I wonder if it's worse to work an all-night schedule or to work a schedule where you flip nights, early mornings, and evenings all in the same week. I worked both of those schedules for right around five years and I'm pretty sure those years did irreversible damage to my health. I know people have worked/do work crazier hours than what I did for longer amounts of time, but I can absolutely attest to the physical misery it causes. I went through major depressive cycles and all of my personal relationships took a huge toll as well. I finally got a job where I work 8am-4pm daily and my life has never been better. If you are someone who is working crazy hours at night, I would highly encourage you to do everything you can to get away from it. I know it's unavoidable for some people, but I didn't realize how much it sucked until I removed myself from it. Mad respect to people whose careers demand them to be up at night; thank you for what you do and please don't forget to take care of yourself!
I hate overhead lights, especially at home. My wife thinks I’m crazy. They’re helpful when cooking or looking for something but even with dimmers I can’t stand them. Too bright! I like lamps and under counter lights. Basically a darkish house! Glad I’m not entirely crazy. Thanks Lynne!
1000% all of this. Her book is going on my book list!
So many people have been complaining at me about the time change and not having light at night that I've been getting pretty annoyed. I continue to tell people how my children are doing much better with sleep now that it's dark at night (when it's supposed to be).
I've gotten to the point where I have signed a couple of petitions to end DST in my state of California.
Here's the site if anyone is interested in doing the same for their states:
This is great. My wife got laid off from her remote job and found work for the NBA but she’s working 3-1AM and sometimes 6-4AM. It’s brutal what it does to someone.
Guess I have an excuse to turn down the thermostat now! Thanks for the concise explanation of why daylight savings is a problem (I’ve always found the arguments confusing). As always, these are super actionable.
As a former shift worker, this topic resonates with me. I have listened to several Andrew Huberman podcasts on this subject. My current challenge as a retiree is travel across time zones. I suffered from it when I was younger and I have not gotten any better as I age. I am looking forward to some tips on how to manage jet lag.
Kudos to the author for the book and research. I like authors who speak from experience and do the research to back up their conclusions.
It is amazing to me that we need books like this as we have become so divorced from the reality of being human. As Michael writes in his books, most of our behaviors that ill affect us are recent in human history, centuries of our millieum long history, all in the goal of "progress". We've lost touch with nature with our quest to "dominate" rather than accommodate our selves to it, "rewilding", as it were. I took my boys and wife to NC for a vacation when they were young and we went into a cave. The
leader turned off all flashlights, we were in total darkness and it was totally disorienting. I imagine the experience and disorientation was magnified by 10
days in the dark.
I wake up when through sleeping (beimg retired helps!), fix my morning shake and head to my "man cave" back porch where I spend the majority of my waking hours, year round except for lightning storms, reading, outside training, noticing what's going on around me. At dark thirty, I go inside, do my evening routine, eat my meal around 5 to 6 PM. Then TV time with my wife with inside walks to fulfill my goal of 10000 steps. I do my Qigong before bed, retire, rinse and repeat.
I feel that the daylight hours and rhythms of the seasons are beneficial to my health. DST is disruptive for a period but my body adjusts. I have maintained this schedule even when working a 11AM to PM.
I feel that with the tips from the author's book and common sense, one can align oneself more comfortably with one's natural rhythms and cycles and reap the benefits! Earlier while I was doing my training outdoors, a rocket took off from the Cape and 2 sonic booms thundered! What a contrast! Good daylight, Charlie
I moved from MYC to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica 8 years ago where the sun rises and sets at the same time everyday (6am & 6pm, respectively).
I am convinced that I am the healthiest I’ve ever been in my life because of this change (Costa Rica also does NOT have daylight savings time).
We often go back to NYC to visit friends and family and it’s quite evident the effects on my mood and health when we visit for weeks at a time over the winter (not so much in the summer).
I’m convinced that the move to Costa Rica and the consistent sleep wake/times are the biggest contributor to my health. I wake up at 4:30am everyday without an alarm clock and start to wind down and am in bed by 7/7:30pm.
