend to stay up as long as I can. The problem is I never want to stop _doing_ things. Who wants to sleep when you can read another article, listen to another song, watch another episode, go for another drive? ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/18 "2012-06-17T07:23:29Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > My sleep schedule would cycle around, rather than settle into a normal pattern. I tend to stay up as long as I can. The problem is I never want to stop _doing_ things. Who wants to sleep when you can read another article, listen to another song, watch another episode, go for another drive? Any chance you have ADHD too? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/19 "2012-06-17T07:50:19Z")
I usually don’t have any kind of schedule, and this is the way it’s been going: Up all night, then go to bed around dawn. Sleep maybe 3 hours, then up. Usually a nap in the afternoon, then another in the evening. I know I should be getting more sleep. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2012, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375/20 "2012-06-17T08:13:28Z")
totally random, honestly. When left to my own devices, I’ll sleep, nap, etc, whenever I feel tired, and get up after about 8-12 hours of sleep. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-natural-sleep-pattern/625375.md?page=2)