Thread: My mind has a mind of its own. Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.


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Posted by Graven Image (# 8755) on :
 
No matter what I am doing it seems at 3PM my mind goes fuzzy. I am totally useless after that. For the rest of the day I run on automatic pilot I get a little dash of new energy around 9 that lasts for about an hour then I slow down until I go to bed at 11.
How does your biological clock run?
 

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Posted by PeteC (# 10422) on :
 
Run?

Maybe at a snail's pace,
 

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Posted by anoesis (# 14189) on :
 
Yeah, for me the rot sets in about 2pm, and continues slowly downward until I guess about 7.30pm, after which I feel a little better. I imagine it's exactly the same phemonenon you are describing, only brought forward a little by the early waking and early dinnertimes associated with having small children. I utterly dread meetings called for 1pm-ish because they require me to sit still in my chair at a time of day when stillness brings a real possibility of falling asleep.

I have tried everything* to fix this - having lunch earlier, having lunch later, limiting carbs at lunch, going for a walk at lunch, going to bed earlier. NOTHING helps.

It is particularly frustrating trying to get stuff done in my household of a weekend, because my husband has a different chronology, and is utterly useless until about 10am, after which he progressively improves, leaving about a two-hour cross-over window where we are both operating effectively.

*I haven't, for many years, tried drinking strong coffee well into the afternoon, because it screws with my sleeping and just exacerbates the next day's problem.
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 
Lunch is a bugger. If I can manage an early start, eat light at 11:30 and work on is best, maybe with a healthy snack about 3pm, then I should be OK.

The best thing to do in the afternoon is to meet someone in their office, not on my territory. Then I have to get organised and work to a timetable.

If I do all that, the afternoon just may be useful. Otherwise, it's about 7pm before I'm much use to anyone.
 

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Posted by LeRoc (# 3216) on :
 
I manage to avoid feeling fuzzy at 2pm pretty well. The secret is to feel fuzzy all morning.
 

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Posted by no prophet (# 15560) on :
 
Eat no beans and rice for lunch. Sleepy gaseousness!
 

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Posted by Timothy the Obscure (# 292) on :
 
Never drink coffee during the work day--it'll just keep you awake all afternoon...
 

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Posted by Palimpsest (# 16772) on :
 
I worked for a vice president once who always took a half hour nap at 2pm. If I tried that I'd be asleep till 7.
 

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Posted by Sighthound (# 15185) on :
 
I seem to be at my most productive early in the morning, and then in early evening. My body seems to want a lot of sleep these days.
 

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Posted by Penny S (# 14768) on :
 
I recall a New Scientist item which reported that there were two spikes in road accidents involving lorry drivers. One was between 2 am and 4 am, which might be expected. The other, lesser one, was between 2 pm and 4 pm.

It appears that there is a natural tendency to feel sleepy in the afternoon. Now I'm retired, I regularly make use of it.

What I find odd now is that I sometimes, but not always, have a period of increased activity from about 5:30 am for a couple of hours. This lasts for several days. I have to be very careful to choose activities which are quiet, because there is no part of my home which is not close to others who will be asleep. So no vacuuming, no gardening with the radio on (though I now have a set of earmuffs with a radio in for that). Then, after some days, all goes back to normal with teenage times and getting up late.
 

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Posted by Firenze (# 619) on :
 
Food seems to have a narcotic effect I don't remember from my youth. Even a modest bite of lunch and I'm zonked.
 

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Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
What I found immensely helpful when gainfully employed was going for a walk at lunchtime, even if just around the block. Whilst I still had The Best Dog In All The World having to take him for a walk at lunchtime, regardless of the weather, was a great incentive.

The days, having been retired for a number of years, I often just have a nap after lunch anyway.
 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
I'm one of those (disgusting) early riser, jump out of bed people. Usually at 5:30. But then, about 2:00 in the afternoon, I get so sleepy that sometimes it's all I can do to hold my eyeballs open.

A number of years ago, when I drove Daughter-Unit to school (7:00 am), and then went right to work, I kept a pillow by my desk, because I couldn't make it until 9 pm without a fifteen minute nap.
 

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Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :
 
As 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. is 14 hours I'm not really surprised!


 

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Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :
 
You are very right! Very long days. I'm too old for that now.
 

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Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :
 
I'm a night owl. No matter what my schedule's like or what time I have to get up, I'm groggy until about 6pm, and my mind is at its best after midnight. It sucks, because the rest of the world is on a different schedule and I have to conform to it, and spend my best hours asleep - usually aided by some medication or other, because no matter what time I got up, or even if I didn't sleep the night before or just flew in from east to west (e.g., from trips home, which adds 3 hours to my day), I still can't get to sleep on my own till 4 or 5 a.m. Sometimes I can get to sleep around 3 a.m.

In the early days after humans evolved, I would've saved the group from large cats on the prowl at night, or any other nighttime danger. Now I'm just out of sync with the rest of the world. The last shrink I saw even claimed there's no such thing as a night-owl! But I gave up caffeine like he said to, and it didn't change a thing!
 

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Posted by Alicïa (# 7668) on :
 
I de-lurk to say that I can completely relate to your being a "Night Owl" churchgeek. I have the same "affliction", as it is when we must conform - I have been trying to conform for years, it's just not happening. KLF wrote a song called 3AM eternal, which sometimes goes through my head, because it always seems that I look at the clock after struggling to sleep and it's 3AM again!
 

