Unlike the other commentors, I am sold enough on the conclusion to give it a try.
I’ve been waking up at the same time every day (~95% of the time) and sleeping at roughly the same time every night (~70% of the time). What I’ll do is keep waking up at the same time but just go to bed when I’m tired instead of ~8 hours before my waking time.
I don’t have any issues with tiredness/low-energy. Ideally that would continue and I would be able to reclaim an hour or two from each day.
I didn’t try the experiment for very long but here are my observations when sleeping fewer hours:
Lower self-control (more Uber Eats, more checking socials during work)
When I was able to exert enough control to concentrate on something, my concentration was deeper
Felt more tense/stressed? I guess it must be due to more adrenaline and cortisol
More creative (increased frequency of random ideas while doing chores/mundane tasks, more lost in interesting thoughts—when a thought was particularly interesting, I’d deeply and automatically follow the thoughts for multiple minutes)
So basically I felt tired, energetic, more disinhibited, creative, unable to stay concentrated but when concentrated, the concentration was deeper. It was a very oxymoronic experience with the tired + energised and contradictory effects on concentration.
Overall, pros and cons but if I can overcome the self-control problem it will be a net positive productivity wise. However, due to the stress that’s another point deducted from the healthiness of sleeping fewer hours (not to mention the other non stress related potential issues).
The main thing that this has unlocked for me is that it has freed me from the fear of missing out on sleep. I sleep my 8 hours but don’t sweat it if I don’t sleep well or if I stay up late.
I also think it’s a good idea to try random things, even if they fly in the face of conventional wisdom. Obvious caveat is you might cause irreparable damage to yourself but as long as you’re careful not to take self-experimentation too far there might be some benefit to walking off the beaten track.
Unlike the other commentors, I am sold enough on the conclusion to give it a try.
I’ve been waking up at the same time every day (~95% of the time) and sleeping at roughly the same time every night (~70% of the time). What I’ll do is keep waking up at the same time but just go to bed when I’m tired instead of ~8 hours before my waking time.
I don’t have any issues with tiredness/low-energy. Ideally that would continue and I would be able to reclaim an hour or two from each day.
Follow up:
I didn’t try the experiment for very long but here are my observations when sleeping fewer hours:
Lower self-control (more Uber Eats, more checking socials during work)
When I was able to exert enough control to concentrate on something, my concentration was deeper
Felt more tense/stressed? I guess it must be due to more adrenaline and cortisol
More creative (increased frequency of random ideas while doing chores/mundane tasks, more lost in interesting thoughts—when a thought was particularly interesting, I’d deeply and automatically follow the thoughts for multiple minutes)
So basically I felt tired, energetic, more disinhibited, creative, unable to stay concentrated but when concentrated, the concentration was deeper. It was a very oxymoronic experience with the tired + energised and contradictory effects on concentration.
Overall, pros and cons but if I can overcome the self-control problem it will be a net positive productivity wise. However, due to the stress that’s another point deducted from the healthiness of sleeping fewer hours (not to mention the other non stress related potential issues).
The main thing that this has unlocked for me is that it has freed me from the fear of missing out on sleep. I sleep my 8 hours but don’t sweat it if I don’t sleep well or if I stay up late.
I also think it’s a good idea to try random things, even if they fly in the face of conventional wisdom. Obvious caveat is you might cause irreparable damage to yourself but as long as you’re careful not to take self-experimentation too far there might be some benefit to walking off the beaten track.