I wonder if it's worse to work an all-night schedule or to work a schedule where you flip nights, early mornings, and evenings all in the same week. I worked both of those schedules for right around five years and I'm pretty sure those years did irreversible damage to my health. I know people have worked/do work crazier hours than what I did for longer amounts of time, but I can absolutely attest to the physical misery it causes. I went through major depressive cycles and all of my personal relationships took a huge toll as well. I finally got a job where I work 8am-4pm daily and my life has never been better. If you are someone who is working crazy hours at night, I would highly encourage you to do everything you can to get away from it. I know it's unavoidable for some people, but I didn't realize how much it sucked until I removed myself from it. Mad respect to people whose careers demand them to be up at night; thank you for what you do and please don't forget to take care of yourself!
I hate overhead lights, especially at home. My wife thinks I’m crazy. They’re helpful when cooking or looking for something but even with dimmers I can’t stand them. Too bright! I like lamps and under counter lights. Basically a darkish house! Glad I’m not entirely crazy. Thanks Lynne!
1000% all of this. Her book is going on my book list!
So many people have been complaining at me about the time change and not having light at night that I've been getting pretty annoyed. I continue to tell people how my children are doing much better with sleep now that it's dark at night (when it's supposed to be).
I've gotten to the point where I have signed a couple of petitions to end DST in my state of California.
Here's the site if anyone is interested in doing the same for their states:
https://savestandardtime.com/
I'm super excited about this circadian rhythm research. Thanks for the post!
This is great. My wife got laid off from her remote job and found work for the NBA but she’s working 3-1AM and sometimes 6-4AM. It’s brutal what it does to someone.
Guess I have an excuse to turn down the thermostat now! Thanks for the concise explanation of why daylight savings is a problem (I’ve always found the arguments confusing). As always, these are super actionable.
As a former shift worker, this topic resonates with me. I have listened to several Andrew Huberman podcasts on this subject. My current challenge as a retiree is travel across time zones. I suffered from it when I was younger and I have not gotten any better as I age. I am looking forward to some tips on how to manage jet lag.
Kudos to the author for the book and research. I like authors who speak from experience and do the research to back up their conclusions.
It is amazing to me that we need books like this as we have become so divorced from the reality of being human. As Michael writes in his books, most of our behaviors that ill affect us are recent in human history, centuries of our millieum long history, all in the goal of "progress". We've lost touch with nature with our quest to "dominate" rather than accommodate our selves to it, "rewilding", as it were. I took my boys and wife to NC for a vacation when they were young and we went into a cave. The
leader turned off all flashlights, we were in total darkness and it was totally disorienting. I imagine the experience and disorientation was magnified by 10
days in the dark.
I wake up when through sleeping (beimg retired helps!), fix my morning shake and head to my "man cave" back porch where I spend the majority of my waking hours, year round except for lightning storms, reading, outside training, noticing what's going on around me. At dark thirty, I go inside, do my evening routine, eat my meal around 5 to 6 PM. Then TV time with my wife with inside walks to fulfill my goal of 10000 steps. I do my Qigong before bed, retire, rinse and repeat.
I feel that the daylight hours and rhythms of the seasons are beneficial to my health. DST is disruptive for a period but my body adjusts. I have maintained this schedule even when working a 11AM to PM.
I feel that with the tips from the author's book and common sense, one can align oneself more comfortably with one's natural rhythms and cycles and reap the benefits! Earlier while I was doing my training outdoors, a rocket took off from the Cape and 2 sonic booms thundered! What a contrast! Good daylight, Charlie
my goal of 10000 steps.
I moved from MYC to the Caribbean side of Costa Rica 8 years ago where the sun rises and sets at the same time everyday (6am & 6pm, respectively).
I am convinced that I am the healthiest I’ve ever been in my life because of this change (Costa Rica also does NOT have daylight savings time).
We often go back to NYC to visit friends and family and it’s quite evident the effects on my mood and health when we visit for weeks at a time over the winter (not so much in the summer).
I’m convinced that the move to Costa Rica and the consistent sleep wake/times are the biggest contributor to my health. I wake up at 4:30am everyday without an alarm clock and start to wind down and am in bed by 7/7:30pm.