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Posted by ArachnidinElmet (# 17346) on :
 
Another nightowl here. I don't have any problem sleeping, but if awake, all my best and most creative thinking is between 10pm-2am, although physical stuff is better early on, just after waking up.

It's not just a cycle of being alert or sleepy; different bits of the day seem better for different purposes
 

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Posted by Lucia (# 15201) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by churchgeek:
I'm a night owl. No matter what my schedule's like or what time I have to get up, I'm groggy until about 6pm, and my mind is at its best after midnight. It sucks, because the rest of the world is on a different schedule and I have to conform to it, and spend my best hours asleep - usually aided by some medication or other, because no matter what time I got up, or even if I didn't sleep the night before or just flew in from east to west (e.g., from trips home, which adds 3 hours to my day), I still can't get to sleep on my own till 4 or 5 a.m. Sometimes I can get to sleep around 3 a.m.

In the early days after humans evolved, I would've saved the group from large cats on the prowl at night, or any other nighttime danger. Now I'm just out of sync with the rest of the world. The last shrink I saw even claimed there's no such thing as a night-owl! But I gave up caffeine like he said to, and it didn't change a thing!

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quote:

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Originally posted by jedijudy:
You are very right! Very long days. I'm too old for that now.

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quote:

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Originally posted by churchgeek:
I still can't get to sleep on my own till 4 or 5 a.m. Sometimes I can get to sleep around 3 a.m.

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quote:

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Originally posted by jedijudy:
I ... jump out of bed ... at 5:30. But then, about 2:00 in the afternoon, I get so sleepy that sometimes it's all I can do to hold my eyeballs open ...

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So would I, if I'd got up at 5:30.

I'm a night-owl too - not in Churchgeek's league, but as I don't start w*rk until 10:00 a.m. I'm not hugely bothered about getting to bed early; I'm rarely in bed before 1 in the morning.

On the rare occasions when I have difficulty getting to sleep, a bowl of cereal before bed will usually do the trick - it sounds daft, but it works.
 

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Posted by BessHiggs (# 15176) on :
 
When I used to have to clock in at 5AM, I was in the bed by 8PM, even on days off so I didn't mess up my sleep cycle. These days, I'm sometimes in bed by 9PM, sometimes by 5AM, depending on what day of the week it is.

Some of the folks at church don't seem to get that I own a bar, I work weekend nights when it's busy, and I often don't even get home til the very wee hours of the morning. So NO, I'm not going to be there every Sunday...
 

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Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by BessHiggs:

Some of the folks at church don't seem to get that I own a bar, I work weekend nights when it's busy, and I often don't even get home til the very wee hours of the morning. So NO, I'm not going to be there every Sunday...

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Why not, can't you drop by on the way home?
 

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Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :
 
I am a lark, usually wide awake at 6:30am - and once awake no more sleep is possible.

I do everything at full pelt, then crash. From 7pm onwards I am fit for nothing. My Dad called me 'Inertia Bagwash' - I follow the rules of inertia!

I always go to bed at 10pm, but occasionally move it forward to 9pm if I'm really .
 

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Posted by BessHiggs (# 15176) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
Why not, can't you drop by on the way home?

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quote:

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Originally posted by BessHiggs:
When I used to have to clock in at 5AM, I was in the bed by 8PM, even on days off so I didn't mess up my sleep cycle. These days, I'm sometimes in bed by 9PM, sometimes by 5AM, depending on what day of the week it is.

Some of the folks at church don't seem to get that I own a bar, I work weekend nights when it's busy, and I often don't even get home til the very wee hours of the morning. So NO, I'm not going to be there every Sunday...

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quote:

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Originally posted by georgiaboy:
My now (nearly) sacred habit of a Sunday afternoon nap began when at uni.

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A siesta is a cure all for every sleep cycle. Naps should be made obligatory at all workplaces; they are at mine (but then I'm self employed)
 

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Posted by Taliesin (# 14017) on :
 
I found my biological pattern home in Palastine. Up and at work for 7.30am, finish work at 2pm and home rest, potter, snooze; then up to do dinner and out for the evening. Lovely.
 

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Posted by ken (# 2460) on :
 
Often surprisingly awake about 06.30-07.30, then go into a sort of fugey dreamy state up to maybe 11am or later. If I don't have to get up for work I can easily stay crashed out till mid-afternoon. If I do I can manage routine boring tasks from about 10am but anything involving much in the way of thinking or creativity or decision-making or memory remains closed down for hours. Can't even eat usually. Sometimes not evem drink water.

Usually OK from maybe midday - though lunch (which is often also breakfast) sometimes knocks me out - not as much as it used to when I was in my 30s tho.

Best time for work is maybe 5pm to 9pm.

After that I want to see people and be with people and hate the idea of going home or resting till well after midnight.

Then, sometime between perhaps 2am and 4am I crash out again.

[edited to remove false link]

[ 11. September 2013, 05:41: Message edited by: Firenze ]
 

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Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :
 
Wide awake in the middle of the night, with mind racing (my most creative period, when I can actually get things done), but incredibly dozy in the middle of the afternoon. I'm sure I was designed for one of those sunny European countries where they have a siesta after lunch.
 

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Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :
 

quote:

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Originally posted by ken:

Best time for work is maybe 5pm to 9pm.

After that I want to see people and be with people and hate the idea of going home or resting till well after midnight.

Then, sometime between perhaps 2am and 4am I crash out again.

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